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Since I have/Drive one of those un-civilised frogeye's, W/5 speed, I will take a stab at two of your questions, the RPM shouldn't be one of them because yesterday I was doing 70 at about 3500 RPM's. Your Oil Pressure sounds ok for a used engine. If during the 16 years it was down, you rebuilt it..... Not good. You might want to check the crankshaft bearings for excessive wear or the crank being oval. My 1275 runs 60-70 at 2-5,000 RPM, 50-60 psi at idle, but mine was rebuilt 1700 miles ago, not just the engine, the whole... MORE
I finally have my 1500 back on the road and am able to drive it agian after 16 years of having it in bits. I have a number of questions, some are 1500 only and some will be relavnt to late 1275. First one, What RPM is 60MPH? My car is alagedly giving 60MPH at 4K RPM in 4th gear, given I was on the motorway keeping up with traffic and overtaking some of it I am not convinced it is reading right! at points it was reading close to 70, others lower than 60, but the revs remained... MORE
G'day guys Sprite and Midgets had 7" front drum brakes. But you knew that didn't you. Austin A40 ("A40 Farina" for us Down Under and in the UK) had 8" front drum brakes fitted to an identical stub axle. So yes, it's as complicated as undoing the 4 bolts that hold the brake backing plate to the stub axle, and swapping over the backing plates and everything attached to them. It's a common mod down here as our vintage racers must retain drum brakes - discs not allowed. Also good for the part-time Concourse entrant as few judges notice... MORE
Don't think Mk2's ever had side curtans, they were discontinued halfway through frongeye production, and repalced with the sidscreens that came with the BMC hard top. These I belive were unchanged for the Mk2 sprite.. Hope that helps Stewart "Ford Prefect" 37294... MORE
Will and Lyudmila Side curtains - side screens which ever, fabric covered or aluminum will fit a Mk-II. The only ones that will not fit are DMH hardtop side screens. The BMC hardtops used standard side screens. Biff Jones '59 Bugeye 'Kermit' '61 AH Sprite 'Ole Gray' in "The Healey Book" '71 Midget 'Freebie" http://sprites2.homestead.com/ "Biff" 37296... MORE
Hi there, Anyone have or know of a set of sidecurtains that will fit a 62 Sprite for sale? Thx! "Will and Lyudmila" 37290... MORE
Looking for some if anyone has them! The bits I am looing for are the small plastic square things that sit over the screw on the interior door handles on midgets and sprites with the palstic trim colour handles. Seems I can buy them in any colour I like as long as it's black. and I don't want black. SO if anyone is converting to a blackinterior from tan, or has some on a parts car I would be interetsted. Seems anything other than balck is now a rare interior! Stewart "Ford Prefect" 37287... MORE
Better off with a proper exust maniaflod allegedly with the 1500. Has yours got an oil cooler?, I have given in to the doom sayers and bought one! out of interest what is your oil pressure at idle? With regars tothe carb, is it leak from the top or bottom of the float chamber? or from the botom of the jet? Stewart "Ford Prefect" 37258... MORE
a piece of wire through the one of the top bolt holes in the tranny...slip the wire in just before the locating pin clears.... then just tie it off to whatever is handy.. like the heater box.... there is not a huge amount of weight to support.. mitch "prest_m" 37248... MORE
Vince... you're running way cold according to the gauge. No way, Jose. Now.... If you are running a downflow rad with the temp bulb in the rad, and the gauge is ACCURATE and shows 120 instead of the normal 180 or so....what sorta pro blem does this suggest??? :( Cap'n Bob Basic Frog "Robert E. Shlafer" 37180... MORE
The easiest way is to take a kitchen meat thermometer, and take off the radiator cap, start car and when the temp gage needle starts to go up, put meat (or candy)(or whatever) thermometer in top of radiator and watch the temp on both. They should be close to the same. You can take a sheet of newspaper and cover the radiator to block the air from the fan to allow it to start to get close to 212 degrees as the upper end of the test. I think this is easier than removing the gage and sender and... MORE
The gauge can be calibrated Jim for zero and span. I used a pot of boiling water for the high end, just place the temp bulb in it. I keep it boiling with the propane torch to ensure 212 deg. The needle can be removed from the gauge and replaced in the correct place if need be. If the span is out the small linkage within the gauge can be tweaked very lightly to make a difference. I used fresh air for the low end point. Duncan "Duncan Sinclair" 37159... MORE
Please don't put dishwashing liquids in your radiator!!! These things can cause foam, and may destroy the water pump and could cause massive overheating. The "water-wetter" type additives use special wetters which do not foam. I once did a test of "Watter-Wetter" in which I outfitted my car with thermometers in the airstream ahead of and behind the radiator, and surface mounted thermometers on the top and bottom rad tanks. I found no differences in engine temp or cooling capacity with "Water- Wetter" against plain water. For summer cooling, use plain water (distilled if your local water is hard)... MORE
Jim, Put in top gear, jack up one rear wheel and rotate back and forth by hand, how much free travel until resistance or a clunk? Look under and see if wheel moves very far before prop shaft starts to turn. Look at u joints to see if sloppy and hope that is where the extra play (read klunk) is coming from. Good luck Bob in San Diego "Robert D. Gardner" 37104... MORE
