MG Midget Barn Find - Road rally project
Discussion
Why hello there ladies and gents, boys and girls. Come with us now on a journey through time and space...
Over the coming months a tale will be told of triumph over tinworm as I (with the help of glamourless assistants) attempt to turn this poor little MG Midget into a thing of road rallying beauty.
Set the scene at the Black Sheep Brewery in Wensleydale, where I was reunited with my godparents who I hadn't seen for about 10 years due to the fact they live too far 'oop North for us to get up to see regularly.
A couple of beers into the meal and they mention that they have a 1971 MG Midget tucked away in their firewood barn that hasn't turned a wheel since 1984. At first I made a little joke to wind up my Mum who twitched nervously at the thought of a another shed on our Driveway. (I now have 3 cars and as a family that puts us at 7 motors so we are running out of places to put them now.) It turned out this was a good way to test the water as she seems to have a soft spot for little old British cars. My ridiculously amazing godparents began to insist that I take the car for free, as long as I help drag it out from its sleepy barn.
I am utterly overwhelmingly excited by this point. The initial jokes about me dragging this down south and setting to it gradually became more serious and it appears I am now commited after a conversation in the pub with my mate who I've always fancied doing a bit of road rallying with in something old and RWD.
So the plan as it stands (ideally something like this should unfold over the coming days/weeks/months however things often change...):
- Get pictures of car and dream about lots of bits we can't afford.
-Dig out Vizard and blow the dust of - A-Series tuning bible.
- Decide on an engine / car spec to be competitive for a realistic class award and begin hunting for bits (We both have built A-Series motors into our minis in the past).
-Recover car (Milestone for end of Jan hopefully).
-Attack with flapper wheel and newly acquired MIG Welder until it looks less like swiss cheese.
-Clean/Rebuild/Restore where appropriate.
-Add go faster bits that will keep us within poverty spec regs (LSD would be nice, probably a full cage, and maybe an Ashley GT Hardtop for cosmetics - might say sod it and throw a K-Series in eventually).
-Throw on some cheap paint that will only get dragged through some bushes eventually, wet sand and polish to high gloss.
-Enjoy Rally car.
Problem is we are both a bit skint, but seeing as the car has cost me nothing and will be tax exempt as it's a 1971 model, coupled with the fact that rally versions of these can go for 12k plus if finished to a decent standard means my man maths says we are onto a winner
It is going to be done on a budget but I don't want to end up with a cheap looking nail and rest assured I'm not a (total) bodge merchant. We are going to do all the work ourselves so will save heaps and will be careful about where we source bits from using our combined 6-8 years experience of BL based motoring.
So this is where we want to end up:
Looks like good fun, non?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iw8ZgKPTklo
And this, ladies and gentlemen is where we are starting, congratulations on getting this far through my rushed ramblings *drum roll please*:
Buried Alive:
I can see:
From these pics it doesn't look too far gone but areas like the sills and rear bulkhead are key in these little cars and could put us in the dog house with the bank manager.
I shall leave you with a parting shot, as Monza the kitten swats up (geddit?) on his A-Series trivia.
Stay tuned folks, this could be a rough ride.
Over the coming months a tale will be told of triumph over tinworm as I (with the help of glamourless assistants) attempt to turn this poor little MG Midget into a thing of road rallying beauty.
Set the scene at the Black Sheep Brewery in Wensleydale, where I was reunited with my godparents who I hadn't seen for about 10 years due to the fact they live too far 'oop North for us to get up to see regularly.
A couple of beers into the meal and they mention that they have a 1971 MG Midget tucked away in their firewood barn that hasn't turned a wheel since 1984. At first I made a little joke to wind up my Mum who twitched nervously at the thought of a another shed on our Driveway. (I now have 3 cars and as a family that puts us at 7 motors so we are running out of places to put them now.) It turned out this was a good way to test the water as she seems to have a soft spot for little old British cars. My ridiculously amazing godparents began to insist that I take the car for free, as long as I help drag it out from its sleepy barn.
I am utterly overwhelmingly excited by this point. The initial jokes about me dragging this down south and setting to it gradually became more serious and it appears I am now commited after a conversation in the pub with my mate who I've always fancied doing a bit of road rallying with in something old and RWD.
So the plan as it stands (ideally something like this should unfold over the coming days/weeks/months however things often change...):
- Get pictures of car and dream about lots of bits we can't afford.
-Dig out Vizard and blow the dust of - A-Series tuning bible.
- Decide on an engine / car spec to be competitive for a realistic class award and begin hunting for bits (We both have built A-Series motors into our minis in the past).
-Recover car (Milestone for end of Jan hopefully).
-Attack with flapper wheel and newly acquired MIG Welder until it looks less like swiss cheese.
-Clean/Rebuild/Restore where appropriate.
-Add go faster bits that will keep us within poverty spec regs (LSD would be nice, probably a full cage, and maybe an Ashley GT Hardtop for cosmetics - might say sod it and throw a K-Series in eventually).
