I posted on here about a year ago and find my original post so I will just a new one.

I Bought the car in march of 2011, and went to basic training for the Army national guard in april

I just picked the car up last week (3/7/2012), and plan on tearing the car completely down, swapping out the motor and tranny for something a bit newer, working in some body mods, etc,etc.


I am new to MG's and would really appreciate some of you(self proclaimed or certifiable) experts to add me as a friend so I can use your knowledge to help me in my quest.

Updates on the tear down and certain speed bumps I run into will be updated and posted up here, I am currently moving to a new place so I wont be doing much for the next few weeks but please subscribe to my thread as I will post on here weekly once work begins.

Any pre-emptive information would be greatly appreciated in regards to the parts of the car to be extra careful with.

Thanks and I look forward to your posts.

Nice wheels, they from a Delorean? Anyhow, you may find the following handy

Here is the dealer training booklet for front end alignment
http://www.spridgetguru.com/TA0066.html

The front suspension requires care and attention. Treat it right, and it will be good to you. That means regular greasing. Also the design of the lower fulcrum pin may be of particular interest, because disassembly can be a challenge.

http://www.spridgetguru.com/TA0038.html

Engine swaps can result in a car that is a lot of fun, but consideration has to be made for the rather confined spaces you're working with. BL couldnt even get an overdrive in a 1500 midget without sacrificing some interior space. There are lots of options though. people have swapped in ford engines, 1.6L toyota twin cams, mazda wankels, chevy small block v6, Even a jaguar XK engine! The wildest I've ever seen was a rover aluminum 215 V8 mated to a ford sierra 4wd system. It even clearted the bonnet with the barest minimum of a bonnet bulge.

Any increase in power over about 100 horse is going to require giving the rear axle some attention, as the half shafts were designed for a car with only 65 or 70 hp. Growlerizing can help them (thats a machining operation. You can look that up in google) but that only goes so far. Chances are you will have to swap out the axle for a new one and have it shortened so that it fits under fenders.

Remember that the car has no separite frame. It is a unibody, so there are parts that are structural that might not be immediately obvious. Sill, removing the rubber bumpers and replacing some of the sheet metal with fiberglass, can result in a great deal of weight loss. There are lots of ways you can go from there. If you spend som etime looking through the materials on the website below, you might find some inspiration.

http://www.spridgetguru.com/Spridget_History.html

Also check out the links page as I have listed a number of important suppliers, engine swaps etc

http://www.spridgetguru.com/Links.html

Thanks for the excellent reply, lots of great info and resources.

as far as the rims, one of them still had its original centercap and it appears they are
Western spyder turbine wheels, a vintage brand I think.


the rims aren't actually measured for the midget, someone bored the holes to fit, it has some special lugnuts that actually go into the rims holes.

Its pretty unusual but seems to work, I will find out further down the road when I actually drive it, hopefully the rims aren't unbalanced due to that.


and regarding motor swaps, I am thinking honda or toyota mid 80s to mid 90s, basically whatever I get lucky enough to find on craigslist over the next year or two that will work.

Well if you do go the toyota T block route, you have the advantage of going down a well documented path. The following is a conversion from a 1275 BMC A-series to a 1600 T block. Some ajustments would need to be made in your case, but its well worth looking at.

http://www.team.net/www/mg/tech/midget/engswapa.html

Hey Dan welcome back!

Here's a link to your old thread

http://www.mgexperience.net/phorum/read.php?3,1606024,page=1

Skye

---

Webmaster, The MG Experience

While Seth has offered some very good information, here is what I would do:
Before tearing it completely down, my suggestion would be to rebuild the suspension, and hydraulic systems (brake & clutch)to original specs, service the engine to get it up and running and just drive it for a while. After you get to know the car better, it will be far easier for you to determine what you'd like to see it do better and plan your modifications accordingly. The 1500 Midget, while not nearly as nimble & hassle-free as a chrome bumpered Spridget, can be made into a pretty neat car, with fairly minimal modifications (suspension lowering, updating engine to Home Market specs and getting rid of those horrible looking rubber bumpers.
At that point, if you still feel you need more power, you'll have a good base line from which to plan the necessary modifications.
Oh....I'd get rid of that silly, "boy racer" roll bar before it makes an organ donor out of you in a minor, rear end collision.

