My project fleabay Midget!!

[johnbaz]

Hi all

Here's my MG midget that i 'won' on ebay for £450, it was close to me so i viewed it first and thought it was solid enough for the opening price, i bid and no one else did so it came to stay with me!!

The underside of the car is solid but the wings, doors etc needed some work (still do actually!!)

Here's the car as it was when it was delivered (apart from me trying to take the hood down in very cold weather and breaking the plazzie back window


First thing to go was the 'orrible gret lumps of rubber from front and back, i was going to convert to chrome but i think i'll just weld over all the mount holes and go proper bumperless...

The problem with going bumperless is that when you remove the front bumper, there are two large rectangular holes which need to be filled so i welded a plate over, there was some rot below the headlamps too so that needed a plate making/welding in..

When i removed the offside wing, the inner wing was rotten on the front edge so that needed some new steel in too..


The indicator hole filled..


the rot cut away and new steel welded in..


From the inside..


There was a hole on the top of the wing which i made a small round patch for and that and the cutout at the bottom rear of the wing have now been done, there's on bit that needs patching before i can replace the wing, it would have been easier to but a couple of replacement wings but that would have been nearly £600 


The rear of the tub where the soft top fits needs welding, it's a shame a pressed panel can't be bought for this as it would be much easier than making several plates to cover from one side to t'uther...

Not much is happening lately on it due to an accident at work and the fact that it's gettin a bit cold now...


John

[johnbaz]

Hi

There is rot on the rear wing all along the bottom though the cills are rock solid...

Rotten!!!




Chopped out and wing to floor panel dry fitted (the leather aprons were to catch the sparks from the grinder..


Rear wing dry fitted (it's a wing for a chrome bumper midget )


Closer..


They didn't get fully welded as the weather turned very wet anyhow, i needed to put some strip where the inner arch meets the outer arch

When the bodywork is finished my brother is going to paint it for me (it's what he does for a living!!, he says he's going to do something 'special' with it!! (he once painted a full motorbike and the owners helmet with luminescent paint, i'll bet it was a shock that thing riding by on a country road in the dead of night!!!)



John

[Brass_Machine]

Very cool. Something about small convertibles. Never had an MG... Dad had an Austin Sprite. I had a Triumph TR7. All very cool cars.

How far are you going to restore? Any mods planned? Gonna drop a Chevy 350 in it?  

Eric

[johnbaz]

Very cool. Something about small convertibles. Never had an MG... Dad had an Austin Sprite. I had a Triumph TR7. All very cool cars.

How far are you going to restore? Any mods planned? Gonna drop a Chevy 350 in it?  

Eric

Ha Ha!!!

I'm afraid the dinky li'l 1500cc engine will stay put, the only mods will be to remove the rubber bumpers and weld over the mounting holes, cut back the chassis front beams and fit a nice grill..

I have a hardtop that came with the car, i may fit that until i get a new ragtop for it...

The bonnet (hood for our American cousins!) leading edge is riddled (as always!!) with holes, i bought a load of spares, amongst them was another bonnet which didn't seem quite as rusty as the original until i started probing with a centre punch

Result of probe...


Holes filled in with migset, there was a bit more after this pic to get it all solid..


a bit of filler..


And a bit of aerosol primer, my bro will do a proper job when it goes to his place...the primer is still wet hence the trees reflecting in the paint!!


Strangely, the back end of the car is surprisingly solid!!



I've set a target of may next year to get it all up and running so that i can attend the Midget 50 gathering!!! (probably be more like the Midget 60!!!)


