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Midget restoration

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R

Radride

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Hey guys I'm going to need alot of help. I am attempting to restore my 62 midget and have a lot of questions. I will attempt to link to some pictures of this car. Please be gentle. Right now I think I want to restore to a fun driver level. I have a 1275 engine on order from Hap Waldrop to replace the 948. I think I would like to convert to 5 sp with a 3.7 rear diff. What are your thoughts on that? I need to restore my gauges. Who would you get to do that? I am going to switch to neg. ground and am considering an alternator instead of the generator. What do you think? My dash is just painted now. It does not have the knee bolster on the bottom. What type of vinyl do you put on the dash? Would you put a knee roll on the bottom, and how would you go about that? I am thinking of converting the front drums to discs, any thoughts on that? I am slowly working through the body work right now and know I have alot ahead of me. Your thoughts on these mods would be greatly appreciated. I wish I could attend the LoO event, but unfortunately work got in the way, have lot's of fun and take lots of pictures!


[image]https://gallery.mac.com/sharkpilot#100010[image]
 
Welcome! you've come to the right place - don't worry - they don't come much more gentle than this crowd - mostly because I can pretty much guarantee that there isn't a mistake that you can make that we haven't - twice!

Looks like a big job but a really straight body - congrats since rust is enemy #1 around here.

5 speed is a common upgrade - Datsun 210 & rivergate is the most common choice. Someone will chime in shortly with the guage guy. Let me make 3 suggestions

1. Restore it to a higher level than a fun driver - but use it as a fun driver. When I read your list of plans, you might as well go all the way since you're so close anyway.

2. Get the manuals ASAP - Bentley and Haynes (Ebay)

3. Figure out your system for catalogung & storing parts - even those you think you won't need (and you can't take enough pictures - don't ask me how I know)

welcome aboard - have fun.

PS Tell us about the Daimler there also

PPS the leaves are not a factory feature :smile: and not generally recommended for sound/ heat control :wink:
 
For guage restoration contact "Clock Doc Guagework"
Monteagle Tn, (931) 924-8888 or (800) 256-5362
Rik
 
I do not know my healeys very well, but isn't that tach and speedo out of a 100-4?
 
Looks like a fairly solid car with most of the parts intact, I agree those are not original dash units. The engine must me in fairly good shape as the squirrles were well nested or was that some type of packing material? Have fun in the restoration, I have found this is the place to be and everyone is always willing to put in their two cents worth. enjoy :savewave:

Mark
 
Glad to have you here; congrats on the Midget!

As JP said, rust is #1 bad...so that's a good place to start. The quarter elliptic cars (Mk II Sprite and Mk I Midget) have a couple extra places to check. The stub ended rear spring boxes provide a one way trap for dirt and moisture and are a potential problem area; check them closely.

If you haven't already, you might want to chek out my Spridget Project at:

https://www.raysmg.com/rays_mg_midget_62_sprite.htm

There are photos and text detailing the disassembly of my '62 Sprite and the cutting out of all the rust and replacing with new components. I've gone about as far as a person can go without complete scrapping one.

Let us know of your progress and challenges,

Ray
 
Thanks for all the comments. I knew it would take ya'll about 2 seconds to find all the idiosyncrasies of this car and I appreciate it. I don't know Jack about these cars, but I am a fast learner. Two of my business partners ran an antique car business. I've been able to see and drive a lot of very unusual cars. The elder died last year following a long bout with cancer. They had cleared out most of their cars prior to his death. The other partner asked me one day if I wanted an MGB to rebuild with my son. We went out to their storage building and low and behold there was my midget. He told me it was a 63, the keys said 62. The serial number is GAN1 3555, so I figure it was made in Oct. 1961. It was titled with the body number, which blew my mind in trying to figure out what I had. The motor is a rebuilt morris minor. The transmission is smooth case. The car came from Billy Bob Thorton's hometown so I figure slingblade must have been taking care of it. No wonder there is a mish mash of parts. Anyway, the body looks to be in fair shape, the engine turns easily and all the fluids were in their proper place. I think it would be great to rebuild this with my son. I am going for essentially an all out restoration, but given the discrepancies in the parts I wouldn't call it a concours resto - but this should prove to be great fun. The daimler was pretty cool - aluminum body, very classy, very nasty on the inside with the village of rats living in it. The Daimler was donated to the car museum at Petty Jean in Arkansas. In the background of one of the pictures is a blue frame and engine from a French race car which was also donated to the museum. It was really neat. I have drooled over Ray's and Tony's projects, as well as all the other projects on this site and am pumped up to finally get started. Thanks.
 
Well, actually, I thought the leaves were kinda cool--too bad you removed them, but I do understand.

Seriously, you wanted a project? Boy, you gotta project! Should be a lot of fun, though. I've never done a full-up restoration, but I do know quite a bit about planning projects in general, so here is my two cents worth.

Keep in mind that these things can expand to the point where you end up working forever and take quite a long time to get where you want. It can become a drag, since you have no results, just work that goes on seemingly forever. To avoid that, it's not a bad idea to work in stages. Apparently you're doing the 1275, which is of course very worthwhile. Meanwhile, get the body and the rest in shape, put it all together with a ribcase transmission and a 3.9 rear end (which are both dirt cheap) and get it on the road. Just doing this much, I suspect, will be quite a bit more work and time than you expected. Then, if that's not good enough (and I suspect it will be) start to think about the 5 speed, which is a fair piece of cash, time, and effort.

Same story for the drum-to-disk conversion. Get it going with the drums first. Probably you'll find them just fine. You can do the disk conversion later if you decide it's worthwhile. True, this may cost a bit more, overall, than doing a drum-disk at the start, but you'll have something you can drive, which is more fun, and that's worth a lot.

The alternator is a good idea, because it's cheap and probably easier to do than making sure the generator and those &@$#!&# voltage regulators are right. Same story for an electric fuel pump.
 
Re: Midget Restoration

Sarasto,

Just about everyone I have spoken with has given me the same advice. I appreciate yours and am looking for all the opinions I can get. Maybe I'll avoid some mistakes and troubles along the way. Thanks.
 
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