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need to widen the tunnel by about 1". Easy with a scissor jack. need to cut out the cross member and replace with a similar steel box section immediately below the floor pan, either welded or bolted in place. A quick and easy modification. Guy "Guy Weller" 25232... MORE
Guy W. Slower traffic staying right is the general idea but in moderate+ traffic it doesn't always work that way and it can become more a general free for all, most especially when 18 wheelers are thrown into the mix. This is theory which works until you come upon an entranceway with many cars merging, then you may find yourself forced into the middle lane in a situation wherein the traffic flow in the middle lane is doing 70 and you lack the power to merge left easily into THAT flow to make room in the right lane for... MORE
Cap'n, This has come up before and the Spit OD will not fit without mods. The conversion I saw widened the Midget tunnel with a bottle jack to fit the OD unit. The conversion also welded in a support piece as I recall. This is one reason I'm reluctant to do this. I have zero welding skills and am somewhat dubious about stretching the drive tunnel that way. Rob C robbiesg@... 25222... MORE
Don, The 3.73 diff from a late rubber bumper Midget will drop a couple hundred revs at 70 mph, and larger tires a little too. Lots easier and cheaper than a different tranny. I don't remember what year your car is, but if it's a 1275, 4000 rpm all day long won't hurt it. Now that you're older (like me), you just worry more about that stuff. Just FYI, I have read that the factory test, when they were building new Spridget engines, was 100 hours on the dyno at max HP. That's about 10,000 miles pedal-to-the-metal. "Jeffrey Holmes"... MORE
My 'tu-pence' : I want to be able to drive the spridget..where ever and as often as possible. Spending nuff time in garage with sons Porsche. Agree with the hi-rev's/hi performance might equal more down time for maintenance. With that in mind, and funds being available, it would seem a blend of euro-asian makes sense. But then just how far should one push the blend? If the 210 box works great.. some other power plant as well work better than the std. 1275 (or whatever ones flavor of spridget came with)? Would like to think all spridget can be... MORE
I guess what I'm saying is that although my five speed (Toyota) makes the car very relaxed at speed it is not essential for high speed cruising. In fact I'm toying with the idea of going back to a standard box and 3.5 diff sometime in he future so I can do historic road rallying in it. "Jeremy Cogman" 25211... MORE
Well said, Don May... You hit the nail on the head..exactly spot on. This is the position I found myself in, more or less. Prior to knowing about the Datsun 5 speed, I attacked "the problem" by moving the whole rpm range upscale to 7-7.5k rpm by "Vizarding" a 1275 and making 4-4.5k rpm a comfortable cruising rpm. Supertuning the motor to take higher rpm is not inexpensive... for it's operating range is just short of a track motor. Weber 45DCOE, bigger valves, prepared head, VP3 cam and 1.5 rollers, big bore LCB and large diameter free-flow exhaust system... MORE
All the discussion on transmission and differential changes have forced me to face some harsh realities . . . Where I live in order to get out of town there are only two choices; Freeway or miles of traffic clogged streets. Freeway speeds here outside of work hour traffic and accidents seldom flows less than 65 miles per hour and 70 to 75 miles per hour is the normal traffic flow speed any speed less than 60 and you create a dangerous traffic slow down and hazards as people pass you on any side there is an opening. Makes... MORE
Don... "Sounds" (excuse the pun:) like you've got a glasspack (free flow) on there, maybe a Thrush or Cherry Bomb. These are "straight thru" designs (as opposed to the "baffled" stock (or Midas/Meineke/ Walker, etc.) system. It may also be the optional "GEX" straight-through type I've see advertised by MiniMania. "Straight thru" design with sound deadening packed around the "open" core allows for perfomance and/or gas economy along with allowing for a cooler running engine due to the easier trip the hot exhaust gases have outbound. allow the engine to run a little cooler as well as the exhaust... MORE
As someone else said, every crown wheel should have it's number of teeth and that of it's pinion stamped on it's outer edge somewhere. This will definitely be right unless someone in the factory (GKN?) had too much 'Hen the night before. "Jeremy Cogman" 25162... MORE
The Spitfire O/D gearbox is a nice solution. You keep the standard ratios for back-road fun and get a cruising ratio too. And the very slick change achieved with the O/D selector switch makes for rapid and fun driving on fast twisty roads. Guy "Guy Weller" 25161... MORE
You can anticipate the changes by working it out in terms of percentages. Changing a 4.22 diff with a 3.9 diff is about a16% change. Revs in any gear for a particular road speed will reduce by 16%. Or road speed will increase by 16% for the same revs. In theory (but not in practice) acceleration will be worse by 16% which sounds a lot but is barely noticable. That said, acceleration changes are not quite so straightforward as it depends on how well the gearing is matched to your particular engine torque and power characteristics. And these depend... MORE
Stewart..... If your engine is tuned for the high end (and it certainly sounds this way.."useless road engine"...."lumpy idle"), then going to a 3.7 will make it more a useless road engine in terms of the low end. So...it you are using the car mostly at highway speeds (say, 3k or higher) than no problem. Town driving will become more of a hassle as you'll be at lower rpm more of the time at lower speeds, unless you retain lower gears more of the time then you are currently used to. The more available 3.9 might make for a... MORE
