• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)

What do you think of this Midget?

Share this page

I agree, I'd rather be short a few ponies than have an ugly wart.
 
Rough day today.
I made some temporary repairs to the exhaust, should hold until I can get it done right.
While working on that the wife calls & says her car is acting "funny". Broken serpentine belt, I found it when she got the van home. I hope no permanent damage was done.

Here are a bunch of pictures of the engine & carb:

https://www.bastedo.net/midget/engine/

Hopefully that's good enough, let me know if there's something I should focus on in more detail.
 
There are several options here, all of which should be considered. It looks like your local machine shop could skim about a half to 3/4 inch off the manifold flange under the carb. It looks like there is a small spacer and heat shield under the carb. The shield is necessary, but the spacer can go. There is a posability that the engine mounts could be lowered a small bit, but don't count on it. However, with those mods and a nicely formed elbow, an air filter could mount just in front of the carb.
 
What you need is something like this:

NECK1s.jpg


And if it is too tall, this:

NECK2s.jpg
 
There looks like there enough room for an alternative, that carb and air cleaner is very tall, taller than it need be.
I ran a couple of searches for 'Datsun, A series, A15, sunny...etc' and there different intake and carb options out there.
~By complete accident, I found a 210 gearbox (unknown # of gears) 25 miles away, looks like a sick day~
 
Yup, found several manifolds in Australasia, mostly for sidedraft webers/dellorto, which may fit quite nicely.
Good luck Rick!
 
If its that closely related to the Austin A series, I wonder if a stock MG twin-SU manifold would bolt on? That would be the perfect solution. Paint it the proper color, put an MG tag on the valve cover and fool everybody.
 
It has 4 intake ports so an A-series manifold would not work. But it does look an awful lot like a 1500 intake arrangement.

I saw several Weber DVG kits of this engine on eBay US. I think the DVG should be a bit shorter than that Hitachi carb. Maintaining it should be a lot easier than the Hitachi unit. Those things are a bit complicated. But setting it up will be a real bear. Definitely a job for a very experienced carb man.

The Hitachi carb was originally a feedback carb. But it looks like all the feedback controls have been removed. It would require some genius level tinkering to get that carb to perform up to its full potential in power and economy without the feedback controls. Or, at least, that has been my experience. I was never able to get mine (on a Honda) to run right once I removed the feedback stuff.
 
Well I drove it to work this morning.
The thing is a demon on the freeway. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

The carb is working pretty well - it isn't idling good at the moment but it needs a switch for the fan so it will warm up to operating temp. The fan is on all the time.

It no doubt could use a new cap, rotor & plugs - the guy I bought it from didn't do much with it.

I like the pictures racingenglishcars - where do I get one like that?

Baz, that's the way it works - start off by doing someone a favor & then find the pot-o-gold. What comes around goes around and all that! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

It's going to be sunny here this afternoon, so I'll put the top down & drive the thing like it was meant to drive! Should be fun /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
 
There ya go. Pics please for those of us who are impaired.

You hooked now. Welcome, to the funny farm.
 
I will check with the local british auto wrecking yard & see if they have a brown 78 Midget hood.

Thanks guys,

Good night /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
 
Here's a wacky idea I had over night (maybe in my dreams).

Does anyone make a teardrop bubble like the one on the MGC hood? I have one, so I could make a casting but if someone has one already fabbed then I could use that to cover the hole.
In a way it could be kind of cool, and it would hide an ugly spot on my hood. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
 
Check out the hot rod web sites.
 
I'd save the money and put it towards I solution that could keep everything under the stock hood(bonnet).
 
I still intend to redo the intake in some fashion so it all fits under a stock hood. I've gotten some good ideas from the Datsun1200 forum.

The remaining question is whether to replace the hood or do "something else" with it. I understand the push for originality and I generally agree, but there are some MG's that won't be all that original no matter what. 'Frank' already has a Nissan power train and as long as I own him that's going to stay in there. So he's never going to be all original. Now I'm thinking about making him a bit more unique, but not with a plexiglass window & neon lights!

Since I really like the little teardrop bubble on my MGC and think it might look cool on Frank. If I can find one to buy I may get it and see how I like it. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
 
The MGC has a spridget sized hood bulge... doesn't it?

Maybe the bubble from a TR4.
 
Back
Top