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questionable "quality of rebuilds" Exactly, Nigel...this and the cost of new ones. And even the new ones of today are not done with the modern materials used by Peter C., which make his rebuilt levers even better than new! The ONLY thing against even Peter's levers is the inherently designed-in single rate response characteristic, a variable rate being preferred on normal roads (except limited access surfaces) as opposed to the relatively smooth surfaces of the track considering the speeds these cars produce under racing circumstances which most racers would proably agree, makes the seemingly "smooth" track surface rough enough... MORE
Nigel, - I have never driven a Spridget - ever! - The car I'm working at was well past driving by the time I got to it... I'm doing a major rebuild of it, and I would like to do it as well as I can the first time round so that I'm pretty much done with it rather than spending the rest of my life continually replacing leaky shocks etc... If I do it right now then I can move on to another project afterwards without continually spending time & money rectifying my mistakes with this one. I'd... MORE
Mark I think you've summarised things pretty well here. And I don't mean to be rude when I say this, but have you actually driven a Spridget with 'good condition' lever arm shocks? Nigel "amukdigiphoto" 28182... MORE
Ok, thanks everyone for your input, - all taken on board. - The general consensus seems to be mixed, but slightly favouring the lever-arms if they are rebuilt to a better-than-original spec. And nobody seems to have used Moss's telescopic kit, just the Frontline one which is also worth knowing. My initial concern had been based on two things: 1. From word of mouth from other car folk that had bought 'uprated' lever arms in the 70's that had then leaked after a year or so, and even recently someone told me about a recently refurbished one leaking after... MORE
Ok, thanks everyone for your input, - all taken on board. - The general consensus seems to be mixed, but slightly favouring the lever-arms if they are rebuilt to a better-than-original spec. And nobody seems to have used the Moss telescopic kit, just the Frontline one which is also worth knowing. My initial concern had been based on two things: 1. From word of mouth from other car folk that had bought 'uprated' lever arms in the 70's that then leaked after a year or so, and even recently someone told me about a recently refurbished one leaking after... MORE
Bloke at work has put one of frontline ones his rubber bumper midget. Very well made. You get a substantial welded plate bracket that goes where the old lever arm goes. Uses the three holes plus one other you have to drill. Telescopic goes on to top of new bracket and bottom goes to new bit held on by the anti roll bar fixings using longer bolts. He says wonderfull, positive steering and suspension. But then his lever arms were totally shot. He would have got an immediate improvement with good lever arms. Terry "terry.isherwood" 28162... MORE
I make it pre- Oct 1961 when the boot handle changed from L to T. But as David says the steering wheel changed to black at Nov 61, so I'd put it somewhere around Oct-Nov 61. I'd be interested to know how it got a 66-67 Reg plate though! Nigel "amukdigiphoto" 28150... MORE
Mark, I fitted the Frontline kit a year ago. It came with AVO adjustable rate (10 clicks) dampers. I am pleased with the end result, but the kit was not easy to fit. The upper end is fine, but on the bottom end, there were several iterations of grinding/filing/fitting to get the lower shock mountings to properly nest into the underside of the A-arms. It was a lot of detail work, with the risk of "screwing up" the A- arm, thus requiring a new one, or a repair to fix what wasn't broke in the first place. (I hate... MORE
A buddy of mine, living in Germany during March of 1963, got the following quote from the Austin Motor Car Co., Ltd., Motor Export Corporation, Ltd. of Piccadilly, London on a new AH3000... A-H 3000 Sports Conv. L865.00.00 (Mono or DuoTone) Prod. Line fitted extras: Heater 15.10.00 Overdrive 50.00.00 Wire Wheels 25.00.00 Adj. Steering Col. 2.00.00 Tonneau 10.00.00 Knockoffs (ea. wheel) 1.06.00 Servo Ass't. Brakes 10.00.00 *Steering Lock 4.10.00 *Wing Mirror 1.11.04 * = Compulsory in Germany A hardtop is not currently available thru the Personal Exports Divison Anyone care to do the exchange rate math at "yesterday's" prices,... MORE
M. The telescopic conversions, and I am speaking from what I've read on this list and others, don't really seem to be worth the money in my opinion. If it's already been done, some say it's great, but most seem to think it's only great in comparison to a worn out stock system. If the stock is refurbished to original (or better) condition, it will perform as well or better than any telescopic conversion. Peter Caldwell, of the spridgets autox list, sells a great remanufactured shock at a reasonable price. He is in the US, and shipping may be... MORE
Hi, Dave...welcome. I've heard nothing but good things about the Frontline kit. While it IS expensive, it is extremely well-designed in terms of structual load sharing, unlike my Wheelrite kit which, while adequate and satisfactory, is not as "supportive" in this particular respect. The problems inherent with the original lever shocks have been overcome by Worldwide's Peter C., based here in the USA. See his article on lever shocks under Spridget tech articles at: www.gerardsgarage.com The "problems" with levers include a "fixed", rather than the tube shock's "variable" rate of response. They also require topping off every now and... MORE
I just got a rear conversion kit for my 73 for Christmas from my wife that includes the Konis and cost around $550.00 canadian. I have to wait for the Mastercard to come in to know the exact price as she would not tell me. However I am going to go with Peter C's front replacements in the spring. Check his out at www.nosimport,com Ian "mcalpine" 28138... MORE