-Throw on some cheap paint that will only get dragged through some bushes eventually, wet sand and polish to high gloss.
-Enjoy Rally car.
Problem is we are both a bit skint, but seeing as the car has cost me nothing and will be tax exempt as it's a 1971 model, coupled with the fact that rally versions of these can go for 12k plus if finished to a decent standard means my man maths says we are onto a winner
It is going to be done on a budget but I don't want to end up with a cheap looking nail and rest assured I'm not a (total) bodge merchant. We are going to do all the work ourselves so will save heaps and will be careful about where we source bits from using our combined 6-8 years experience of BL based motoring.
So this is where we want to end up:
Looks like good fun, non?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iw8ZgKPTklo
And this, ladies and gentlemen is where we are starting, congratulations on getting this far through my rushed ramblings *drum roll please*:
Buried Alive:
I can see:
From these pics it doesn't look too far gone but areas like the sills and rear bulkhead are key in these little cars and could put us in the dog house with the bank manager.
I shall leave you with a parting shot, as Monza the kitten swats up (geddit?) on his A-Series trivia.
Stay tuned folks, this could be a rough ride.
Edited by Meldonte on Saturday 2nd February 21:53
I'll post up some pics of a resto I did in 1996>98 if you like. Mine looked a bit further gone than yous does, but that needed inner & outer sills, door skins, boot floor, floor pans, front valance & repairs to the rear valance.
My only regret was I didn't put a twin cam in it.
Check out the area around the spring hangers for rot too. Looking forward to reading about this as it progresses
My only regret was I didn't put a twin cam in it.
Check out the area around the spring hangers for rot too. Looking forward to reading about this as it progresses
boy said:Thought I'd pop my head in as I'll be the other half of this project I think...unless it turns to dust when we go to extricate it from the garage.
In the meantime I'll leave you with some pics of our previous endeavours which have all needed some restoration or work. Nothing quite this ambitious so far thought!.
Saab Sonett III
MGB GT[
Mini 998cc with go faster bits
Mini 1310cc with lots of go faster bits
And occasionally we have both had cars that are in one piece at the same time... very occasionally mind.
In the meantime I'll leave you with some pics of our previous endeavours which have all needed some restoration or work. Nothing quite this ambitious so far thought!.
Saab Sonett III
MGB GT[
Mini 998cc with go faster bits
Mini 1310cc with lots of go faster bits
And occasionally we have both had cars that are in one piece at the same time... very occasionally mind.
Looking forward to seeing how this develops, Midgets can be made very competitive in Classic/Historic Road Rallying.
Interesting to see you've shown a clip on utube that I put up, that's Archie Simmonds from Chirnside, he has two of the best prepared Rally Midgets in the country, they are far from standard, one has a Toyota rear axle AFAIK, he's also extremely skilfull as you probably noticed. He's won more of the NESCRO series of events than anybody else (put together perhaps!). I think he won that event too, just pipping a Red topped engine Sunbeam if I remember rightly. (I broke my Car that day, but wasn't on their pace!)
Living where you are you are more likely to get involved with HRCR clubman series rallies, which rely much more on navigational and timing skills than speed on the tests, but as long as you have a good navigator a Midget will be a great car to use.
As would you Sonnet by the way....
Interesting to see you've shown a clip on utube that I put up, that's Archie Simmonds from Chirnside, he has two of the best prepared Rally Midgets in the country, they are far from standard, one has a Toyota rear axle AFAIK, he's also extremely skilfull as you probably noticed. He's won more of the NESCRO series of events than anybody else (put together perhaps!). I think he won that event too, just pipping a Red topped engine Sunbeam if I remember rightly. (I broke my Car that day, but wasn't on their pace!)
Living where you are you are more likely to get involved with HRCR clubman series rallies, which rely much more on navigational and timing skills than speed on the tests, but as long as you have a good navigator a Midget will be a great car to use.
As would you Sonnet by the way....
VidalBaboon said:
I'll post up some pics of a resto I did in 1996>98 if you like. Mine looked a bit further gone than yous does, but that needed inner & outer sills, door skins, boot floor, floor pans, front valance & repairs to the rear valance.
Photos of the work you had to do would be great... as long as its not going to put us off of course!velocemitch said:
Looking forward to seeing how this develops, Midgets can be made very competitive in Classic/Historic Road Rallying.
Interesting to see you've shown a clip on utube that I put up, that's Archie Simmonds from Chirnside, he has two of the best prepared Rally Midgets in the country, they are far from standard, one has a Toyota rear axle AFAIK,
Small world and all that. Yeah I did think the midget in the clip had a few tricks up its sleeve, very nice.Interesting to see you've shown a clip on utube that I put up, that's Archie Simmonds from Chirnside, he has two of the best prepared Rally Midgets in the country, they are far from standard, one has a Toyota rear axle AFAIK,
I think his Blue one is relatively standard, he has a white one which has the Toyota transmission. Both Cars are (as I understand it) ex works rally cars, MG did have a very short works program with the Midget. Though as with many of these things, they can be a bit like Triggers Broom, the Blue one took a heavy frontal hit a few years back and I think was reshelled.
velocemitch said:
MG did have a very short works program with the Midget.