John

[HS93]

I had an older car , and did a lot of work on telescopic rear shocks instead of the leaver arm and like yourself major body work how is the boot floor ? but the bigest mod was a gearbox change as the car I had a 1966 had no syncro on first, I fitted a 2000e ford box the old Lotus cortina etc box that was used by a lot of car moders, you will prob find there is an equivelat, it had a nice long 1st gear I also fitted a riley kestal 3.7 diff and some special tunning half shafts (a must) unless you want to drive around with a boot full of standard half shafts, I fitted the later a series 1300 engine and a single 4o sidedraft webber sounded the biz and went well the gearbox was simple to do as the adapter plate off the later car only needed re drilling and a bit of playing with the hydrolic clutch
some people fitted the crosflow ford but i wanted to stay as near to what it was supposed to be , just after finnishing it I had to have a hip opp ( I was only young) and could not get in it again,

Oh fit a roll hoop, I saw one in a scrap yard that had rolled with out one and the teeath and hair in the top edge of the screen put me off.


peter

[johnbaz]

Hi Peter

I have a roll bar to fit once the car is nearing completion- it's a yucky thought of one turning over without the protection it gives


Apparently the Sierra C9 five speed box is the conversion these days as they're so plentyful, a spacer plate is needed of around 1" (if i recall correctly)

I'll only be using it at the weekends, the Honda is more reliable for frequent use!!



Cheers, John

[madjackghengis]

Hi Peter, when I saw your post I had to go through the log, I had a midget for some time, back in the late 70s, I was a Marine, stationed in Hawaii, and got the car for some five hundred the owner owed on it.  It was running, had just a bit of rot which my Marine brothers quickly helped me get rid of, I think it was a 72 or 73 with the 1200.  It ran right nice, fairly quick, and very much fast enough for the size of the island, and a friend had one exactly the same except the opposite year, which ever mine wasn't, and we traded parts, and found parts yards together, and with two, found it quite easy to always have both running.  I loved that car, we had a couple of three or so places where the road ran up the sides of mountains, and had hairpin turns every fifty yards or so, switching between second and third, trying to keep the inside set of wheels on the pavement, while doing thirty or forty in turns that should have been twenty at most.
    You should have a great time with that little beastie, I miss mine still, although I'm a bit older and don't do so much in hairpins anymore.  That's a fine bit of work getting rid of all the cancer, looks like you're doing a bang up job, good on getting rid of the rubber bumpers, made it look like a bumper car, and you can't have that.  How's that 1500 run compared to the old 1200 with just one of those SU carbs?  I had a Del Orto 40 on a Harley I had at the time, that weber ought to run sweet on that 1500.  Looking at that makes me feel young and foolish again.  Good to see a midget going together, and looking forward to the paint, brothers always set you up right, and usually surprise you.  Fine looking piece of driving fun you've got there, don't mind the drool. From the sound of all the other advice, there's lots of interesting bits and pieces to make it unique as your own, and give it some pizzazz as well mad jack

[andyf]

Ah, that brings back happy memories! Ours was yellow too, but was a 1970 AH Sprite, bought in about 1972, and sold on after a couple of years. 

36 years later, I still have this in my garage:



It's marked "Mk III Sprite" in the hub, and is unused. The alloy spokes haven't suffered much, but the (detachable) hub needs skimming down to remove pitting. OD is about 13.5", and the splined hole is around 0.7" diameter. If you feel it would adorn your project, and can make your way over the Snake to Sale sometime, it's free to a good home.

Andy

[johnbaz]

Hi Jack (i'd better not say that whilst on a plane )

According to the specs, the 1500 was the quickest but the earlier chrome bumper model (as yours was- i think pre'74) is the more desireable vehicle

Someone asked about the boot (trunk), it's absolutely solid as is all of the underside apart from one very small bit of rot, about an inch across that will need a patch welding in, amazingly all around it is still solid!!



Cheers, John

[johnbaz]

Ah, that brings back happy memories! Ours was yellow too, but was a 1970 AH Sprite, bought in about 1972, and sold on after a couple of years. 

36 years later, I still have this in my garage:



It's marked "Mk III Sprite" in the hub, and is unused. The alloy spokes haven't suffered much, but the (detachable) hub needs skimming down to remove pitting. OD is about 13.5", and the splined hole is around 0.7" diameter. If you feel it would adorn your project, and can make your way over the Snake to Sale sometime, it's free to a good home.

