Another Classic joins the Fold!

[YellaBelly]

Well, me and the boss went to view an MG Midget on Monday and looks like we'll have another 'project' on the go

1975 1500 MkIV. We wanted a chrome bumper 1098 or 1275 really, but even the rot boxes are fetching daft money

Anyhow, pick her up Friday, and probably start working on it Saturday . Most of the bodywork is in pretty sound nick, the guy had over £400-worth of panels replaced and mostly the stuff that always needs replacing, so hopefully I shouldn't have a major nightmare when I come to bring it back to life!

It has sat in his garage for the last 5 years and he has had it since 1988 so it's been fairly well looked after. I am sure all the brakes and clutch etc. will need serious overhaul, but the engine was fine when it went into hibernation so with any luck I should be able to get a way with coolant/oil change and carbs strip (I hope!). I also think we will give it a new colour too, seeing as how I will be stripping most of the gubbins off the body for refurb and clean-up we decided what better time to do a respray?

So another reason to stay up late in the garage even after I get the Locost sorted

All I need to do now is find a good place for shot-blasting on the cheap or someone with a cabinet I can borrow

Hey ho, when will I learn?

Pictures to follow........

[fullpint]

  Love watching other people's project 
As you may know I have a blast cabinet  What sort of things did you have in mind for blasting and what size? You are welcome to take a look at my cabinet.
One could always put some grit to one side solely for MG bits...
Looking forward to seeing the first photo of the MG as it is.

[robp]

It has sat in his garage for the last 5 years and he has had it since 1988 so it's been fairly well looked after. I am sure all the brakes and clutch etc. will need serious overhaul, but the engine was fine when it went into hibernation so with any luck I should be able to get a way with coolant/oil change and carbs strip (I hope!).

Nice one, JB!!

I was smiling as I read your post.  Sounds so much like my Spit (been sitting around for a few years, had it since the 80's, 1500 lump, brakes/clutch, etc, etc.)   I'm starting to learn about the carbs on mine.  I've been scratching my head with some of it.  Slowly getting there but will be good to have someone with the same goals.

Looking forward to seeing some photos!

[YellaBelly]

Cheers guys

Looking forward to starting it if I'm honest. Since I finished the locost I seem to have been at a loose end (apart forn the brakes issue of course )

Steve, thanks for the info on the blasting cabinet I'll have to have a shufty some time.

I'm hoping that I have enough knowledge from days of old and my previous 'tinkering' to be able to cope with most things it will throw at me!

I've got a couple of pictures taken with the phone in his garage, but I'll get some proper ones up when it's out of the cave!

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[fullpint]

  and the best colour, yellow..
And is that a hard top its got? Looks like a good polish will bring her up nicely..
Love the MG's..

[YellaBelly]

Yep, it's got a hardtop, and the paintwork does look like it will polish up a treat. But the boss always wanted a red MG and I must admit, we have seen some tasty looking red ones so depending on how much paint it would need and price per litre she'll probably end up a nice Carmen red or similar .... Sorry Steve....am I still OK to look into the shot-blasting cabinet mate ')

[fullpint]

The boss may have a different view once its polished haha.
My dad had the mgbgt in that colour.
You can still look at my blaster tho..

[YellaBelly]

['The Gaffer']

Nice project, always liked the Midget, look forward to seeing progress.

[benchmark51]

You wont need much paint at all. I have done an all over respray in red on a mk3 cortina and used 1 litre paint 500ml activator a dash of thinner, This done over grey primer. No polishing required.
If your doing a bare shell you will want to do the inside first and may need a bit more.
Use a stock colour thats easy to get and you'll have no problems if you need more

[YellaBelly]

You wont need much paint at all. I have done an all over respray in red on a mk3 cortina and used 1 litre paint 500ml activator a dash of thinner, This done over grey primer. No polishing required.
If your doing a bare shell you will want to do the inside first and may need a bit more.
Use a stock colour thats easy to get and you'll have no problems if you need more

I guess you're talking about 2-pack?

JB

[benchmark51]

Yes, wouldn't use celly for all over. The price of 2 pack isn't bad considering superior results for less work.