I thought there was, I've been digging around on the internet to see if I could find some of the BMC specifications for works midgets, particularly with regards to the works suspension set up for rallying. I'm sure we can roughly guess the route you would go down but it would be nice to know the works approach even if things have moved on since then.I found a mountain of data sheets etc relating to works minis on www.mk1-performance-conversions.co.uk which is great for an idea of how the engines might have been tuned but as yet I haven't found anything surprising relating to the spridgets.
I guess its general interest more than anything as what route we go down will evolve over the build I'm sure, always good to have a plan though!
The Crack Fox said:
Lovely ! I trust you thanked your Godparents profusely ?
Keep us updated with your progress !
Meldonte's godparents will be buried in thanks and someform of thank you present when we go to collect towards the end of the month. Keep us updated with your progress !
More photos to follow no doubt once we've got it back to Meldonte's garage.
Pah they should be greatful I'm shifting the old heap 
No of course, they will be thanked until they are sick to their back teeth. I have said to them a few times they are welcome to change their mind if they wish as its literally an offer that's too good to be true.
I think initially we'd be more interested in doing road rallying/ night nav's / 12 cars as you suggest as we both did a couple when we were younger and had great fun - just want to move onto scarier stuff when budget/ experience allows.
Spent the last few days at lunch in work looking at tooling up. Current plan is to house a 2.5hp 100l compressor out the back of the garage in a suitable DIY enclosure and pipe it into the rafters of the garage so we can have an airline dangling from the roof and good access to the car for air tools/ maybe have a go at spraying and DA polish at the end. The sonett has to live in the garage at the same time so I'll put some sheeting up to keep the majority of the dust of it and will move it well out the way if we ever did spray anything, unfortunately mums lovely MGTF trophy blue that's been sat around for a year or two now will be evicted outside - we practically can't give the thing away, reguarly serviced 2 careful lady owners, 30k miles and just had HG and Cambelt done before it was laid up, gets started and shunted about regularly - any takers?
Can anyone advise on what size of air hose tubing to use for a 10mish run, I don't want to choke the compressor off with a big pressure drop from delivery but not sure 10m is exactly long in an industrial sense so there must be good solutions out there? (cheap of course...)
I've unfortunately sold a lot of my a-series go faster bits over the last couple of years as I moved onto bigger tots but it will be good buying them back again now i have a bit of income rather than saving for months for a 50 quid 2nd hand camshaft.
Looking like pick up back end of jan still, I'll be sure to post lots of pics.
No of course, they will be thanked until they are sick to their back teeth. I have said to them a few times they are welcome to change their mind if they wish as its literally an offer that's too good to be true.I think initially we'd be more interested in doing road rallying/ night nav's / 12 cars as you suggest as we both did a couple when we were younger and had great fun - just want to move onto scarier stuff when budget/ experience allows.
Spent the last few days at lunch in work looking at tooling up. Current plan is to house a 2.5hp 100l compressor out the back of the garage in a suitable DIY enclosure and pipe it into the rafters of the garage so we can have an airline dangling from the roof and good access to the car for air tools/ maybe have a go at spraying and DA polish at the end. The sonett has to live in the garage at the same time so I'll put some sheeting up to keep the majority of the dust of it and will move it well out the way if we ever did spray anything, unfortunately mums lovely MGTF trophy blue that's been sat around for a year or two now will be evicted outside - we practically can't give the thing away, reguarly serviced 2 careful lady owners, 30k miles and just had HG and Cambelt done before it was laid up, gets started and shunted about regularly - any takers?
Can anyone advise on what size of air hose tubing to use for a 10mish run, I don't want to choke the compressor off with a big pressure drop from delivery but not sure 10m is exactly long in an industrial sense so there must be good solutions out there? (cheap of course...)
I've unfortunately sold a lot of my a-series go faster bits over the last couple of years as I moved onto bigger tots but it will be good buying them back again now i have a bit of income rather than saving for months for a 50 quid 2nd hand camshaft.
Looking like pick up back end of jan still, I'll be sure to post lots of pics.
velocemitch said:
As would you Sonnet by the way....
Sonett is dad's as he is the resident Saab nut who used to rally 96's. Think this has spurred him to look at HRCR stuff in more detail as he asked for an avanti map light for Christmas for the sonett so watch this space.Here he is in a rather squished PUP96K - Dad på taket as they say in Sweden.
Meldonte said:
velocemitch said:
As would you Sonnet by the way....
Sonett is dad's as he is the resident Saab nut who used to rally 96's. Think this has spurred him to look at HRCR stuff in more detail as he asked for an avanti map light for Christmas for the sonett so watch this space.Here he is in a rather squished PUP96K - Dad på taket as they say in Sweden.
Still lots of fast night road rallying going on, especially in Wales, Derbyshire and the North of England, you should take it up again.
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