Andy

Coo!!

Andy- that's much nicer than mine


If i'm over your side of the hills then i'll PM you


Cheers, John

[andyf]

Coo!!

If i'm over your side of the hills then i'll PM you


Cheers, John

Yup, PM me if you can bring yourself to leave Yorkshire. Likewise, if I'm over your side, I'll let you know. Not worth the fuel for a special trip; postage would be just over £7, as far as I can judge from the kitchen scales.

Andy

[johnbaz]

Coo!!

If i'm over your side of the hills then i'll PM you


Cheers, John

Yup, PM me if you can bring yourself to leave Yorkshire. Likewise, if I'm over your side, I'll let you know. Not worth the fuel for a special trip; postage would be just over £7, as far as I can judge from the kitchen scales.

Andy

Hi Andy

If you could post that would be fantastic!!

I could pay by paypal, cheque, postal order or just cash well concealed in an envelope


Cheers, John

[andyf]

Hi John,
How about this:
I go to the local Post Office daily for my newspaper, so I'll wrap it up, get them to weigh and price it, PM you with the price and my address and you can send me the stamps to stick on it.

Wrapping it will be fun. Easier than wrapping a rocking horse, though.

Andy

 

[johnbaz]

Hi John,
How about this:
I go to the local Post Office daily for my newspaper, so I'll wrap it up, get them to weigh and price it, PM you with the price and my address and you can send me the stamps to stick on it.

Wrapping it will be fun. Easier than wrapping a rocking horse, though.

Andy

 

Fantastic!!!

PM inbound


Cheers, John

[Dean W]

Oh, I love the older small Brit sport cars!  That one doesn't look so bad at all, (except for the idiotic bumpers!).  Glad you're dumping those.
I wish I could see the relationship between "wings" and "fenders".  If only I could speak English!
Sure looks like a fun project, and a great car for weekends in the summer time.

Why is it that these type of cars always seem to have so much rust?  Didn't my Brit cousins know about primer?  ; )  It seems a
problem with a lot of older British vehicles.  I'm a fan of older Triumph motorcycles, and have had a couple.  I swear, the chrome fenders
had rust pre-installed at the factory!  Both of mine had rust bubbles pushing through anything that had been chromed, and in many
places coming through the paint.  The gas tank on my last Bonnie rusted clear through.  The old Norton had it too!  (I would still rather
have them than any other motorcycle!)

[HS93]

see if you can get the older dash with proper smiths switches, nothing like the click of a switch, on the older ones ther was the old mini dip switch, but I converted it to the newer stalk (from a ford) but left the old switch in and used it to switch of the electrical fuel pump, it was a good ant theft device as it was hiddem up the bulkhead and if some one got it going they would chug to a holt in the middle of the road as ther was only a carb bowl full off fuel.  you have the 1500 triump engine that was in the old teledo I think. By the way have you driven it much yet ? have you looked UP at the hubcaps on busses and lorries yet Scarey..

peter

[rleete]

Yeah, they do seem to tend to rusting.  I looked for one for months that wasn't a rot box.  Triumph, Austin, MG, Lotus, etc.  Finally "settled" on the Miata, because it has alot of that Brit Roadster charm, without the Lucas nightmares.

Hats off to you guys repairing the rot.  It's a lot of work!

[Divided he ad]

Ahh... Fun little mota! 


My uncle has a Mk4 sprite (Basically the same vehicle) he's had it since new, can't recall accurately right now but he paid somewhere around 1000 notes for it on his 21st birthday    he's in the middle of restoring it now.
He's had the engine/gearbox out and given it a full re-spray in and out, it should be back on the road in the summer for the first time in 12 years!

Great little car, feels like you're in a rocket propelled supercar when it's flying along at 50!?! I think it has something to do with how close your cheeks are to the ground!?   

Bit of a sod to get in and out of when you're over 6ft though!



Do you know if it has been converted for lead free running? hardened seats, retarded timing etc?