Dan you will get all the help you need on here! guys on here have helped me so much and are still helping me! as bud said drive it for a while! you may like the engine and suspension, and when you tear it down something always turns up to set you back! My car was going to be a simple tear down, paint, renew parts i.e new bolts, poly sus bushes ect! but its turing into a major restoration for me with no experience! But with help of the forum from Bud, seth, mike ect its all going to be fine! There are some great restoration files on here and im sure people will link there websites and photos for you to look at!

keep us posted!

This last sentence worries me; The last thing you want to do in an enine swap situation is select an engine based on how cheap you find it. Believe it or not, by the time you finish, the engine will be one of the less expensive parts of the swap.

Do some research into what others have done and save the time an expense of repeating their mistakes. Be aware that a well engineered and debugged engine swap is not a trivil task. It takes skill and experience. Experience is ussually gained by screwing up the first one!

I would consider what Bud says; get it running and do some baseline driving to see what you like about the car. Good chance that the handling will be enough personality to keep you amused. The car will keep up with traffic. If after a while you decide that you need a nuclear roller skate, then go for it!

For the record, I agree that it would be best to drive the car and get it in working order, not only to get familiar with working on it, but the fun of driving it. The 1500 lump can produce a fair bit more power than came from the factory (partly on account of the US smog regulations). Hap would be eager to help you build an impressive 1500 engine should you go that route. Of course, there are some things you can do right away to help make the car a lot more enjoyable and safe.

1, Lower the suspension using 1275cc springs.
2. If your state legislation allows it, desmog it and possibly switch to dual SUs
3. tune up, oil change etc. (use ZDDP additive or ZDDP enriched oil)
4. get shocks from peter caldwell (just the front two is usually enough)
5. Polyurathane busings on all suspension parts.
6. Replace the female bullet connectors with new ones and clean the male connectors (easy to do and inexpensive It will save you some headaches down the line).
7. Replace the thermostat (just to be on the safe side)
8. Grease ALL the grease nipples (do this at least as often as the factory specified intervals, cannot emphasize this enough).
9. Check the brake pads, rotors, shoes, and drums, replace as neccesary.
10. Check steering rack boots replace if neccesary.
11. Add a relay to the headlight circuit.
12. replace the brake fluid.


Also, since the 1500 so often gets overlooked any serious upgrade to the triumph lump might get you more street cred than a jap motor. since these motors have 7 port heans already, some folks have managed to do fuel injection, and I have also heard of a turbo. Also with those rubber bumpers, if this is to be a daily driver, you may want to keep them since they are a might bit more functional than the chrome ones, still considering that many bumpers these days are the hight of the headlights, they might not offer much protection at all.

ENGINE BAY: Carb covered,distributor covered,fuse block covered, then powerwashed.

It appears as though one of the previous owners was a partial idiot and spray painted various parts without taking any of the engine compartment apart thus paint on the spark plug wires and other misc areas.

The ingition also appears to be mildly tampered with, not exactly a negative issue but a weary one, It appears as though someone was attemping to install an electronic ignition coil which I did find inside the car with the missing spark plugs.


I did get the motor to rotate and do have spark but did not get even a morsel of a cough or firing of any chambers. I am sure the wires are correct but the distributor is loose so I am guessing the timing is just off and will work on that although my lack of good fuel or starting fluid was the issue.

I did not have any starting fluid on hand since I haven't owned a carbed car for few years. And a gravity feed fuel line with some fresh gas will be my set up to get the motor to start and idle next weekend.

The fuel evap canister is gone but thats no big deal, emissions are pretty much non existent in montana.

The clutch fluid reservoir has maybe a tbsp. of fluid in it so the clutch is not functional right now either.

The Exhaust piping is cut off underneath the car about halfway.



BODY : I have found a few issues on the body, The car was uncovered and the driver window was down when I picked it up...thus....