Stewart, my 1977 edition of the parts list only shows the 22 tooth pinion. For a 3.7 diff, you would need one of the smaller pinions. To find out which one, you need the current wheel revs per mile figure (should be printed on the speedo face, as a four digit number by itself somewhere) From this and the old and new diff ratios, you can calculate the new wheel revs per mile figure and by proportion, the new pinion teeth. Or just go by trial and error and a stopwatch between motorway marker posts! David "David Jacobs" 37087... MORE
Rob : My headers (puttin in a V8) are custom made, actually a set of Chevy small block pick-up headers cut up with new Buick flanges, custom collectors with mandrel bent tubes. They are actually turning out better than I expected. My next question is the front valance structure, I basically need to remove everything but the lower front exterior valance sheet metal, does anyone have photos of any Midgets that this has been done to? I'll need to build a new tube structure to hold the new radiator, etc. I don't really want to use hood pins, so... MORE
Folks, Am finally, after 6 years, getting to enjoy my LBC ('75 1500) but I still have some issues. Suggestions have been made and I was hoping group members might comment. After having my twin carb setup tweaked by a "pro" I started leaking oil out of the dipstick. Sealing the joint helped but has not cured the problem which seems to occur at sustained higher speeds and RPM's. It has been suggested that instead of running the valve cover breather tube to the charcoal cannister that I run it into the back of the air cleaner for better... MORE
Rick, FWIW: I own a 75 and one of my early moves was to lose front and rear bumpers (someone actually paid me for them) as I hate the damn things. I had them sawn off at a body shop flush with the front valence(?) and have an earlier grill mounted. My header clears the sides of the engine bay with no problem though it is a little close below where the collector gets taken through 90 dgs. to go under the car. Wha' kine hedda ya got? Rob C-75 midget on the road again Webfoot Leisure.com Your Local... MORE
It will obviously reduce the strength back to what it had been thought adequate for the previous 15 years of Spridget production. I've never done it, but it should be fairly easy to do, if you can get access to drill/grind all the spot welds. The only converted rubber bumper shell I've seen personally was used with A series running gear so it didn't have your clearance issues, and the owner cut his 70-74 type grill to fit round the rails, and hid the ends with a pair of spotlights. David "David Jacobs" 37046... MORE
I thought you might like to see these stats about dragsters. It is surprising and amazing. Bob Dragsters..... Cool info about dragsters.......... * One Top Fuel dragster 500 cubic inch Hemi engine makes more horsepower than the first 4 rows of race cars at the Daytona 500. * Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 1=BD gallons of nitromethane per second. * A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to even drive the dragster supercharger. * With 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into a... MORE
Guys - Has anyone out there successfully removed the added frame rails on a later MG Midget, the ones that run from the firewall through the engine compartment, out the grill opening to support the those fugly rubber bumpers? Running out of room for my headers and was wondering what lies underneath them if I removed them entirely, or if it will affect the strength of the body much. Was going to cut them back to put a standard type of grill in it and need to notch a large portion of them out for the headers anyway...... Later... MORE
Robert, You are going to be sorry you asked. For other listers, log off if this is too boring and it has NO LBC. Back in '72 or so, I was taking a camping trip around the United States with my then wife and two kids, age 9 & 10. We were driving my white Chevy California hippie van with side pipes and big tires in the rear. My wife was a fashion model and I had long hair and a beard. We stopped in Sheffield Texas for gas and I tried to buy some beer. The old crone... MORE
Hello, Well it's a sad day I have to sell my Sprite. Life and school don't seem to agree with my little English car. Here is a list of all the goodies that it has: Some details are: Engine 1089cc bored .040 over Intake valve is 1 5/16"(Rimflow) Exhaust valve is1 1/16 (Rimflow) The head has been ported and has a 10:1 compression ratio. The cam specs are duration @ .020 (In./Ex.) 268-272. Rockers ratio is 1.5:1 Duplex adjustable cam gear Also has Isky duel value springs. Pistons are flattop Hepolites Heavy-duty radiator/with 10" fan Twin HS2s with red... MORE
Other than the choke cable, horn and horn push, it appears to be complete and original. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=39405&item=4547048934&rd=1 Go get it! Colin "Colin Dodds" 36917... MORE
Are you sure you are loosing pressure from the tube? Sometimes air can get trapped between the tube and the tire when mounted and slowly this "bubble" of air will leak out around the outside of the valve stem. How do you know it is leaking? Do you hear it? If you rub soap and water around the stem, do you get bubbles? Watch it and see if the air stops leaking at some point then add air to the tube and top it up and see if it still leaks. Bob in San Diego "Robert D. Gardner" 36913... MORE