Good luck with hitting the finish date John, looks like you're well on the way 





Ralph.

[Stilldrillin]

John.
It's been a while since I had any M.G. contact.

I had a rather special B. GT.......



It left me around 8 years ago. Don't arf miss it!

David D

[Bluechip]

LOP ???

So, where's it's ear'oles then ??

I dunno, you young warriors with all this grunty transport..

Had to make do with a Hillman Minx Est. in my early days 

My old mate had a Daimler Dart, lashing of BHP, but no means of keeping it on the road apparently.
Coming back from the Yew Tree Inn at Cauldon, he decided have a stab at re-adjusting the Pennines with it. Not a success 

Shouldn't make fun really. Legs smashed, both full of metal struts to keep him mobile.

Although it was funny to watch him spinning round if he tried to walk past a sub-station   

Dave BC

[johnbaz]

Ralph

I've not actually been out in it yet (no MOT etc when i got it from the bay!)

As far as i know, it's not been upgraded for unleaded but i've been told that if you run it on unleaded, it'll probably be around 20,000 miles before any damage is evident, i have a spare engine in the garage so i suppose i could strip the jhead from that and get the hardened seats/ new valves fitted...

David- i had my heart set on a BGT until i saw two early chome bumpered midgets come down our road, they had the tops down and two fairly elderly gents and their wives were in them (flat caps and handlebar moustaches!!- that was just the women   )


They were bright red and gorgeous so, it had to be a midegt then
Your was a beauty


Dean- i think that back in the 70's there were loads of strikes so the car companies bought in whatever they could from wherever they could get it, much of the steel was low grade apparently, the old Vauxhall vivas were notoriously bad for rusting, many of the cars from back then suffered from the dread tinworm


BTW, i've already had a problem with the rubbish electrical system, one of the contacts on the ignition switch fell off for some reason, the car would start and only keep running whils the key was in the start position, let go and it stopped
It was sorted very quickly once i asked on the MG forum (they know every problem related to Midgets on there so there's no need to start testing everything )



Cheers, John

[HS93]

For you chaps in the USA you can get NEW shells for most MG's   http://www.bmh-ltd.com/mgb.htm    http://www.bmh-ltd.com/midgetshell.htm   far quicker than welding (if you cannot weld like me)
so buy a scrap tatty one and re shell ..
Peter

[Brass_Machine]

... (flat caps and handlebar moustaches!!- that was just the women   )

See? That's the problem... If I were to get the things that I enjoy (the cars, motorcycles etc...), I would end up with a large handle bar 'stache with a tweed jacket (plus appropriate elbow patches), hat and pipe!

Eric

[johnbaz]

... (flat caps and handlebar moustaches!!- that was just the women   )

See? That's the problem... If I were to get the things that I enjoy (the cars, motorcycles etc...), I would end up with a large handle bar 'stache with a tweed jacket (plus appropriate elbow patches), hat and pipe!

Eric

Eric- it's been a bit chilly here in Sheffield today so scarves would be an essential too!!!

I think i'll get the hardtop re-painted, cut new windows from some 3mm perspex (acrylic sheet) that i have and buy some new rubber seals to set them in until i get a new softop for it, i quiet like the Midgets' i've seen with hartops fitted!!

It's in a bit of a mess at the moment but i have all the fixing brackets and nuts/screws to fit it, i reckon it will paint up lovely!!!


The old acrylic windows actually will polish up like new with metal polish (i used Brasso!!), here's the difference that 10 minutes of polishing can do!!
The one on the left is the polished one (a bit obvious really )



John

[Brass_Machine]

Nice clean up on the acrylic.

Hard tops aren't bad. Much nicer in the winter than the cloth stuff... If you are like me, then it will get driven in the winter

Eric

[Powder Keg]

My sister used to have a Triumph Spitfire that had all 3 tops. It was a fun little car. Emphasis on little

[PeeWee]

Looking very good, brings back memories of my restoration of a Triumph GT6 Mk3.  like everyone says, small but huge on the fun side.

