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The phone rang at 7:30 am Sunday morning "I'm stranded in Angles Camp, Jr. died," Jr. the name he gave the 63 Midget I sold him. "I just need a around town car." He said when he bought it. He had owned a Midget before and I was confidant I was not selling to an innocent in the ways of classic British cars. I had made clear that since I retrieved it from a carpentry work shop where it sat on blocks for twenty years and brought it back to life that I had not driven it over five... MORE
Surely that should be: - To the optimist, the glass is half full. To the accountant, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be. To the engineer, the pipe filling it is not big enough, surely? :-) :-) R. "Roger Stinson" 23873... MORE
Masking . . . what is masking? You like the way half the dash was over sprayed? Yes, if it were local I would jump to buy it at 500 no matter how much he PO did not understand the concept of masking. Logic and reason fails again. A dashboard is not like windows where you can scrape off the excessive paint with a razor blade. Don "Don May" 23889... MORE
I have recently acquired a H.M.C.Co.Ltd hardtop(as in page 68 of the Terry Horler Bible)it needs a complete refurbishment,however this includes new rubbers to the side windows which seem to be one piece,together with the clips,front & rear. Is there any kind soul outthere in midget & sprite world who knows where I can start looking. Cheers Gordon Jan '62 Mk1 - Called "Bridget" "Gordon Denson" 23839... MORE
Allen Hefner writes..."It's probably not a good idea to exclude a siren....." Exactly, Allen. But, I am going to try to have my cake and eat it too, with a single earpiece. Of course, with the top up, the "problem" does not exist as speakers are fine under this circumstance. We'll experiment and see. It's quite possible that even though the single earpiece will work, I'll be "uncomfortabe" enough with it to look for more speaker locations and speakers of better quality. Were I not using the tonneau all the time, Frank C.'s location would of course, be ideal.... MORE
Hi All Let me start by saying thank you all for the help I have gotten so far on the list. My problem now is. I am haveing trouble getting the switch out so I can clean and or replace it. I replaced the column switch and that gave me all but head lights. Is there any tricks /easy ways to get it out. Not very much roo to work behind the dash. This is a 1979 midget. Thank you all very much Rick "mtman19552002" 23825... MORE
Alan It seems you're following in my footsteps or viceversa, having done/doing this exact same job myself. Perhaps you can benefit from my experience. First off, forget using any kind of power tool on the underseal its a waste of time. The technique that I found works reasonably well on removing the underseal is as follows, I'm afraid however you tackle this job, it's not pleasant, will take ages is boring and messy as hell. I found using a heat gun and scraper worked really well getting off the bulk of the underseal. Just heat it up enough for... MORE
Well, Guy Weller..... The tonneau when "down" would block one of those speakers mounted in the area (otherwise neat location, BTW!:) you speak of, Guy. So, I too will experiment with a single earpiece set-up initially and see how it works out. "Roger" on the ear plugs...used them all the time together with Dave Clark headset "gel" ear pads when flying the friendly skies. Audible sound was "behind us" in any event, most of the "hearing" taking place in the spine and bones (vibrations). Nontheless, there is plenty of slipstream (air) noise going by the cockpit at speed. The... MORE
Yep... Good quality speakers in hi-back seats is the way to go, for sure. Solves the "problem" except for guys like me who have a "personal problem" with hi-backs! :):) Then again, I never claimed to be the sharpest knife in the drawer. I personally dislike hi-back seats, despite their obvious spine and life saving qualities in certain types of "events".... because they block my peripheral vision, even moreso with the top in place. I hate this, to the extent I removed the headrests from my '74, converting the seats back to "lowbacks". I hate to have my senses... MORE
Guy....what a coincidence!! I am looking into the same option with my portable set-up. Of course, a good deal of "situational awareness" comes by way of the open ear which backs up the other senses (and vice-versa), speaker volume notwithstanding. The earpiece blocks "perhipheral" hearing. So I will have to see whether I am "comfortable" with this. What I am talking about is use of hearing as it mostly applies to top down driving when you can actually better "hear" the cars around you, which you lose to some extent anyway, once the top goes up. This having been... MORE
Hi I have also seen this. The carb ,air filters and breather system are all different,so to is the washer bottle is wrong.Makes me think what else has been changed Cheers Gordon Denson "Gordon Denson" 23793... MORE
Mike writes: "Maybe the beast is supposed to feel like a go kart going down the road" You got it...that's exactly right. But, not "wondering" down the road, assuming the surface is smooth. It should go exactly where YOU point it and NOT the other way 'round. It should never feel as though the "tail is wagging the dog". On rougher surfaces the car will "move" sideways in a controlled manner as it "skips" over rougher pavement but it should never "wonder" or feel "loose", despite the fact road shock may be transmitted to the steerng wheel. Any "wondering"... MORE
Uhm, I forgot the original question. :-) If your car doesn't have excessive bounce, then what was your concern? Does it drift excessively when hitting a bump in the curve? Is the front loose in all turns? Does it wander on staight and flat roads? Has the front end ever been rebuilt? Does your steering rack have play? Let's see if we can find another topic to "discuss". Maybe we should start another thread if you feel there is still something amiss in car's handling. Another thought: What if the PO put too heavy of an oil in the... MORE
