Hi all, I'm a newby just joining from west central Washington State. At the start of the whole "covid thing" in March I purchased my low mileage '79 Midget from the original owner. He'd driven it for just a few years and then parked it in 1986 with the intention of bringing it out in his retirement years. His bad back and other things got in the way...unfortunate for him but good for me.
I spent the last couple of months getting it ready to actually start and finally cranked it over for the first start just last week. It'd been stored covered and inside on concrete in central Washington (an arid area) so is like new, but cranking it up needed to be done carefully to ensure the best possible outcome. New cooling system components and making sure the pistons were free in the cylinders were the big items. It stated and ran, and following an adjustment to the carbs, it is running great.
Access to the internet including forums like this one is making this Midget much easier to work on than the 1960 Sprite I owned back in the early '80s! The pandemic slowed me down a bit since some maintenance items were slow to ship but I'm sure glad I have the car; it is a very nice diversion.
Next steps are new tires and then brake hoses. And chasing down the odd little electrical issues like flashers but no turn signals.
I spent the last couple of months getting it ready to actually start and finally cranked it over for the first start just last week. It'd been stored covered and inside on concrete in central Washington (an arid area) so is like new, but cranking it up needed to be done carefully to ensure the best possible outcome. New cooling system components and making sure the pistons were free in the cylinders were the big items. It stated and ran, and following an adjustment to the carbs, it is running great.
Access to the internet including forums like this one is making this Midget much easier to work on than the 1960 Sprite I owned back in the early '80s! The pandemic slowed me down a bit since some maintenance items were slow to ship but I'm sure glad I have the car; it is a very nice diversion.
Next steps are new tires and then brake hoses. And chasing down the odd little electrical issues like flashers but no turn signals.