*The driver floor panel under the seat is very very rusted and will need replaced completely.
*The very bottom of the rear quarter panel corner is "Fiberglassed" on the inside as a horrible patch job that rusted out anyway.
*The driver door is slightly tweaked due to the leather strap being stretched and the door opening to far, closing is not smooth and the body is not flush with the door edges anymore.
*The passenger fender has intermediate damage and will need worked by a professional body shop if not replaced
*The front fender has a very minor tweak under the driver headlight very close to the ground it was uncovered after bumper removal.
*The Soft top is garbage and will need replaced, The frame however is in excellent condition and will be re-used.
*Trunk is bent due to some idiot trying to jam it shut and not releasing the prop latch.
*The undercarriage looks okay so far, just very dirty and will be diagnosed further in the future.


SUSPENSION & CHASSIS: well its been sitting for awhile.

*Font suspension is sitting in a very negative camber which looks as though the springs are worn beyond comprehension.
* Rear suspension sitting fine, maybe a little low.
* Sway bar in front not bent, probably needs greasing and the bushings replaced.
* steering system has not been inspected, but turns very easily.
* Rear brakes are locked, this assumed since E-brake lever is frozen.
* Front brakes working fine but discs look very worn. though I have not measured the current thickness to original thickness I am assuming replacing them is essential regardless of wear.


RIMS AND TIRES:
*Rims seem okay, no dents warping or chips missing
*Tires are completely dry rotted, sad thing is the tires tread is still at 80+% tread.


I will continue with further information when I have more time..

thanks again for all you guys posting and following the resto. I have a lot of work ahead of me and am going to highly appreciate you guys I just know it. any resources for custom parts makers would be excellent because I want to revise the back up lights...

thanks and have a good day..


-Dan

This engine has an aftermarket ignition module in it, probably Pertronix, by the looks of the wires. This is common as the originals failed quite often. It also looked as if the bumper was a bit higher on the drivers side, as opposed to the passenger's side. Check for front frame rail damage under the car. The clutch can be hard to bleed in these cars if the stock clutch line is still there, as it runs uphill a bit, before turning down and running to the slave. Keep this in mind when trying to bleed. Good luck and keep us informed of your progress.

What I want to know is where is all the other crap that's supposed to be in your garage (like there is in mine)? How can you possibly work on a car in a garage that clean? Look closely at the photo below. There are two (2) Spridgets in the photo. Can you spot the second one?

Rick



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/2012 10:37PM by refisk.

hey rick! i would love a garage that tidy!

I think I found Waldo. Although he's missing a headlight?

Yep - that's Pinky the '61 Sprite. It's actually missing a lot at the moment. That's a bare tub sitting on jackstands.

"you(self proclaimed or certifiable) experts"

ROFLMAO

You got us pegged!

And yeah, my two-cents... get it running, re-do the brakes and suspension (you'll need those no matter what engine you end up with) and enjoy the heck out of it before jumping into a potential multi month/year tear/down and rebuild.

midget wont even hiccup.....tried starter fluid and twisting the distributor retarded and advanced....





.when I got the car, three spark plugs were missing...


could it be because the distributor rotor is not in proper sequence with the cylinder compression cycle and maybe the previous owner was trying to find the number #1 cylinder compression cycle to match the rotor to the number one point?


would it work to just advance the rotor by one cylinder each time I try it? To avoid having to remove any spark plugs to find the compression cycle on cylinder 1?



just for an FYI

The distributor cap,rotor and module inside are all new

Also it's sparking strong and rotates fairly smooth...

this is why my guess is its not sparking the right plug, all the wires have been double checked as well.

Turn the engine over and line up the mark on the crank pulley with the TDC mark on the timing pointer. Then pull the distributor cap off and see where the rotor is pointing. It should be pointing either at the bottom left or upper right plug wire as shown in your first picture in post #10.

Might be the wrong module, a bad module, improperly phased module-old #1 is no longer #1 with new module, or improperly wired, i.e. thru the resistor so it is not getting 12V, etc.

okay so if it is pointing at the upper right plug wire what does that mean?