1975 MG Midget KTU 942N

[Maxxxer]

So after 4 years on here without a retro wagon (and nearly two years since I sold the Fiat Coupe ), I have finally dipped my toe into the world of Retro/Classic ownership....

Last Friday (13th...! ) myself and LowStandards  took a trip over to Macclesfield to see Mad Max's Midget for sale - so here she is; KTU 942N...

And on Saturday we drove it back - admittedly not the most epic of road trips (55 miles) however taking in the Cat And Fiddle run and the country roads through Buxton in your first classic with the roof down all the way, really is rather nice....!

Anyway, pics...







Plans? Well, get the speedo cable replaced and working, remove the seats (from an MG something, but clearly not a Midget!) and replace them with some Mr Gimp has lurking in his possession, A thorough check over and service, sort out the running slightly rich and high idle speed, then after than - we shall see.....

Clean up and enjoy for what we have left of the Summer, then the real work will begin (not least new rear arches and a respray)


Hopefully Mr Gimp will be along shortly with the mini road trip photos....

[Deleted]

look's an honest motor good base for improvement, take it you are going to original rather than mod.
Lamp hood not my cup of tea imo.

Staking with the green or colour change?

[Maxxxer]

Not sure to be honest - I'm certainbly not a purist when it comes to cars, so I'm happy to mod rather than put it back to standard.

Colour change i think - I'd prefer something a bit brighter; Orange, Red, maybe something vivid ?

It is nice and solid, however what stays or goes (ie lamp hood, bumpers etc...) is yet to be fully decided...

[LowStandards]

The day started at 10:30ish, Paul arrived at mine and we drove off to the train station

Here we are


Here's a man clearly bricking owning his first classic


Here's a cock


Err, no sorry, here's a cock


We had 7 mins afore the train arrived, best kill some time


After a hateful journey with actual members of the public and some snap we arrived



Here she is




Off we went in the rain, mgf seats made for comical driving poses



So the roof came down and we hit the lanes




Me enjoying the sun


Fuels


More lanes and arrived home, one 'breakdown' - the wiper flew off

All in all a cracking journey and a cracking car...

[Mad Max]

I'm very pleased you had a safe/enjoyable journey home, albeit a bit soggy!

I miss it already! It might not be the smartest example but it's solid where it counts and begging for an engine transplant!

I look forward to seeing it take shape and wish you good luck with it all (not that you'll need it!)
Cheers
M

[LowStandards]

Good to meet you mate, refreshing to meet a good, honest bloke...

[Mr S]

Good to see you've started a thread on it Paul - my garage is always available for major jobs We should get a photo of it next to my van, just for comedy purposes!!

[Mad Max]

Jul 17, 2012 19:09:44 GMT LowStandards said:

Good to meet you mate, refreshing to meet a good, honest bloke...

Oh stop it I'm blushing!

[Maxxxer]

Since I've not really done a huge amount to this, I've not really bothered keeping this up to date. However, since I'm now in the process of finishing off the Fibreglass Front end, I thought I might add a few piccies of the last couple of years....

First off - wheels were taken off, resprayed, refitted. I ran out of black paint, but i preferred them all silver, so here they are...


Also the mouldy MGF seats were removed and replaced with original spec seats (plus i can now drive the car without looking over the windscreen).
I decided a needed an armrest so I took an MGB centre console, modified it to fit, and in it went, along with a new gearknob since the old one had seen better days.
Also removed the old steering wheel for something smaller..


Also note the removal of the rollbar - being 6'3" it was nigh on impossible to drive the car without a) banging me head when i got in or out and b)sitting too far forward.

I then decided to fit a pair of stainless steel sill covers in time for the Gathering last year;


Oh, and i added the old install out of my old Coupe, since it was gathering dust in the loft;


Anyhoo, it stayed like this for some time until the MOT was due last October. It failed (no surpsie there, and i set about sorting the various problems.
Eventually over Christmas I got the welding done by a neighbour, and as part of this the sill covers have had to come off.

