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Anyone use a Spridget as daily driver year round?

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RickB

RickB

Yoda
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If so, how do you deal with cold weather?
How do you get the defroster to work well enough to keep ice off the windshield? Keep it garaged? (not an option for me).

I may have to get my MGC running out of necessity, just so I have a daily driver that's better in the winter.
I drove it year round when I lived in Anchorage - it had a very good heater!
 
I use to drive mine daily. It means that you have to start your car and let it warm up a bit before heading off in the morning. My defrosters worked pretty well, put I had a few days when I needed an ice scraper ... on the inside /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

It made commuting more fun ... always an adventure.
 
Hey, that's my work tagline (almost)...
"Everyday is an Adventure"

I wonder if people are getting the idea I'm a "positive attitude, morning person"... Gotta keep the illusion alive!
 
I drive my Austin A35 every day now that the Bugeye is having motor surgery. Being in California, de-misters and chokes are not a major need.
I've driven a "modern" car to work about 5 days in the last five years. And even that is a MINI.

Glen Byrns
 
I've driven a car to work abut 10 times in the last three years. Normally it's a bicycle. Snow, ice, sleet rain - so what?

I drove the Bugeye daily for about 10 years, but that was about 20 years ago. Defroster was good enough, especially compared to a VW bug. Heat was fine. Side curtains got stuck with ice, then I couldn't open the door. Drove the 59 Morris Minor daily for about 4 years. The heat and defrost weren't nearly as good as the sprite.
 
There was a little ice on the windshield this past spring, but nothing too bad. My heater does work, but it's kind of wimpy on defrost. Maybe a hard top would help.

I had a bypass switch on my electric fan, I suppose I could put that back in and just run it with the fan off. Even on the drive this morning the engine temp never rose above 140F.
I suppose a thermostat is in order.

Is it common for someone to leave out the thermostat on a freshly rebuilt motor? I wouldn't think so, but I don't believe my motor has many miles on it - as in... I think I've put most of the miles on it since I bought it.
 
This question is something I've had in the back of my mind as well, though I am more concerned with drivability in the snow and ice than heat. I've got some nice gloves /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
I'd put a 180F thermostat in it.

And be sure the heater core is flushed out (at least with a garden hose).
Make sure the heater control valve is allowing full flow to the heater (the heater core should be just as warm as the radiator). Be sure you "burp" the hoses so that you don't have an air pocket in the heater or heater hoses (squeeze the main rad hoses with the cap off a few times).
Check to see that the little "doors" from the heater to the footwell are open.
And make sure there isn't leaves or an old squirrel nest inside your heater.
 
Re: Anyone use a Spridget as daily driver year rou

Does a Lotus Elan count? Seven years "up north" as my daily commuter. I had to avoid drifts, but otherwise it'd just 'tiptoe' over most else.
 
Re: Anyone use a Spridget as daily driver year rou

I had a BE daily driver when I lived in Bradford, Pa. (often the cold spot in the nation!!) and I didn't even have a top for it /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/eek.gif . The heater/defroster always seemed to be quite adequate though I did keep a scraper handy for use on the inside as well as the outside(I drove in the winter well bundled and alays had the tonneau over the passenger side), but I was much younger then too. The car I had before the BE was a '56 Beetle, so the heater in the BE was a quantum leap above that!! Now I live in Florida, so year-round driving is really no problem /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbsup.gif !!
 
Re: Anyone use a Spridget as daily driver year rou

I bought my Bugeye last July and drove it daily until just recently when the clutch failed (I'll need to start a thread about the clutch!). I even drove it after all the blizzards we had in December & January. It did OK in the snow (not great, but OK).....a set of snow tires would have helped a lot.
 
Re: Anyone use a Spridget as daily driver year rou

I drove a side curtain '63 Midget year round from '94 to '98, and then switched to a '72 until 2000. The '72 was much warmer in Michigan winters than the '63, but in the earlier car I just dressed appropriately.
The major downside in the snow was the track is too narrow to follow everyone elses wheel ruts through the goop.
Jeff
 
Re: Anyone use a Spridget as daily driver year rou

I drive my '78 Midget daily here in Tokyo.
The winters aren't terribly cold, a bit below freezing at the most. I just let the car idle for a while (10 minutes?) before heading off.
I also drove a Mini daily in Stockholm (Sweden) for many years, same procedure then. Had to scrape a fair bit of ice though, both inside and outside.
Makes life a bit more interesting.
Just make sure you waxoyl your car well if there's salt on the roads.
 