[YellaBelly]

Yep, I did my Locost in 2-pack, bought it from the Paint Warehouse in Swindon. Only thing is, I do not have an air-fed mask. I did the Locost outside under a Gazebo with 2 sides covered and wearing a disposable suit, twin-cartridge mask, goggles and rubber gauntlets. Not sure how I would fair doing it in the garage though? (we have moved since I did it)

But I did find the results were good for a first time spray job. I've always used rattle cans before, but bought a spray gun from the same guy and was quite pleased with the end result Much less work afterwards too, unlike cellulose.

[Daley Down Under]

JB - it's all happening!!!  Great looking project.  Looking forward to seeing the progress in photos on here

Adrian

[Pilgrim Anna]

Hi,
             Well after some work should look beautiful.  . Assume its going to be for Jan?!
Any idea what colour scheme yet?
Look forward to seeing it on the road!!!! They are lovely to look at.

[bluehornetrider]

Looks nice, those rubber bumpers are huge, my spit is carmine red and will be getting painted again the same colour. You can find carmine in the rover paint codes.

[YellaBelly]

Just gave the Car Paint Warehouse chap a ring and he reckons 2L Paint, 1L activator and 1L thinners should see me have plenty for outside, engine bay, and some left over - about £100 Bargain!

Looks like that could be aplan then

[dikkie]

 Nice looking Midget! I must admit I'm really pleased with mine, not as fun to drive as the westfield but then it is a bit warmer - been using it as a daily runner. I wanted a nice tax free chrome bumper jobby but I do think the later ones have a lot going for them... Parts are so cheap!

that hard top will definitely come in handy with the weather at the moment!

[YellaBelly]

Well, we finally started the dismantling, and the normal 'fear of the tin worm' that goes with any unknown car 

But....we are pleasantly surprised! The car is really in pretty good shape for 38 years old. Having had new inner and outer sills, floor pans, footwells and front valance (and we think a nearside rear wing at some earlier stage). The main areas of the body that we knew were going to need attention are:

   Lower nearside + offside front wings - repair panel or minor plating
   Lower edge of both doors - may get away with lower repair panel but may need new skins (so second-hand doors probably the better option)
   Minor work on the top of the B-posts
   Small repair to the nearside boot lid hinge attachement point

So all in all I think pretty good

Soon going to start on the mechanicals, so dash out, followed by engine/gearbox then all the engine bay 'extras', but need to sort the Locost brakes first, BBQ coming up

I think Jan is worse than me, she would spend all day and night in there if she could!

Anyhow, a couple of piccies for your perusal:

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JB

[fullpint]

Looks like you got a good deal mate. Must of been a relief knowing rust-worm was not present 

[Bulldog Bri]

Looks a good un 

Think you should let Jan up the garage to help. I got Anna out there as much as poss' for her car. She'll appreciate it more as well for putting in some of the work  Could leave her a few jobs to do while your off jetting around the world. 

 

[YellaBelly]

@Steve - yep, glad it's less than I thought It was worth spending an extra few quid on her to save days of fabricating and welding . BTW, the car is still going to be yellow, but we've decided on a more 'yellow' version, watch this space

@Brian - Jan is spending as much time in there as I am mate. She is well up for this project and keeps pestering me for more things she can do on the car , and I am almost done flying around the globe, got 2 more 3-day trips this year to Munich and hopefully that's me done  . My new role should keep me busy in the UK

[robp]

The MG looks in great nick.  Good buy, JB.

My new role should keep me busy in the UK

Bet that's a relief.  I had lots of international travel in my last job and got fed up with it.

['The Gaffer']

Nice find there mate, the car looks virtually rust free.

[YellaBelly]

Thought it was about time for an update on the Midget.....

Both me and Jan have spent many long hours on the project, but well worth it. We have got a fair bit done over the last few days.

I did intend to repair the door bottoms (classic midget rust point) but by the time I had bought the repair panels and skins and all the work it involves it was cheaper and easier to buy some decent second-hand doors. The bodywork was in much better condition than I expected apart from the front of the rear wings. They will need replacing in the future, but they are solid enough for now at least. The chassis is pretty well protected by both underseal and oil leaks! So it is very sound.

