Locost - Budget Saab B204 build

[shandylegs]

Midget now sold skip to page 3 for the Locost.

Having been browsing RR for a few years now. I’ve been meaning to do a thread for quite some time, but life always seems to get in the way, pretty much like my ongoing Midget restoration!

My first introduction to classics was via a ratty MG Midget my Dad bought many years ago. It’s one of the few ‘silly’ cars my wife (Then girlfriend) actually liked. We spent many happy hours driving blatting around before the old man retired and traded it in for a car he’d always wanted, a MkII Jaguar (I have some photos of both of these that I need to get scanned)

Fast forward a few years to 2009 and having made a little money buying, completing and then selling on a couple of projects, I was looking for something that could be used my my wife and/or I on decent days. As the budget wasn’t huge I’d set my mind on the usual MGTF, MX5 or MR2 route, but then thought about a Midget.

If you’ve ever looked at MGs from the 70s there are some real horrors out there so I’d more or less given up on finding something half decent. By chance an advert took my eye, no T&T, not a deal of text and pictures weren’t great, but I dropped them a mail on the off chance.

I received a call back from the owners explaining they had bought the car on a whim in 1991, with it having just undergone a restoration (It was only 12 years old at that point, 70’s BL quality at its best). They then drove it for a grand total of 300miles before parking in the garage and leaving it there. Given the information I agreed to view the car and hired a trailer on the off-chance (I knew that unless it was a complete dog, I’d be buying it).
I wasn’t too worried about the mechanical side of things as MG parts are easy and cheap to obtain, it’s the body work that can cost a fortune to fix. When viewing, the car was exactly described with the body was as good as I’d hoped.
A deal was struck; I loaded up and brought the car home.



After replacing tyres, alloys, service, new exhaust and general fettling, the car flew through the MoT at the first attempt – Very happy bunny until........

[wagoneer]

Gosh! That looks almost new. having done some welding (many years ago) on one I can admit a soft spot for these. Mind you, the girl that owned it was pretty nice too....

[taurus]

Until? That's a lovely looking Midget. I must confess that at the time I didn't rate them, but they're growing on me a bit these days.

[shandylegs]

......it actually came to driving it. It was absolutely awful. Either my Dad’s original car was far better (It wasn’t), or things had just moved on in terms of what I expected.

One drive to coast was enough to decide that it either got sold on or it got some surgery. The spanners won. The idea was to create something that retained the Midget’s looks but drove like a modern car, was capable of reasonable economy and the cost of conversion didn’t break the bank.

I’d read about a company (Frontline)that made kits to put a Rover K-series into MGs and did a little searching on the internet and discovered a few people had already gone down this route. The only drawback was the cost of the parts – I nearly fell through the floor – over £2k just for the conversion kit, never mind donor parts or brake and suspension upgrades. Anyway, I’d owned a few kit cars (more on that one later) and knew that as Caterham used the K series in their cars for a few years there would be rwd conversion parts kicking around.

One scrap Rover 400 and a bit of careful shopping around and I was left with this:



A few body mods were required to get the engine and box in position:



Mounts were fabricated:



Leaving me with this:

[SamR380]

Fantastic a K-Series Midget has got to be about the best toy car. Have you got it running on standard management?

[shandylegs]

At this point I did something really silly (Mental note to self never do this again) and sat down and worked out what was left to do and how much it would cost.....Result = the car was stored at the sister-in-law's for the past coupe of years while I made some more money!

Bought this:



Which turned into this:



Meaning some funds were finally added to the pot when it was sold (Or more likely I didn't make anything over the course of the two years it took, but at least I wasn't spending any money!)

Which more or less brings me up to date. The Midget is now back out of hibernation and sat at Unit 9 surrounded by nasty VW's (I secretly like them but would never admit it to everyone else in the unit)and work was just about to restart....... until I blew all the money put aside on this - Doh!

[shandylegs]

Fantastic a K-Series Midget has got to be about the best toy car. Have you got it running on standard management?

Sam - No, it's not up and running yet but standard management is the plan.

[flyingphil]

Hi
Nice conversion - looking forward to seeing it progress. Incidentally your Midget is a 1500 with the "rubber" bumpers - they actually hide a great big steel girder and the weight of them meant that the suspension was significantly changed from the original 1098 and 1275 Midgets and Sprites - which presumably was the type your father had ......and so the ride/roadholding was worse on those 1500 cars.

[shandylegs]

they actually hide a great big steel girder and the weight of them meant that the suspension was significantly changed

You're not kidding, I couldn't believe how heavy they were the first time I took one off. The long term plan is to go bumperless, but as you will be aware the 1500 shell will require some work at either end to make a decent job of it.