Re: Anyone use a Spridget as daily driver year rou

Good responses, as usual /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

My heater works good, when I open the little doors I get a lot of heat. Just wonder why it doesn't get up to the defrosters very well. I just check for leaks.
No dead critters, they would really smell it up & I don't have that - thankfully!!
 
Re: Anyone use a Spridget as daily driver year rou

I'd love to drive it all year 'round but they put a glycol based slime on the roads in the winter and it's very corrosive. They say it's not, but if you look at the back of the trucks that dispence it you'll see more rust than you have ever seen in your life.
 
Re: Anyone use a Spridget as daily driver year rou

Hmmm, what could we put on our little cars to shield against that?

Must be something...

Anyone know of a winner product to protect against the nasty stuff they spray on the roads in the wintertime?
 
Re: Anyone use a Spridget as daily driver year rou

I got this on the net somewhere, home made 'Waxoyl':

Take a ½ kilogram of paraffin wax or candle making wax and grind it up with a cheese grater. Soak it in 2 liters of mineral spirits/ Paraffin/ Kerosene/ lamp oil/ Diesel until all of the wax is dissolved. It might take a couple of weeks. Stirring will cause most of the wax to dissolve, but soaking should take care of the rest, heating the mixture in hot water (no open flames) will add in the quick dissolving of the wax. Generally try to dissolve as much wax as the mineral spirits/ kerosene/ paraffin/lamp oil/ Diesel will hold. Pour one liter of mineral oil/ non-detergent motor oil into the dissolved mixture. If the mixture is too thick for spraying you can thin it further with more mineral spirits until it is of a spray-able consistency.

Application:

Buy any cheap engine spray gun at your local auto or tool store that carries air tools. You can also use a garden insecticide sprayer, although it will really make you tired. Rent or borrow an air compressor. If possible elevate your car so that you can get at the underside. (Remember to chock both front and rear wheels as you are going to work underneath the car.) First wash your truck's chassis, both inside and out, to get rid of all the mud, oil etc. Spray the solution onto the underside of the chassis and into every little hole, crack and crevice. Make sure you push the tip into the chassis to spray the inside of the chassis. Let the excess drip off. You will find that the solution will blend into all cracks and chips and if the chassis is scratched it will flow, covering the scratch. If there is existing rust the solution will be soaked up by the rust and thereby creating an oxygen free coating stopping the further rusting/corroding of the surface.

Repeat the above once a year if you live in an area where the roads are sprayed with salt. Once every two to three years if staying inland where it is dry and salt free.

The above information was received from the LRO list where various people contributed their own recipe. Most of the recipes was essentially the same varying only on which oil to use and discussing the pro's and con's of Mineral spirits/paraffin/ Kerosene/ lamp oil vs. Diesel etc
 
Re: Anyone use a Spridget as daily driver year rou

Our cars were built before the advanced knowledge we have today of rust prevention. I have cut rockers out of MGBs and found that there was never any primer on the inside of them. There are pockets inside the bodies that even dipping them in primer did not cover. I applied additional seam sealers, drains and even shot POR15 inside the panels on my B when I restored it. The best prevention is to not drive them in the winter months. After all, they are not that safe nor enjoyable when the roads are bad. I bought my first LBC as a second car that could be restored and enjoyed when the weather and road conditions were good. It spent 2 years outside under a cover, but after that the next 20 have been indoors. It has remainded in nice condition with no new rust. If I began using it daily, it would not be long before it would need rust repair. So why ruin something that is a luxury and not a necessity? My 2004 Mini came with a 6 year rust through warranty and then the factory sent me a notice that it was extended to 12 years. We have come a long way. So I prefer to keep my old ones warm and dry during the bad weather so I can enjoy many more years of top down motoring. As much as I enjoyed restoring them, I would prefer to restore more different ones in the future than to redo the ones I have. That's just my thoughts.
 
Re: Anyone use a Spridget as daily driver year rou

RickB said:
My heater works good, when I open the little doors I get a lot of heat. Just wonder why it doesn't get up to the defrosters very well. I just check for leaks.
Click to expand...

There is a hose on each side just in front of those doors that go up the defrost vents. When my doors are closed a lot of air is sent out the defrost vents instead. If your is not blowing very well your hoses are probably leaking or not connected to the vents and are just blowing the hot air out behind your dash.
 
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