1981 Midas Coupe - Project Zippy.

I've just gone from start to finish of your thread. It's now bookmarked.

Fantastic little coupe you're rebuilding there.

An excellent job your doing mrbounce.

Apologies for not posting much for a week or so. I lost a very close friend last weekend so haven't really felt like doing too much car-wise recently. We had a big curry on Sunday to give Tracey a decent send-off, and although it's desperately sad to lose her, she was in a lot of pain, so that release has been a merciful one. Rest In Peace Fancy Pants x

Back to the bumpers: I have looked at the rear bumper and given the small imperfections a further dab of Dolphin Glaze - a further coat of primer will follow. The front bumper has been well-sanded and chucked on to the stand. I have given it a coat of filler primer (it was on the shelf and I thought I'd use it). As expected there are a few minor imperfections - about 6 in total, so another bit of filling and sanding and all will be hunky-dory and ready for paint.

A contact through the Mini Forum has sorted my gauge issue by sending me a voltmeter and oil pressure gauge. These are in really good nick and come out of a Reliant, hence the "R" script on the face. I actually really like this so I might just leave these as they are. Thoughts?

Front Bumper in primer, Still a little bit of work to do.



And new gauges courtesy of Ian. Cheers!

You can remove the script on gauge faces with careful use of t-cut and a cotton bud. Either that, or salvage the inners of broken ones that say “Smiths”. Another option is to have them professionally repainted, by an outfit like Speedy Cables, who could put “Midas” on there for you.

In the short term though, they’d look fine. 👍😃

It's just race spec, innit?

Although I have done a little bit more final finishing on the bumpers before paint, that's boring. Nope, today I will be talking about... cables. Or, more specifically, handbrake cables. The one that came of the car looked like a much bodged Mini rear cable (it looked like it had broken and had been somehow put back together using a huge bolt) and instead of a front cable, it had a solid threaded bar and a homemade pulley thing. It didn't look like it would work very well. Plus the handbrake on the car had no button. It was, for want of a better word, knackered.

I made enquiries on the Midas Faceache page, and Mk2 owners said theirs was standard Mini, although the front cable was shortened a little. So I went internet shopping. I already have a standard Mini handbrake to go in (with a bit of modification to the mounts) so I got myself a Mini rear cable, the compensator bracket, the front cable, locking nut and the little plate that the cable goes through. What did I forget? The little forked bracket that attaches to the rear of the handbrake itself. I took a look and thought there's no bleeping way I am paying £4 postage plus another £4 just to get a piece of bent metal with 3 holes in it. So I made one.

"Simple enough to put together", I thought. I grabbed a small piece of Jaffa Cake packet and made a template. As luck would have it, I found a piece of 2mm sheet almost exactly the right size. I used the pillar drill and step drill to make the 3 holes, then used a bit of 1" square metal tube as a template to bend the ends to the right angle. Then I further bent the "arms" using a bit of 3/4" bar in the vice. It's now in paint. And rather than shortening the cable, I will just site the handbrake a little further back. A good evening's creating.

Cables - I now have 2, along with a bracket and a nut.



CAD template and conveniently sized piece of 2mm sheet. (I did trim it a little before the picture)



And finished bracket. Everything fits. Yay.

Since the last post I have been doing a number of little things.



1) I finished off the handbrake forked bracket by making the rear hole big enough to accept the special flanged nut on the cable. It fits beautifully, the flange sits where it should and it can be adjusted in situ. Success.



2) The bumpers have had their first coat of paint. NO MORE SANDING! Whoop whoop! I am now out of paint, and they do need some more but it's nothing to worry about. More paint soon!



I have started doing some further dashboard work, but took no pictures of this. I am deciding where to put gauges, switches etc. I think I will need to do some serious reconfiguration. I am expecting much head scratching. More will follow.



Nut in right place. Works perfectly. Good.







Bumpers painted. Yeehaa!!

What a pleasing car; I admire it very much.

John

Really looks like progress. 👍

I think you will fatigue crack that in a very short time at that point at the top - I would weld a strip across the top and bottom to "U" section that face where the nut comes through.