Lightning
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| posted on 10/12/12 at 08:11 PM |
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Must be mad , bought a midget
But what fun to drive. I'm 6'4" and yet fit.
Well its a Mk3 1972 1275 Round wheel arch.
The panels all seem good, but the panel fit is none to good. So thats the first job. Paint is ok but the bonnets is not the same colour, next job.
Repaint the dash, paint inside of floors, New sound deadening, new carpets. Fix heater find rattle of plates somewhere. fix fuel sender etc etc.
But it drives great.
Post pics soon.
Anyone else got one??
Steve
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jossey
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| posted on 10/12/12 at 08:22 PM |
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....?????
[Edited on 10/12/12 by jossey]
Thanks
David Johnson
Building my tiger avon slowly but surely.
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Norfolkluegojnr
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| posted on 10/12/12 at 08:42 PM |
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Genius
Welcome to the Leyland darkside by the way. A mixture of genius a stupidity all rolled into one!
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Paul_C
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| posted on 10/12/12 at 09:01 PM |
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If you park near a high kerb with the hood up you might find it difficult to get out.
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austin man
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| posted on 10/12/12 at 09:13 PM |
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at least you got the best engines one the 1500 was crap.
Life is like a bowl of fruit, funny how all the weird looking ones are left alone
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jabs
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| posted on 10/12/12 at 09:14 PM |
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Yep I'm nearly into the second year of restoring a 1979 1500 midget. It will be ready 2013 honest. All rust has been replaced by real metal, the
body has been painted and the engine overhauled, have just started to trim the interior.
When the weather gets a bit warmer I'll paint the doors, wings and bonnet and finish assembly then I'll get to drive it for the first time
on it's way for an MOT :-)
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v8kid
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| posted on 10/12/12 at 09:46 PM |
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Yup I had one and painted it a Cooool mustard colour. We could, and did, fit a McLaren carry cot in the space behind the seats!
Front trunnions are a bugger to ream without the correred tool apart from that all you need is 3 sizes of adjustable spanners and a length of Bunsen
burner gas hose (to tune the twin SU's with every 100 miles )
You'd be surprised how quickly the sales people at B&Q try and assist you after ignoring you for the past 15 minutes when you try and start a
chainsaw
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mr tone
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| posted on 10/12/12 at 09:56 PM |
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Yes i have a 1972 mk111 round wheel arch as well.Thought i might fit a K series engine but love it with the 1275,great fun.Its red
Tony
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deltron63
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| posted on 10/12/12 at 09:59 PM |
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How strange, I,ve been toying with the idea of a zetec midget
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NigeEss
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| posted on 10/12/12 at 10:08 PM |
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My first car was a Teal blue ,'73 round arch Midget, loved it.
Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.................Douglas Adams.
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Lightning
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| posted on 10/12/12 at 10:43 PM |
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naa, cant put a fast engine in. That would defeat the idea of having a car that feels and sounds like its doing 70 at 40.
bucket loads of smiles
Steve
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Surrey Dave
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| posted on 10/12/12 at 11:23 PM |
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Steady!
I had a nice RWA 1275 midget , good fun but you would want to go too fast with that handling , lever arm shocks nice!, and about 14.7 mph per 1000
revs, got it around 6000 in top gear, seemed like about 300mph!!
I also had a Midget 1500 ,replaced the standard exhaust manifold with a 4 branch made the engine a lot more free revving, i unbolted one of the big
bumpers once , I was nearly killed they weigh a ton!!, I put a spax telescopic damper kit on the back ,that calmed it down a bit.
I would really love a Frogeye Sprite but it looks unlikely I will afford one ,they are getting pricey, drum brakes and about 40bhp groovy!!
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Jed
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| posted on 11/12/12 at 06:57 AM |
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I'm restoring one at the moment and it will have a Toyota 4AGE engine in it when done. Glad to hear that you fit ok because that was a concern
of mine.
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MakeEverything
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| posted on 11/12/12 at 08:57 AM |
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ive had two. great fun. On a serious note, do watch for high kerbs as the bottom of the doors are susceptible to hitting them when you park up,
particularly when you get in and the suspension sags with the door open.
Kindest Regards,
Richard.
...You can make it foolProof, but youll never make it Idiot Proof!...
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DH2
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| posted on 11/12/12 at 09:24 AM |
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Yep, I've got one... except it is one of those "crap" ones with a 1500 engine.
Make sure you poke everywhere with a screwdriver - rust is the worst enemy of these cars, everything else is pretty simple.
Also as said, ensure you keep the front suspension regularly greased.
Sideways round every corner at low speed, what's not to like?
DH2
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Lightning
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| posted on 11/12/12 at 01:30 PM |
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As regards the doors on kerbs. They are much higher than my Chimaera, that has a problem with the lowest of kerbs
The midget drives extremely well but is crying out for another gear.
i must get rid of the Spire GTR in the summer. I had someone who wanted it, but I think was put off when his 20 stone backside would not fit in Triton
seats! it also affected the power to weight ratio somewhat
[Edited on 11/12/12 by Lightning]
Steve
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Surrey Dave
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| posted on 11/12/12 at 08:23 PM |
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Type 9
Don't they do a bellhousing kit to fit 5 speed type 9 ford gearbox, I don't think it's locost tho'
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02GF74
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| posted on 11/12/12 at 11:00 PM |
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still no pictures?
i had '72 MGB and with the drivers seat all the way back I could not reach the pedals (& im not a midget)
often wish I kept it  - would have been tax exempt now - went ok with my DIY HS6 conversion
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Lightning
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| posted on 16/12/12 at 09:09 PM |
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Here you go
[img] [/img]
[img] [/img]
Steve
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Lightning
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| posted on 16/12/12 at 09:10 PM |
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Bugger thought I had resized them
Steve
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austin man
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| posted on 16/12/12 at 09:35 PM |
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There is a conversion kit to fit the Type nine box and also a company who do a different front suspension set up. which totally changed the handling.
http://www.frontlinedevelopments.com/products/midget/5speed-sr-with-1275cc.shtml
The Austin in my Avtar used midget suspension and drivetrain, I ran a 1009 with the fylinder head from an Automatic Metro they have bigger valves, a 1
1/2" SU K&N filter Kent Cam and stright through exhaust it flew from a standing start but top end was pants 90mph and screaming like a
banshee
Life is like a bowl of fruit, funny how all the weird looking ones are left alone
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Bare
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| posted on 16/12/12 at 09:51 PM |
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Had a Bugeye once... fitted it with a 1275 'S' engine, tweaked of course: Balanced, Bored, Cam, Ported, 1 1/2 SU's headers etc Went
well :-) Trans was too easy to overpower the primitive synchros tho.
Although the 1/4 elliptic rear suspension of the Bugeyes was Far better than the later Spridgets, so handling was at least passable. Still at
~100mph the thing had cowl shake that was frightening!
Had to hold the top of the windshield frame to calm it.. some.
Best as a memory rather than the reality.
[Edited on 16/12/12 by Bare]
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