1981 Midas Coupe - Project Zippy.

Let's talk about horns. Initially I wanted to use a set of air horns on Zippy, but from what I remember you cannot use just an air horn on a car of his age, so I would either have to use a standard horn or a combination of both that and an air horn. This lead me to another problem (normal with this car) - space. There is not a lot. Having decided that a decent loud "normal" horn would be the best way forward, my brother bought me a pair of high/low tone horns from CBS. I have tested them. All I need to say is that "Holy **** they're rather noisy". I will not be needing air horns.



Now, where to put them?? My initial thought was somewhere close to the radiator, but with the fan and the oil cooler in place, space is at a premium. So I concentrated on higher up in the engine bay. The offside inner wing fairly close to the bulkhead provided an adequate empty area, so a bit of measuring saw a CAD template made. This was turned into steel, drilled and bent to shape, before being painted. A couple of rivnuts and all was ready to go on. I'm happy. Wiring will follow.



A suitably empty space for the loud pair.







Jaffa Cake Box + Steel







Paint!







Rivnuts







And finally, HORNS!

I've been fed up with the lack of progress this year, so I felt that if I sorted out the seat mounts, I could then sort out carpets and actually start feeling like I've actually got somewhere and have something to show for it. The trouble with an old kit car built by someone else means that any changes usually need a complete re-think or rework, which is why things have taken a while - it's not simply a matter of bolting stuff back together. Anyway, I digress. The buckets I have acquired are flat-bottomed and although I can bolt runners to the bottom of them, there's then no clearance for them to clear the carpet. And so began the simple but rather fiddly job of creating something.



The solution was easy - a long bit of 2"x 2" box section steel. Once I'd measured the runners, out came the hacksaw and 2 blades later I had 4 bits ready to be drilled. How I coped before I got myself a pillar drill I'll never know - it's potentially the most useful power tool I have in the garage. My initial plan was to weld captive nuts inside so I could simply bolt the runners in but there's no clearance to get a spanner in to tighten up the bolts. In fact you can't actually move the bolt head through 360 degrees once it's home, so I went back to more conventional methods.



I then realised that the runners themselves needed clearance on the seat base due to the adjusters, which meant I needed spacers and longer bolts. I popped to the local bolt shop (yes we have one!!) and grabbed 8 bolts and 8 spacers for the grand total of £1.30. I like to support my local business, even if it does mean taking a 5-mile detour to avoid the traffic from the local Agricultural Show (and there was a lot!).



I've now drilled the other side of the 2x2 to accept bolts to go through the floor. Next job, measuring, drilling, fitting, and sitting. Maybe then I can take advantage of this good weather and make some carpets...



Flat bottomed seat - no good for clearance







Runners - also flat (ish)







Length of 2x2 to give appropriate clearance







Longer bolts and spacers from the helpful local bolt shop







And happily bolted to the seat

Thank you greencarfritz - I will do just that 

Right now, I am in the process of filling the imaginary swearbox in the garage (there's no point in me actually having one as it would always be full and I'd never have any spare cash). I have discovered a slight issue with the seat mods that I have done. I trial fitted them in the car - they looked great. I then sat in them. I don't fit. It turns out, that at 5ft 8 1/2" of superbly proportioned (ahem) height, I am too tall for the current configuration. A Midas is indeed a VERY small place to be.



I will therefore try to fit them using the just runners and without the additional box section steel I spent half an afternoon fitting. To quote Bill Murray in Ghostbusters: "Motherpusbucket".

As I discovered that I had run out of satin black paint (just as I was spraying the headlight covers, causing a splutter or two and the need for a re-paint), I had a look at the sidelights/indicator units. These were Triumph Dolomite units and the wiring was, for want of a better word, utterly banjo'd. By this I mean that the wiring was black and or corroded, so I needed something to replace it.



My knowledge of wiring is very poor, so I asked Tink for some advice. Rather than giving me said advice, he took them apart, removed the old wires and soldered in new sections for me whilst I waited. We also discovered that one of the sidelights had no spring in the bulb holder, so we rectified that with an appropriately sized spring from his spares box. Once I had them back in the garage I popped in some bulbs, new gaskets and the front lenses and mounted the first of them back on to the car. At least half of it anyway. One of the bolts is virtually inaccessible without taking at least one thing off (oil cooler or radiator) so I need to have a look at the best course of action. I gave up at this point as it was 30 degrees in the garage and I felt like I'd lost about 6lbs just from being in there...



New wires added to the front sidelight/indicator units. Damaged rubber cover was replaced with a better one.







What the unit looks like on the car (well, half-attached anyhow...).

No Mini Clubman ones are equal white / amber and shared with the Maxi



James

Just another minor update - but it's a good one: after a minor modification, I now fit. Thanks to the wise words of the Midas experts, I removed the 1/2" spacer I'd fitted to the rear runner mounting, thus tipping the seat marginally backwards. Considering it was such a small amount I have managed to make enough room to snugly fit myself in. There's not a massive amount of room but I don't care. This makes me happy. I shall measure up and do some drilling in due course to properly mount the seats.



I took the time to oil the now cleaned K&N filter using their own oil in an aerosol. It has now regained its reddish hue and smells like a it's come straight out of the box. Lovely.



Finally, whilst fitting the filter back on to the carb I took another look at the heater pipes. They were only roughly in place so were open to adjustment. I hated the way the pipe from the heater outlet on the head just sat badly over the carb area, so using some 90 degree connectors and the inlet manifold it's a lot neater. It's still a work in progress and I may move the fuel pressure regulator slightly but the basic principle looks good.



Slightly re-positioned seat - now allows my head to not hit the roof!







Newly oiled K&N - looking like it should again.







And re-positioned piping complete with colour coded elbow connectors. Some tweaking still required.

As long as Sherman is comfy.

Never used them on Minis but it's certainly something to consider.

Re "the list" it goes something like this: ALL wiring including clipping to bodywork. Create and build a dashboard from scratch. Soundproofing. Make new carpets. DRILL holes for seat runners. Fit front lights and adjust accordingly. Make exhaust and fit it. Mount fuel pump and connect up fuel system. Mount handbrake and connect up cables. Redo pedal box with longer studs. Get new brake master cylinder and fit. Connect up and bleed brakes. Build up doors. New window seals for EVERYTHING. New sunroof seals. New tyres for wheels. Fit gearstick inc quickshift. Sort bumpers.

Oh, and test it all!! So not too much

Coming on great. K&N filters make the power but they never seem to filter as well as a paper element.