Seems the PO's of my purple 73 wanted that race car sound, well its not modified to be a race car and the sound level is annoying especially out on the freeway, like riding on top of a WW2 buzz bomb. It's a fairly new muffler and pipes so its not loud because of age. The question is, what are the considerations I should keep in mind when choosing a new muffler? Don't care if it is stock as long as it fits and is correct for the engine which I suspect is bored out a bit but otherwise... MORE
Dear Listers, After tinkering with my '75 Midget all summer I finally have the beast to some standard of reliability having (knock on wood) cured the lean running problem. My next endeavor is to swap the Stromberg for a pair of SU's and to replace the clutch due to weak springs, I hope. I will probably lighten the flywheel while I'm at it. Since I will be pulling the engine anyway why not address the unsatisfactory gearbox as well. Running 4000 rpm at 65 mph doesn't sound good to me. Unfortunately the 1500 engine doesn't have a nice swap... MORE
Stewart, is the 1275 in standard tune? If so, the acceleration won't be sparkling but it's perfectly usable and much more relaxed than your original (which would have been 4.22:1 not 4.55) The top gear mph/1000rpm will go up from around 15 to 18, so 70mph will see the revs drop from 4700 to 3900 (roughly) Don't forget though, that BMC could get away with making 1275 Spridgets with 4.22 diffs as standard, so they must've thought it was reasonable at the time! Regards David "David Jacobs" 25148... MORE
Don, Depending on the severity or gentleness of the curve, use a longer or shorter board for sanding. (Steep curves= shorter board.) For inside (concave curves) use a cardboard roll or a very short nap paint roller woth sandpaper rolled around it. Also, remember I told you to sand "crosshatch" so you avoid low/high spots. This is especially true for curved areas. It does take some artistry , a sensitive touch and a good eye though. Did you buy the guide coat like I suggested? This helps a lot too as vents you from sanding too much. You should... MORE
Nigel, Hmmm. 8/39, that would make it a 4.875:1 ratio and a new one on me. I see from the link David J. provided there really is such a thing. As David says, quick acceleration but soon high rev's. Stock Bugeyes and early Spridgets were 4:22, later Spridgets (post 68) were 3.9 and the last Midgets were 3.7. 4.55's were used in Morris Minors and loved by racers. Gerard "gerardchateau" 25140... MORE
From: gerardchateau To: midgetsprite@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2003 1:15 PM Subject: [midgetsprite] Re: Compound curves Don, Depending on the severity or gentleness of the curve, use a longer or shorter board for sanding. (Steep curves= shorter board.) For inside (concave curves) use a cardboard roll or a very short nap paint roller woth sandpaper rolled around it. Also, remember I told you to sand "crosshatch" so you avoid low/high spots. This is especially true for curved areas. It does take some artistry , a sensitive touch and a good eye though. Did you buy the guide coat like... MORE
Unless a PO has changed it over to negative ground the bugeye will have a positive ground. The 73 RWA came from the factory with a negative ground. as from factory: 59 Bugeye . . . positive ground 73 rwa ..... negative ground. Don "Don May" 25138... MORE
I'm still trying to put a Datsun/Nissan A14 engine/5spd tranny in a 71 Midget. I have seen pictures of one in a 76 or 77. It looks like it comes from the factory. The Datsun engine seems to be an almost direct copy of the Spitfire engine, but with improvements: 5 main bearings, good oil seals front and rear thrust bearings integral with main bearing(it won't fall out!), aluminum head with great intake ports, etc. The 5 spd tranny is butter smooth and quiet. May not get you the horsepower a RX7 will get but it can produce 100+... MORE
Hi everyone, I recently pick up a 71 Midget that some what a basket case for $100. Unfortunately it was an unfinished project from someone else. the rear section was choped off to make a truck bed. It also has a Fiat engine under the hood (I don't like this combo) I intend to fix the body up to original design and put in some japanese powertrain. and upgrade suspension to a full SLA both front and rear. I start with late model Toyota 4AGE that will be completely rebuild and blueprinted to the extend. I saw alot of... MORE
Any sub 1500 4 cyl triumph engine should fit with no mods as its the same engine, 1300 spitfire would be best, better than the 1500 one the midget had in fact as the really had over stretched the original design. If you were in the UK then you could use dolomite engines. Dolomite 1850, TR7 2 litre, dolomite sprint 2litre 16v would all be possible. 2.0,2.5 Triumph 6 cyl motor would possibly bolt to the box, and if a jag XK motor can fit then one of these will! If you are willing to chop it about to... MORE
I just bought a 76' midget that has everything but an engine. It has the tranny. And I need to put an engine in it. I would like to go back to stock, but I can't find a decent engine for what I can afford. I was wondering what other enginges are a reletively easy swap into this car. A old friend of mine put a Mazda Rx7 into his, and it was awesome. Any ideas? "livelarg" 25064... MORE
Hi All I have the same problem only It is just on the front left side. I changed the flex hose too. I didnt how ever change or rebuild the master cylinder.I am wondering if it could be the brake union. Maybe the slideing part is stuck. Is this possible? This is where I was heading next. Thank you Rick "mtman19552002" 25062... MORE
