• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Diesel Spridget

Share this page

aeronca65t

aeronca65t

Great Pumpkin
Offline
I saw this elsewhere and was really taken by much of the creative thought process this car took. Isuzu / Opel diesel with 5 speed.

It's not professionally done, but it's great work anyway. It's different without losing the spirit of these cars (in my opinion).

I really like the idea of the Getrag 5-speed that apparently fits into the Spridget tunnel without much metal bashing. And the 1.8 turbo-diesel probably gives decent performance and amazing fuel mileage. The rear axle detail plus other areas are interesting too.

Link:

https://s1032.photobucket.com/albums/a407/seriesbus/mg midget isuzu conversion/

_MG_5285.jpg


_MG_5277.jpg


_MG_5125.jpg


_MG_5130.jpg


_MG_4503.jpg
 
Oooh!! That diffy Watt's link setup is slick! Got one on the race car, Nial?
 
So maybe there is a use for the Chevette Diesel my wife's F-I-L has that's been sitting out in the Hay Barn in the back of his house for the past 15 years. A GM Diesel in Chevette, I'm sure there weren't a whole lot of those made.
 
What Getrag would that be?
 
JPSmit said:
What Getrag would that be?
Click to expand...

In another forum the (English) guy who did the conversion said:

"....Opel made a 5 speed Getrag gearbox to fit in the 1.8 petrol Manta which bolts virtually straight on to the Isuzu."

This may be similar to the Getrag 5-speed used in certain BMWs, but I'm not positive. Sounds like it might be easy to source in Europe.
 
I'm waiting for the first conversion with that new Ford motor. Could be very cool.
 
Jim_Gruber said:
So maybe there is a use for the Chevette Diesel my wife's F-I-L has that's been sitting out in the Hay Barn in the back of his house for the past 15 years. A GM Diesel in Chevette, I'm sure there weren't a whole lot of those made.
Click to expand...

A local guy here abouts had a couple and drove them as a traveling salesman for close to twenty years. Very reliable and easy on fuel.

Kurt.
 
I see on the Frontline Site they have some sort of new rear suspension combo Panhard Rod plus some other rear suspension mods that are for later Spridgets. Curious if you've seen that. About 500 pounds at their site.
 
Jim_Gruber said:
I see on the Frontline Site they have some sort of new rear suspension combo Panhard Rod plus some other rear suspension mods that are for later Spridgets. Curious if you've seen that. About 500 pounds at their site.
Click to expand...

I think you are referring to the "RTL" here:

----> https://www.mgcars.org.uk/frontline/rearsus.htm

That's basically a Watt's Linkage. Looks nice, but no, I have not seen one. I actually took the image of the panhard rod on this page and scaled it up to get dimensions when I built mine from scratch. That was almost 10 years ago.
 
Awesome, I would love to see what the performance is like. I can get 40 or better on the highway with my 1275 and the gearing setup that I have but I imagine that thing gets in the mid 50s. I don't know about the smell though with the tops down or how the rattle of a diesel would feel in a spridget. I imagine there would be some serious vibration.
 
Back
Top