[madjackghengis]

Hi Andy, it's a bit interesting seeing the wheel on the other side, but from the looks of the metal work you should have it fixed up and ready to go for that get together.  As far as the unleaded and engine issue, I wouldn't worry about it at all.  I have been doing engine work for forty years now, and it was a big to do over the unleaded valve seats and doing a complete job before your Harley engine blew up, but after a little bit of experience, I found valve seats and valves last about half as long as they would with leaded gas, and once they've gone bad enough to not clean up and still have proper seat height and stem clearance, new seats put in, and new valves and guides puts them right back in order, quickly and fairly inexpensively.  I pay about seven or eight dollars a seat from the manufacturer, here in the colonies, not from Harley, but a company that exclusively makes seats, and a pair of valves is about fifty bucks, but that's because they're made for Harleys, and everyone knows Harley riders have cash falling out of their pockets.  If you've got adjustable lifters, you will know when the seats need replacing, as the stems will have gotten rather tall, taking the head from a spare engine and having it ready is a good idea, lets you do the job when you have the time and the money, not when the engine demands it.  I think the standard British sheet metal is a bit thinner than American, at least it always seemed so when I was welding it.  I know that Triumph, Norton and BSA had some rough times a couple of decades ago and their quality control got to resemble Harley's for a while, so rust was pretty common.  Taking off the hunking blocks of rubber was the biggest fix as far as looks, and having the choice of transmissions sounds like a real good change from my own experience.  I hope you enjoy your midget as much as I enjoyed mine.  I still miss it occasionally.  So far you've done a nice job on getting the metal back where it belongs, it's going to look good when you've got her back inspected and all that rot, and are driving it.  I'm enjoying the pictures of the rebuild. mad jack

[andyf]

Hi Andy, ....

Jack, I think that should be "Hi John". My only contribution to this thread and the Midget is the old steering wheel which will be on its way to John on the next day or two.

Cheers,
Andy

[NickG]

Just found this John but glad I did!

My first car was a 1977 midget 1500 - it was almost half the price (believe it or not) to insure that when I was 17 than the other offer on the table which was my grandads 1.0 litre skoda! I actually ended up driving the skoda too for a short while but that's another story!

I am now thinking of getting another classic. I was thinking of changing my car for something like a porsche boxter, so a modern, quick roadster but the insurance is still so high it made me think, why not work out some costs to run a classic as well as an every day car. There are many advantages, insurance is under £200 a year with a small excess rather than around £8-900 with a £4-500 excess! If I get the right year it will be tax exempt, parts will be cheaper and I can do any work myself! I also get to keep a normal every day car.

It's nice to know that there are a lot of like minded people - David, nice looking MGB GT - I really fancy a C GT. I have grown to love fast cars and think the extra poke of the C would give me enough excitement despite their faults! Peewee .. I also love GT6's, TR6's or maybe even a BGT V8 at a push. It's a different kind of enjoyment driving the older classics though, am quite excited at the prospect of looking for one soon!

Great work on the Midget John, am sure I'll learn a lot by following this thread. I always wanted to remove the rubber bumpers from my midget too. I often cursed the 1500 engine too but with hindsight, it was smoother than the A-Series and I didn't realise the benefits of an 8 port head at the time but dare say it must be at least as, if not more tuneable than the a-series too?

Nick

[andyf]

Nick, I still yearn for a Lotus (or more likely these days, Caterham) Seven. They can be surprisingly cheap to insure as a second car, if you have a clean insurance record and are willing to restrict yourself to a low yearly mileage.  I suppose the mileage wouldn't be a problem with one as a second "fun" car used only on nice summer days. What would be a problem is clambering in and out, given my advancing years, and perhaps a certain snugness once seated, given my similarly advancing girth
 

Then again, maybe an Ariel Atom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_Atom , though I doubt if I'm streamlined enough to achieve the advertised  0-60 in 2.7 secs.