...this time on a 78 midget. When I turned the switch today, got the usual 3 lights, and then nothing. Until now, never had a problem with starting the car. Something definitely became disconnected from the switch, and will have to get the casing off around the steering wheel to look further. Any idea of what I can expect? I need moral support from fellow spridgeteers. The Lucas beast is alive and well, and I'm doing my best to avoid the thought of selling the car to get away from it all. Thanks, Pete "Pete Skalski" 23781... MORE
G'day guys Just thought I would add my thoughts on the over/under heating problem. My race car has a radiator I had made about 7 years ago. 3 cores and it's so thick it has cut-outs to clear the steering rack mounts! On a 100 F day, I can't get it to heat up. I warm it to around 180 F in the pits, go out for a 10 lap race and come in at 170 F. I was recently asked by a customer to make a copy of the radiator for his car, so with 7 years now... MORE
Hello to all I now have the steering wheel, cowling, turn signal stem assembly and wiper assembly off the steering column. How is the switch removed? I can't find any screws, etc. holding it on. My Haynes manual says I should be able to turn the key to the on position, depress the button and remove the entire barrel assembly. It won't work that way!! I also can't get it to the complete off position to remove the key. The key is somewhat bent in the barrel so I am afraid to work it too hard. My first thought... MORE
OK, let's try: Looks like a MKII or MKIII Midget according to the grille, bumpers and bonnet with chrome liner (non split rear bumper, thick bumpers, MG grille without the MG badge...). If you look at the seats....The early Midget MKII had a horse-shoe pattern seat, this changed later to the shown striped pattern. The missing chrome stripes at the sides and the Steering wheel horn butten might tell it's a Sprite. So my best guess: - 1966 MKII MG Midget, without side chrome stripes, and a non-original steering wheel It might even be an early Midget MKIII (1966/67).... MORE
I've got a '79 midget. It seems to ride a little rough. I was thinking that maybe the shocks need some fluid. So, I have a few questions: 1. Is there a quick & dirty test a guy can do that might indicate whether more fluid is needed or not? 2. Is it easy for a shade tree kind of guy with limited tools to add fluid to the shocks? 3. What about conversion to tube shock kits? Any feelings? One more question. My dash is split right at the windscreen support bracket. I am going to order a... MORE
Don It's extremely difficult to tell from those pictures the age or model, as by the looks of it, as you said, it has a mixture of parts from Sprites and Midgets on it, and you can't be sure what was original on that car. You have to make certain assumptions, and as this list has ably demonstrated in the past, assumptions are dangerous. It has a Sprite badge on the back, a Midget Grille on the front and Austin Healey Hub caps. If the boot handle is correct, this dates it to after October 1961 when it changed.... MORE
A follow up on the steering wheel lock clicking. The lock plunger knocking back and forth in the slot on the steering shaft formed sharp ridges on the top edges of the slot which when the steering shaft turned wore down the softer aluminum housing enough that the steel plunger was left slightly above the level of the surround housing and it was catching momentarily in the steering column slot as the steering shaft turned. I removed the steering column and rather than drill out the break off bolts took my Dremal tool and used a small thin cut... MORE
The clutch problem sounds like you're losing pressure in the hydraulic system, try bleeding the system/replacing clutch fluid/checking Master/slave clutch cylinders are working correctly. The indicator lamp not flashing sounds either like a poor ground connection from flasher unit or faulty flasher unit - both fairly easy to fix. Nigel "amukdigiphoto" 23701... MORE
up and down the country, from every garage or lock up that contains a "classic" you hear this chant - never again, never again !!! but Nigel - a LotsOfTroubleUsuallySerious ! you are a brave man if you tackle one of those. After a couple of Mini's, a T*****h Herald, a Merc, a Rover V8, and currently the Midget I am often heard to repeat "never again". But I'm lying !!! Jim Lodder 1974 RWA Hampshire UK Jim Lodder 23679... MORE
Nigel states.."the Elan is almost like a grown up Midget" My old buddy Alan who owns an XK-140 Jag (with Ford 289!) along with a Ferrari 308 has been trying to get me into an Elan for many a moon as he knows I much admire the machine for it's light weight, handling and "go-power". It's a grown up Spridget if there ever was one!! :):):) But the guys who could service the marque back when I could've learned about them wanted a fortune so I canned that idea and stuck with the more affordable Spridgets, which I "knew"... MORE
Cap'n Well you're lucky you didn't have any bodywork to do. The other problem I'm finding in stripping many of the components, is that the welding done very early on eg the door frame, I now consider to be not good enough. My welding, template making and cutting skills have come on such a long way from those early days that I'm having to redo some of the welding I felt at the time was ok, to a standard I'm happy with, this is just making a long chore even longer! Nigel "amukdigiphoto" 23620... MORE
Often used this technique in the past. It works by spreading the stress. If you look at the set-up using photo-elastic stress analysis with polarised light you can see how the drilled hole modifies the lines of stress - very interesting to see. There must be photo's somewhere on the 'net. You do have to make sure that you drill the hole at the END of the crack though, (not neccessarily where you always think)! If you find that it doesn't work, you prabably weren't at end of the crack!! :-) R "Roger Stinson" 23615... MORE