My Dad's Midget was also a rubber bumper car, their similarlity is what drew me to the car in the first place. I remembered to take a couple of old pictures into work to get them scanned.

The car that got it all started (With the old man driving). Lovely leather interior but the bodywork wasn't too clever, particulalry the rear arches.



A a couple of his MkII. Tried to keep hold of this after he passed away but the cost and time required to keep it in the shape nearly crippled me!

[shandylegs]

I've finally got round to addressing a couple of area's of bodywork that needed modifying to fit the engine and box

While most people who have done the conversion haven't modified the tunnel (Other than repositioning the gearstick). No matter how I positioned the box I couldn't gain enough clearance for the reverse sender and wiring. Cue remodeled tunnel.

The shape of the top was a real pig to get right, going from round to flat, but I got there in the end. I know should have welded them in myself but didn't fancy having to remake them if I cocked-up (Highly likely)- cue Adrian the welder from the unit next door.

While he was at it I thought it almost rude not to ask him to add a little strengthening to the floor where the revised crossmember fits - top man!



The bellhousing also came very close to the chassis rail. I could probably have got away with this one but thought it wise to make a little more room.



Looking at designs for the heater tray at he moment but need the engine back in place to check I've left enough clearance.



Then all systems are go for starting the wiring.

[jpsmit]

INTERESTING MODS - thanks! My Midget ('76) has been converted to chrome bumpers, and, you are of course correct, more body mods needed, especially to the back., but, cudos to doing a proper job on the interior! We don't have the K series engine in Canada, but, just out of curiosity, what transmission goes with the engine and, have you had to modify the cross member underneath to make it fit? and if so, do you have pics?

[flyingphil]

Good work - thanks for the updates. I too have modified the transmission tunnel on a 1500 chassis but I restored the strength by welding in a 6 point roll cage. (I have fitted a Rover V8 with Rover 4 speed manual gearbox.)

[shandylegs]

have you had to modify the cross member underneath to make it fit? and if so, do you have pics?

It's a Ford type 9 gearbox. Fitted to Sierra & Granada's in the uk (Possibly also Mercur's in the USA and Canada?)

Yes, the cross member has been modified (In the last photo you can see where it's been cut). Reinforcements have been added to what's left, and a large thick plate links the two parts together. Happy to supply better photo's for you if required.

Good work - thanks for the updates. I too have modified the transmission tunnel on a 1500 chassis but I restored the strength by welding in a 6 point roll cage. (I have fitted a Rover V8 with Rover 4 speed manual gearbox.)

Phil - I'd love to have the ability to do some of your projects, but a long list of fails have taught me to know and respect my limits!

A roll cage was high on the list to provide some structural integrity, but at 6'3" I'm worried about all over clearance. I did try a rear rollover bar but was put-off at the thought of smacking my head on it in the event of an accident!

[flyingphil]

Hi
Re the roll cage - I am 6' 2" and yes the rear hoop is close to my head - but with padding on the bars I think it is better to possibly bang your head than try and slide the car on it IMO. It does make the whole car so much more "solid". You can also get a bit more clearance by dropping the seat.

[shandylegs]

I've been meaning to bring this up to date for a small while now as two years seems quite long enough!

As well as being stupidly busy at work, having a 15 mile round trip every time I wanted to work on it meant progress hasn't been swift. So much so that I decided to give up the unit space I was previously renting.

Luckily, just as I was working out how I could possibly fit a car, tools and all the curse word I've gathered into a small garage, an opportunity arose to rent some space within walking distance from home (on similar terms to what I was paying before). While perhaps not quite as modern as the previous unit, I have more or less free reign at nights and weekends so all is good.

Car is looking quite sorry for itself at the moment.



It's not all bad news though. The interior change from brown to black is nearly complete.



All fuel and brake lines have been run.




Electrics are also in hand



I'm determined this will be done in time to attend next year's gathering, so there will definitely be some progress in the coming weeks / months!

[shandylegs]

Ok not quite as fast as planned 😂 Progress has been slow, but it’s running and driving - just bodywork to go!

[Adambt]

Looking good! As someone who also had a BRG midget on minlites sat in the garage for a few years your photos look very familiar!

You look well on the way with this one, should be a lot of fun with the K-series.

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

That steam looks a bit ominous in the second photo!

[misteralz]

Jun 29, 2021 14:30:48 GMT Waxoyling Lyrical said:

That steam looks a bit ominous in the second photo!

It's a K-series, it's standard.

[bstardchild]

Sept 26, 2016 21:52:26 GMT shandylegs said:

I'm determined this will be done in time to attend next year's gathering, so there will definitely be some progress in the coming weeks / months!

Look forward to seeing this at this years Gathering