 
Andy

[HS93]

Looking very good, brings back memories of my restoration of a Triumph GT6 Mk3.  like everyone says, small but huge on the fun side.

I did some work with someone on a GT6, the owner had taken the engine out but got stuck so we hadto tow it to where we worked on cars to sort the engine was in the back in bits , I got the job of being towed, as you will prob rember the vision out the front is not that great if you are short, but with the engine in the boot it was a fun 20 mile tow.

the only other car with worse vision was the Marcos even with the engine in  

I am helping out with the wiring on a westfield with a Toyota 16v twincam, why can they not just have points. instead of a box with 40 + wires

     peter  

[NickG]

Andy,

I priced up a Caterham 7 Kit and even the most basic one with optional extras of a windscreen, 'wet weather gear' and a heater came to around £14500 which is unfortunately out of my price range at this time! Obviously you can get older ones cheaper but with one of those a lot of the fun would be in the building too!

I always used to want a Lotus Elise until a colleague at work got one, for some reason if I'm going to buy a novel type car I can't bring myself to get something anyone I know already has! Therefore a Vauxhall VX220 is still on my list - essentially the same car but looks a bit different. The issue with that is, could I live with it every day for 50 miles a day? As with the Boxster, that would have to be an every day car.

I'd love an Atom but they're still around the £30k mark so it'll probably be always out of reach for me!

why can they not just have points. instead of a box with 40 + wires

     peter  

My wife's Citroen C5 is full of technology (or stuff to go wrong) - on Monday I got a warning on the dashboard "Engine Anti Pollution System Fault" and it's restricted me to about 10% power! It's going in on Friday to hopefully find out what's wrong and sort it out, £65+VAT just to connect to diagnostic computer then I'm sure it'll tell me whatever is wrong is not covered by the warranty! This is making me want to buy a classic even more, I can deal with a  coil, distributer, points, plugs and carbs!

Anyway, sorry for going  

Great work on the hard top windows John, I think that is the style of hard top I had too - the only thing wrong with it was some sort of flock on the inside that was peeling off - didn't really know what to replace it with. Are you going to spray it body coloured?

Nick

[Bernd]

Nick,

Fixed the slight boo boo with the quote from Peter.

Bernd

[NickG]

Thanks Bernd, I've never been able to do that properly!

[johnbaz]

Great work on the hard top windows John, I think that is the style of hard top I had too - the only thing wrong with it was some sort of flock on the inside that was peeling off - didn't really know what to replace it with. Are you going to spray it body coloured?

Nick

Hi Nick

The head lining has been stripped away from the hardtop before i acquired it, it's a case of buying some 1/2" foam, some cotton material and a can of spray glue (i hope )

I think i'll have it painted gloss black though that's up to my brother, he has a better idea of what goes together colourwise, he may even put some murals on the thing (he did that on my old Mk1 escort that i had years ago!!, from memory it was Jim Steinnman and was taken from a 7" record sleeve!!


John

[NickG]

Yeah that should do the trick John, just some careful cutting out etc. Looking good, I can't wait to see it progress!

I've got a load of cars saved in ebay, favourites etc. but not quite in the position to buy one yet!  I don't want another project though, I need something I can jump straight into and drive, just don't have time to do a lot too it but maintain it.

Nick

[HS93]

Nick,

Fixed the slight boo boo with the quote from Peter.

Bernd

If that was me thanks I am a bit shall we say (dont go near moving parts or drive ) at the moment ill get used to them  so sorry..

peter

[Brass_Machine]

Nick,

Fixed the slight boo boo with the quote from Peter.

Bernd

If that was me thanks I am a bit shall we say (dont go near moving parts or drive ) at the moment ill get used to them  so sorry..

peter

Wasn't you Peter 

Eric

[Bernd]

Nick, Peter,

Sorry to confuse you. It was just a small error that I fixed. Part of my high paying job here. 

Perhaps I should keep my mouth shut as to what I do. 

Bernd