MG Midget

[owelly]

Muh?

[Renrut]

In an effort to drag this back on track I've done some work on the car today!

First I finished the colour painting of the wheels. I've done them in the original style because I have no imagination. Just need a coat or 2 of laquer and they're good to go. I didn't take any photos because I was too busy doing the other stuff I've done today.

Next I did the passenger B pillar, it needed a couple of little holes welding up. Then the A pillar which was a bit more serious

Top of the A Pillar where the windscreen mounts


Bottom of the A pillar on the inside


Then I welded up the Inside of the footwell where there was no access from the outside


The welding wasn't as neat this time because I was having to do it upsidedown in the footwell as it was so far in. The proper way would have been to remove the outer sill but thats starting to get into ground up restoration territory. I didn't take any photos of the other bits after I'd done them because I'm a spanner.

Then I did some bracing work


So how many Renruts does it take to tip over a Midget?





One as it turns out

Inspection of the underside shows most of the underseal is cracking off, so I'll strip it all off, then start work welding up the footwells. I've also noticed that the back of the tub has a few bits that need more work along with the underside of both sills where they've been hacked about at the front and rears.

I've sought some advice from the 16V midget forum and they mostly reckon that suspension upgrades aren't necessary with only a 1.4K as long as I'm not going to be hardcore on track, which I'm not. A panhard rod would be top of the list of things to do if I'm going to - which I can get off the shelf from Frontline for about £150 although I could probably make one myself for about £50.

[Renrut]

I collected my type 9 gearbox yesterday. It came with a sierra bellhousing and clutch fork.

The guy I bought it from (nice chap with a hillclimb mk2 Escort and a Sylva Striker) told me about a company the specialises in bellhousings and alledgedly makes the k to t9 bellhousings that everyone else sells. I'm gonna check them out and I'll report back if they can, it would certainly explain why they're twice the price compared to say XE to T9 bellhousings.

Welly has suggested I make my own but I'm not sure I know where to start on that, I could get both the end plates laser cut but how do you make sure both sides are lined up concentrically? I'll have a look at adaptor plates but I think it might end up a bit long.

[cheaproject]

Looking forward to seeing how you get on fitting the Type 9.

The underside shouldnt take to long, I found the corners and the areas where the pipes run unter the car the hardest part to clean up. Hope you dont find to many more bits needing patched.

[Renrut]

There are a few areas of concern on the underside.

First and foremost concern is the fronts of the footwells, they've been really badly patched in the past and as a result have rotten even worse. Cutting out the old patches will be the best way to ensure I get it done properly.

Then there are the fronts of the sills, they've also been badly patched and certainly on the drivers side chopping out will be the best and quickest remedy.

Then there is the hole in the floor where the drivers seat was ripped out. Hopefully only an hour or so to patch that and redrill the hole. Positioning will be the difficult bit here as ideally I'd like the seats bolted in with new runners to get the location bang on. Failing that I'll make up a jig using some MDF to locate some nuts then weld them to the floor so I don't need 6ft arms to fasten the seats in.

Next is improving the awful patches on the inside of the rear wheel arches where they meet the sill.

Finally for the underside is the underside of the rear quarters. Both sides had completely rotten through. I've got the repair panels for this so I'll simply chop the whole panel out and fit the new ones.

The rest, other than some grotty underseal, looks servicable. That'll get a coat of rust treatment followed by some POR-15, then a coat of black paint to protect the POR-15 from UV. Once I've had the car on the road a bit I might put some underseal on top of that too, just to be on the safe side.

[Renrut]

Not as much progress this week as I'd have liked thanks to working part of the BH and doing 12 hour days the rest of the time

But I have managed to get a few hours on it this weekend. I've welded in the passenger side boot floor corner and stripped all the underseal from the boot floor area up to where the axle sits.

It needs a couple of bits tidying up with the grinder but the rear end of the bodywork is done!

Next is to take on the front ends of the rear arches. They shouldn't take too long but they're a bit fiddly.

I stripped a bit of the underseal back from the footwell areas too. The drivers side is looking a lot worse for it with very perforated bits appearing from behind the nasty nasty underseal.

However the good news is the rest of it seems pretty solid. So really the only bits that have been bad have been the ones hacked about by the bodger and where the front had been pranged

[Renrut]

Bit of a photo update today. first ones that I have only just got round to uploading.

The type 9



Its a 'short input shaft' one. I've got prices from both Titan and Frontline for bellhousings to mate up to it. Both are coming in around the £300 mark plus various other bits, making it by far the most expensive bit of the build. Neither have said if inc or exc VAT though which will make a big difference. I still need to clarify bits like the spigot bearings and the pressure plates.