Once we got the engine and gearbox out of the car, we were able to get right in to the engine bay and degrease/clean/Jenolite the whole area. There is still a lot of the original seam sealer in there so I left what was sound and picked off the flaky stuff to be replaced. Trust me, it looks a lot worse in the piccies than it actually is . The bay will eventually be primed and sprayed to match the car colour.

I had a couple of fabrication tasks, one was the nearside engine mount bracket which broke in two on removal , so this was welded and dressed and is now fine. The other was the tensioner for one of the quarter lights. It had seized solid in the frame and broke into several pieces when  I tried to remove it. So I put my 'Locost' head on and made a new one from steel plate and threaded bar

Anyway, here are a few pics for your inspection, (we have taken dozens for the restoration record).

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What have I done!!!

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New Tensioner

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Plenty of Resto work here

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Degreased Bay

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Ran out of primer!

[Bulldog Bri]

Great progress there Bud. Hows the brakes on the 7 doing? Got them sorted yet? 

[YellaBelly]

I had a couple of PMs from Camber Dave regarding the brake issues, and he seems to think it is more than likely vapourisation of the fluid, air or a bad flare.

Because I had to remake the flares at the MC end of the pipework due to the threads being different on the Fiat MC to that of the Sierra one, I thought I would check that first. After all, the issues only started after fitting that MC and up until then the brakes were fine. When I tool the front one off, it did look a little flat on the back end of it, so I cut it off and remade the flare again, bled the system (thanks for the e-zee-bleed Darren ) and took her out again. Plenty of hard braking and around 6-7 miles, and all was OK. I still need to take her out for a longer run and get the system really warm to be 100%, but I am optimistic.

Only thing I have to sort out now is an annoying misfire when hot if I floor the throttle in 4th or 5th!! Seems to pop and miss, but not quite so much if I am really gentle on the throttle. I think it is probably muck in the fuel lines/carbs, accelerator pump issue or maybe HT leads are on the way out? Still, minor problem as long as the brakes are sorted

I'll keep you posted.....

[robp]

Wow, good progress, JB.  You're certainly putting in the hours!

Where are you looking to source the replacement doors?  The doors on my Spit need re-skining too.

[YellaBelly]

Rob, we got a pair off the FleaBay, they looked as good as we were going to get and although the ad said expected delivery in 8-10 days, we got them in 2! Well chuffed, and they are as good as you will ever get for the dosh. I looked intore-skinning but they were around £50 a throw and it's a lot of work to get it on distortion free apparently.

The whole car is going to be resprayed a new colour anyhow so different colour doors is not an issue

[YellaBelly]

Guess what we've been doing today?

http://bristolkitcarclub.co.uk/smf2/MGalleryItem.php?id=1298
http://bristolkitcarclub.co.uk/smf2/MGalleryItem.php?id=1299
no computer is going to beat me!! I've put them in a different way

[fullpint]

Been painting have you JB??

[YellaBelly]

Sort of Steve , but the damn site won't let me put up piccies again! It looks fine in the preview but goes stupid when I post them

[fullpint]

works for me I think?

[YellaBelly]

I think it's something to do with lack of space? I deleted loads more piccies but I noticed one of my earlier posts on this thread also has 'limit reached' showing on the last 2 pics.

Hopefully these are OK

And here are a couple more from today's efforts:

[fullpint]

  Nice coat of primer.. Next job then is to turn it up-side down 
Done a fair bit of work on it so far 

[Daley Down Under]

Great jo JB - looking good

Adrian

[Daley Down Under]

Or even great job 

[Moleman]

Blimey. You certainly ain't cutting any corners on this project either then mate. 
Nice job mate. 

[YellaBelly]

Did a bit more this evening, just thought I'd share the flavour of the paint-job-to-be

This was just a quick whizz over with rattle cans to give us an idea of the finished colour and add a little more protection to the engine bay.

The slam panel looks green compared to the chassis because it only had one coat and the chassis has had two.

[stevel]

Everyone has got to have a yellow car in their lifetime!!!