Also noted on the MOT was the rusty state of the front valance and front end in general, so i decided the cheapest (and perhaps not easiest) way to fix it would be to fit a fibreglass front end.

So - I bought this off ebay for £42;


And set about fettling it over Christmas. I filled the various holes in (the P/O did sprint/hill climbs, so had the holes for a battery off the car to start it, and heat removal).




So then it got sanded & primed (this was the first coat; the second was all the same colour...)


Then the hinge i ordered to allow it to flip forward finally arrived last week (6 weeks in the making);


This will attach to these (once i have attached them to the front clip);


And as i had everything almost ready to go (just need to cut back and polish the paint);


I did some of this yesterday



Until i found the evil bolts inside the wings which have no room to use a socket wrench on, so i went for the ratchet screwdriver only to find i was missing the socket i needed
Meh.

So, I've borrowed one, and should soon have all the front end off ready to measure up and fit the new front clip.

more photos to follow once i get to that stage. Thanks for reading and not nodding off by now....

[LowStandards]

Looking good, everyone loves a flip front

[shandylegs]

Also liking the flip front. Having just retrieved my Midget from the back of the sister in laws garage, this is such a timely reminder that I need to pull my finger out and do a thread!

[niwid]

Lovely midget Looking forward to seeing the front finished, do you know if it's much a of a weight saving?

[taurus]

That's a belting little Midget you've got there.

[Maxxxer]

I've been told it's around a 40lb saving in weight, however once i get the wings off I can tell you a bit better in real terms.
Compared to the weight of the bonnet (which i removed last year for a quick blow over) the whole front end weighs less than that.....

It's geting there; I've just bought a DA so with a bit of work and a slight blowover i might be able to get the paint in a better state than it is at the mo (all panels except the doors were resprayed, by me, just before the Gathering last year. Simply to get them the same colour...)

Hopefully I'll get some progress on this at the weekend, weather permitting...

[Deleted]

I love MG midgets, these and spitfire are great fun little cars. I love yours so far, maybe not the sill covers but hey each to there own. it's still cool.

[Maxxxer]

Funny you should say that - the reason i bought the DA/Sander was to sand back the sills and repaint them as they were.

I took off the sill ocvers to do some welding work for the MOT, and the sealant used to fit them was so strong it reomved the paint back to bare metal in places....

As such they're like the surface of the moon, so I plan on flatting it right back and refitting the Midget badges on the front flanks.

[LowStandards]

Is it low yet?

[louisw]

Looks great, be careful to fully seal the sill covers if you keep them as water can sit behind them and create rust galore! Sometimes best to leave a gap between the bodywork and the sill covers so that water can flow straight out.

[Maxxxer]

Gimp - yes. It is as low as i require it. Granted it's not 'as low as an Australian Hooker riding a Snake', but when you live with jock off speedbumps surrounding your house, its low enough for me.

Indeed the sill covers were left with a slight gap to allow any water to drain away from behind them. however, one of the (many) previous owners fitted a pair of door sill plates (One the right way round, the other, not so). Unfortunately, the drilled and the pop rivetted them to the sill.

So, four nice holes in the top of the sill, unsealed, to let water flow into the sill. Genius.

They have since been removed, and the holes will be filled....

[Maxxxer]

Progress...

Saturday morning, off comes the wings, bonnet & most of the front end. Then Sunday morning, the rest of the front was cut away (God I love angle grinders...!)



You'll see on the above image the hinge item to allow the whole thing to tilt forward; it's taken a while to come (6 weeks) but then it is handmade and very good quality.

So, i threw the front end on to see how it would look (not attached at this point...)



Then it was removed to take inside and attach the fasteners (using evostick then fibreglass over the top).

I was also going to give the grille a once over since the matt black paint had seen better days, until i realised it was chrome underneath. So, I'm in the process of removing the matt black paint, and if it looks good, will be nice and shiny in the fron of the new nose.