MAIN
Ignition System
Previous Page | Next Page
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
"Failure to pay full time attention" Well, this is BS, anyway, Ed. Many years ago the FAA passed a rule which prohibits all but operational conversation from the time the aircraft starts an engine 'til the time the last engine is shut down, except while the aircraft is stopped on the ground while in taxi mode, or for operations above 10,000 ft. while climbing or descending or in "cruise flight" below 10,000 ft. In terms of how easy one can be distracted, this says it all. For those who think they can talk while focusing (completely) on their driving....... MORE
Bob, A little while back I installed a pair of rear 5" speakers in the narrow space between the door pillar and the rear wheel arch. They fit really neatly and are only a few inches behind my head when driving. Out of town, there is no problem as I am not too bothered about the sheep listening to my choice of music. 'Cept when I wind up the throttle a bit I cannot hear anyway! I know what you mean about cutting out the ambient sounds with an earpiece. This is sort of why I thought maybe just... MORE
Has anyone tried setting up an output from a radio to provide a connection for an earpiece? Sort of like a m/c setup? Could I use the ordinary speaker output, wired into a jack plug socket, or would the output be too great for an ordinary earpiece? I fancy connecting to a socket which I could position in the inside face of the rear door post. Then I could use an ordinary in-the-ear unit with a jackplug. I know it wouldn't be stereo, unless I used 2, but in my case it still wouldn't be as I am almost... 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
..sounds like your rear leaf springs to axle u-bolts need to be tightened. The whole axle can easily shift up to 2-3 degrees off line with the road direction. Consider replacing the rubber pads under the mount points and check the u-bolt torque. Paul Tegler ptegler@... www.teglerizer.com "ptegler@cablespeed" 23795... MORE
Neil, I suspect the same thing happened with my switch. Was having the same problem (unable to remove the key), and after a while, was able to do so. In the process, must have caused the spring to break, and offset the contacts inside. In any event, it looks like a new ignition switch is in order. Good luck, Pete "Pete Skalski" 23783... MORE
IN MY CASE IT'S THE SWITCH i SIMPLY TURN THE KEY COUNTERCLOCKWISE TO DISENGAGE THE STARTER "James O. Boyd Jr." 23723... MORE
Hi When I turn on the ignition switch, the starter motor starts the engine OK but stays engaged. Is this the ignition switch at about $180 or the solenoid at about $18? I suspect the switch as it doesn't spring back to the run position after holding it in the start position. It has to be manually turned back to the run position where the starter motor stays engaged at that time. Thanks Neil "Neil Hernan" 23722... MORE
Jim I've always had a passion for Lotus's, but whether I'll realise a dream of =3D=0D actually owning one is another matter. If the Midget is a starter, then a L =3D=0D otus Elan must be the main course! The Elan is almost like a grown up Midget with better handling and more power - but somewhat more fragile. I think Lotus's have gained this reputation for being a lot of trouble main =3D=0D ly due to the fact that they are virtually road going racing cars and as such =3D=0D really do need a lot of pampering and... MORE
I opened a sticking tach and found the trouble to be a warped plastic bobbin that was used to form the wire coil on the end of the indicator pointer. The bobbin walls are very thin as it is mounted on the moving needle, heat and age deteriorate and warp it to a point that it strikes adjacent surfaces causing the indicator needle to stick. I was able to gently pry off the warped and brittle side walls of the bobbin which allowed free motion again. Would not recommend trying this to anyone unless they are very comfortable working... MORE
Don, Re the crack, there are many al. alloys which are not weldable, but I have no idea about this one. In any case, a typical good welding-repair practice for large and relatively fragile castings such as this is to pre-heat the whole bare casting (in an oven) and keep covered with thermal blankets as much as possible during the weld time to minimise distortion. Without this, even if the bell housing IS weldable, one of the dangers is that you might just cause the crack to propagate further by attempting to weld in situ and thus cause more... MORE
After stripping off the front end outer metal work and cleaning the engine compartment I discovered there is a crack in the transmission bell housing. The tab like area at the top of the clutch bell housing where the top two bolts are located has a horizontal crack below them.. It does not appear to be a major structural problem once the transmission bell housing is bolted on as all other areas and bolts are sound. It looks like an easy in place weld job. Is it possible to weld the aluminum housing material? Some PO strangeness as usual... MORE
Dear Listers, I hope someone out there can point me in the right direction. Just finished ( to the point where it should run well) my '75 Midget. I have a recurring problem with stumbling and power loss during higher speed cruising, above 40 mph. The spluttering is usually accompanied by a 5 dg. or so rise in coolant temp. If I back off, the car will smooth out again and run OK if I don't push it. The magic number seems to be 50 mph. If I cruise lower than that I usually don't have problems. At 50... MORE