If the 1inch travel is the full distance that the pedal is able to move through, this would be a BAD thing, And either: the pedal is starting very close to the floor before the clutch begins to disengage, or the pedal starts high, but is prevented from full travel by the slave cylinder piston hitting the circlip or other faults with the linkage. Guy "Guy Weller" 28087... MORE
G'day Paul et al The travel at the slave cylinder end depends on: a.. the length of the clutch pedal from pivot point to the pedal pad (there are two lengths - bet you didn't know that) b.. the height of the pedal off the floor (which is adjustable on cars with dual clutch/brake master cylinders) c.. the amount of free play at the top of the pedal d.. the master cylinder bore size e.. the slave cylinder bore size f.. the amount of "lost movement" due to wear in bushes, clevis pins etc etc If you know answers... MORE
Sure, Nigel... Most especially in your case wherein you are doing an "original" car, I personally feel it pays to once bite the bullet because in the end, you will pay just as much if not more renewin "new" chrome parts until you get lucky enough to find a good one. Out of two pairs of "new" chrome BE bumperettes, I've gotten one good one that's lasted!! All others have gotten rust spots within one year, sometimes less! As in paint shops, EPA laws over here are driving rechroming prices out of sight. I'll probably go for one more... MORE
Maybe you have one of those faulty rotor arms with a hairline crack that opens up as it warms up. Guy "Guy Weller" 28008... MORE
Bill, Just registered my car as an Antique in Illinois this past spring. Wasn't bothered at all and from asking around, the local gendarmes don't pay much attention. In Illinois there is also a proviso fot driving your car to get serviced which pretty much makes it worthless for any cop to stop you. Rob C Webfoot Leisure.com rob@... 630-841-6077 robbiesg@... 28001... MORE
An interesting discussion . Thanks for your input guys, I guess a lot of people were also under the impression that the Up movement counteracted the Down movement in terms of volumetric displacement. To sum it up then, 1) thethe crankcase does breathe a little.2 ) Most of its pressure is caused by blowpast the piston rings. 3) If required the original (GWO) charcoal cannister should be used.4) alternatively a pipe can be fed to a ventilated container and regularly emptied. I like this as I don't believe that an engine enjoys eating it's own smoke !!! Alan Ariel... MORE
Hi Geri, I am no mathematician, so I am quite happy to accept what you say, and I am not arguing with you... but logic makes it hard to believe! If all 4 pistons are identical, and the throw on each crank journal the same, then I cannot see why the volume displaced by one going down should be any different from the displacement of the adjacent one going up. Neither can I see why the length of con rod should make any difference either. However I can well imagine that there are complex effects of the inertia of... MORE
An LCB is an awful lot easier to fit to a Midget than a Mini. The only potential problem area is the hole where it has to go past the chassis rail; you might need to relieve the flange on one side to get the manifold to fit. The MG Metro inlet manifold will fit but there might possibly be carb/bonnet clearance issues (not 100% sure about this bit) There are several other alternative manifolds for a single 1" SU though, if this is a problem. Regards David PS reading recommendations should include David Vizard's 'Bible'! 27974... MORE
By now it should be obvious that I have a few days off and am spending them in the workshop, hence another quick question. Are 1098 and 1275 exhaust manifolds identical or is the 1275 version a little larger internally, and if the 1275 is a little larger internally would it fit on a 1098 and what effect would it have on performance? The reason I ask is that my project (65 Sprite ) has one of those performance enhancing three branch manifolds unfortunately the previous owner has hacked a lump out of one of the front chassis legs... MORE
David Regarding 'practicing' your welding skills, I agree 100% with you, I've just been through this process and I know where you're coming from. I also went through the 'thought' process of repairing my own ones, but for the reasons we've both realised - it just isnt worth it. I also made up a number of my own repair sections, for various reasons, but usually because I didn't want to hold up progress while I ordered the section and waited for it to arrive. One notable one was the passenger side lower A post hinge mounting. I used the... MORE
Nigel / Biff Thanks for the relies, I agree with you Nigel it isn't really worth mocking your own panels I spent a day making the riser brackets which I could have bought for 22 pounds. The main reason I make my own is to develop my metalworking and welding skills before I let myself loose on the important structural parts of my project car. The other advantage is that not all the repair panels are exact replicas of the original (even the good quality ones) either in exact design or metal thickness. I was very interested in Nigel's... MORE
"I can think of no reason...." Front wheel alignment..."castor".... and Happy New Year! :) Cap'n. Bob '60 :{) PilotRob@... 27917... MORE
Dave I also had to repair that area on my car recently, including putting in a new 'chassis mounting tube' to replace the original one that a bolt had seized in, and as they're high tensile steel, I could not drill it out. I simply cut out the mounting tube and refitted a new one - much easier. I also debated on whether to repair my old 'riser brackets', but felt on balance, bearing in mind the amount of work involved, it would be easier to just buy new ones, which I did. "amukdigiphoto" 27911... MORE