Photos of one of the boot floor panels being fixed (drivers side)




It needed a little extra bit making up as that had also rusted to nothing on the drivers side. Passenger side wasn't so bad.



And here it is, boot floor metalwork finished!


I'm now onto stripping the underseal from the wheel arches, and general underside. I found 2 more holes I didn't know about in the drivers arch this morning. Both about the size of a 50p but in easy places to patch up. That'll be done tonight if all goes to plan.

In terms of stripping the old underseal has proven to be that tough in places that the only thing for it has been to chisel it off with lots of elbow grease. The fancy oscillating tool I got works a treat on the more gunky bits where its still moist but really struggles on the hard dried stuff. I estimate another 4-6 hours of work and I'll have all the underseal off. So maybe by next weekend then

[Renrut]

Its great when the Mrs goes out for the night with her mates in Manchester - I get to spend hours on the Midget!

Further progress from today, sorted the drivers side rear wheel arch inner after the excess rust that was found earlier.


Here are the places that were fixed.

Close ups






Still needs to be dressed back but as its all out of sight it won't take long.

[Renrut]

Started attacking the drivers footwell last night. It's worse than I thought when I handed over money for this car. The rot had made it inside the upper front chassis leg

So I'm working from inside out, only cutting and replacing small bits (<6" at a time) so as not to distort the chassis.

One reason and another I didn't get round to putting new metal in but tonight I'll upload the 'before' photos. If I can get a good run at it this weekend I feel I might have the drivers foot well and sill done by this time next week.

I'm still no closer to getting it re-registered. All avenues have turned up blanks and finding its original reg number so I'm gonna pay the British Motor Heritage Museum to give me a proof of age cert that I can use. I'm also gonna phone the DVLA local office as Mr O suggested and have a word about the engine swap and see what they say as it'll be them who re-registers it.

[Renrut]

Bit slow putting the photos up from the other day of the drivers footwell/front sill.



Where the footwell meets the inner arch


Where the footwell front meets the floor


Same but further along towards the transtunnel


The front of the sill - yucky!

[Renrut]

Haven't done anything on the midget in the last week, work has over taken again, and it's unlikely to let up until next week sometime. However I did have 20 minutes free last night and after being prompted by the latest PPC article on making adaptor plates and bellhousings I thought I'd have a look at what I had.

Interestingly it looks like I could use the old 4 speed with just an adaptor plate and a custom clutch. Might need to spend a bit more time on it but the bellhousing is big enough, the right ish length once a thick (15-20mm) adaptor plate is used, the starter motor location looks usable with a slight rotation of the gearbox which stands the engine slightly more upright, and the input shaft fits the crank end perfectly without a spigot bearing. Advantages of this route are:
no £300+ bellhousing to buy and I can sell off the type 9 I have saving about £400 total from the build!
I don't need to change my prop at all and can reuse the gearbox mountings saving more money and time.
It's overall lighter and shorter than the type 9 meaning 10kg saved and I don't need to move the gearlever position or cut about the tunnel.

Downside is only 4 gears with no overdrive so motorways will be a pain, but thats a good excuse to take the back roads and the gearbox isn't known as the strongest. If I find it will take 120bhp happily then this seems a real goer of a plan. Anyone who has made adaptor plates before got any advice or suggestions of things to check before I start in earnest?

[mjslonergan]

What are your plans for the diff, as this could negate the lack of a fifth gear or overdrive...

[Renrut]

Its a 3.7 as standard in the later 1500s so better for cruising than the 3.9 anyway. There are almost certainly longer ones still from the MG parts bin that might fit, MGB perhaps.

Looking at the gear ratios the midget box 4th is somewhere between the Ford T9 4th and 5th and mean a top geared speed of around 110mph. The Ford box expects a long diff anyway from what I can find, something more like 3:1 rather than 3.7:1.

So its not entirely off putting. Just need to find what the box can take torque wise now.

[TeamTotalWankel]

Hi Will,

When I did the Monte I used this stuff-

http://www.fertan.co.uk/item-ubs120_tra ... erseal.htm

You leave it a few days once applied to harden, then you can paint over it with any chassis paint. It gave a really tough factory like finish and was good value. I coated the bare metal chassis first in Fertan - http://www.fertan.co.uk/how_to_use_fertan.htm left for 24hrs then coated it in the wax underseal. If any rust does try to develop it just hits the wax.

[Renrut]

Thanks Nick!
That looks like a good option for on top of the POR15/chassisblack I've already bought as well as for injecting into the cavities I can't get at with the POR15. This thing is gonna be unrustable!