Rob... the temp rise, along with the stumble... tells me it's running very lean at higher speeds. Do an old fashioned 'plug check'. Find a stretch of road where you can cruise at say.. 30-40mph steady for about 10 minutes. While at speed, switch off the ignition and coast/brake over to the side of the road. Pull a sparkplug and see if it's whitish, or grayish/brown in color. Now repeat the cruise at 50-55mph. Kill the engine at speed Pull over and check the plugs again. If they are much whiter than before....it's running lean. If you simply slow... MORE
sorry, the only measurements I have seen are for use with original dealer body checking gauge sets, so you're out of luck unless you happen to have one of those hanging around! You could try marking your own datum points on the centre-line of the car (start by making diagonal lines from fixed points left and right to accurately find the centre) then measure where the shock absorber mounting holes come relative to this centre. One other thing, have you checked the top trunnions to make sure they're the same each side? Regards David "David Jacobs" 23522... MORE
Does anyone have the measurements between the 6 points on the shocks on a 1975 midget. I live in a very small town and the body shops here don't have any type of information on mg's. My midget has more problems than I first thought. I replaced the negative camber bushings in the lower a-arms with a new set of stock ones, checked the distance between the lower a-arms after buying a shop manual from Moss, checked the spindle, and removed and checked the shock mounts to see if they had been played with and still have too much... MORE
Does anyone have the measurements between the 6 points on the shocks on a 1975 midget. I live in a very small town and the body shops here don't have any type of information on mg's. My midget has more problems than I first thought. I replaced the negative camber bushings in the lower a-arms with a new set of stock ones, checked the distance between the lower a-arms after buying a shop manual from Moss, checked the spindle, and removed and checked the shock mounts to see if they had been played with and still have too much... MORE
"I am building a 1275 to the specs of my 1340 Cooper S that I had in the UK. I had the cam ground close to the 731 cam that I had in that motor. It will have a big valve head and cooper s distributor. It is .030 over. I have several leather hides and decided to cover all panels and dash with that. I put floors, lt rocker and A post piller sections back in it plus a new bonnet. (Since buying a bonnet I bought a 68 with an excellent bonnet for $400.) Oh well. All... MORE
I've completed converting my Bugeye over to negative ground, but I am having a problem converting the tachometer from positive ground to negative. The only tach conversion instructions I have been able to find on the internet or books are for a different type (earlier positive ground tachs?) and the configuration & colored wires do not match. I need advise from Listers who have done a similar tach conversion in past. First ... tach is not original Bugeye. My tach is from a later Mark 2 Sprite (HAN7), specifically a Smiths RVI2401/00 Positive Earth. The white wires wrap around... MORE
They just stopped by Placerville on Hwy 50 on their way to Gardnerville Nevada and eventually Wisconsin - or was that Minnesota? This is the cross-country pickup of a 71 Midget from Southern California. They've had a hot-running car, which fits the 100+ weather, but the 14lb cap is holding and, tho it dribbles once stopped, seems to be holding pressure fine. The fancy wide wheels are a bit too wide and the left rear tire has been rubbing, but a service stop in Fairfield on the way across California saw some adjustment for clearance. I wish now I'd... MORE
The ignition switch is giving me problems. It no longer springs back to the on position after starting the engine and the starter doesn't disengage when the switch is manually moved from start to on. I have taken the steering wheel off and am stuck at the plastic cowling surrounding the switch. The turn signal stem won't let me pull out the left 1/2 of the cowling and the right 1/2 seems to be stuck in place also. Any tips on getting the faulty switch out of the column? I also would appreciate any MG parts websites in the... MORE
When you operate the starter, do the lights dim? If so check your battery. When the ignition switch contacts failed on another of my cars, I removed the cowl and put a jumper across the two terminals on the back of the switch after looking at the wiring diagram to establish which colours the relevant wires were. (Workshop Manual) Another indicator that the switch is going (although different contacts) is that the engine will miss a few beats, particularly when the engine is pulling, for example up hill, leading to a bit of Kangerooing. This is usually caused by... MORE
hello - I'm new to the group and new to owning a 1978 Miget 1500. My problem is I am not able to get the the engine to turn during a start. I know it's not the starter, I had a new electronic starter installed. I read posts about "jumping" the solenoid and would like to know how to do that. Step by step please, I'm a rookie ( don't laugh ) Also would liek to know how to test and bypass the ignition switch to see if that is the culprit as well. Thanks, Tony AKA A Yank... MORE
I would also appreciate info on testing the ignition switch. Thanks in advance. Neil "Neil Hernan" 23160... MORE
