1970 MG Midget 1275

spent flippin -aaaages- refitting the seats, man is that a silly design. anyway, onwards and upwards

^^+1
I really need to get mine sorted too.
I looked at a type 9 conversion and found that charles ware the minor place will do the parts individually so you can make what you can or out scorce some of it.
I fitted a frontline telescopic conversion to mine but it needed serious fettling (welding and drilling) to get it to fit and frontline were of no help whatsoever not even returning my calls.
I'd never spend that kind of money (£400 +) with them again.
Now where's that hard top.

I'm going to make a concerted effort to get the front electrics working next. Theres loads of bad earth problems and the wires are old and the connectors knackered.
I've been faffing about making connectors for the old wires but I think it will be easier to just replace the whole front loom.

I think I'll need to add separate earths for the indicator/sidelight housings as they are rusty as you like and cost ---way--- too much to replace, though I do have an ebay watch saved for them

Looking good. Really like Midgets. If the seats are mounted anything like the MGB then I can agree the mounting is daft. I removed mine to get to the speedo and under dash easier and then spend longer remounting it than I did on the dash....

Another major weak point is the bullet connectors. Because of the way they are crimped with the neat little hole in the end, they admit water, the capillary action of the wire strands draws water all the way up the wire and basically turns the copper to oxides.

The current the wire can carry is then moved down the scale from Not Much (new) to Abysmal (30+ years down the line).

Hook a battery charger up to it to simulate the dynamo charging and see if they blink any faster. Telltale of poor current through the indicators is on for a long time, short off blink, as the bimetallic strip warms up juuuuust enough to plink into its off position but not warm the canister much.

You can expect it to be equally abysmal on both sides.

You can try this if you own a multimeter:

Lift the rear lens off and pull the bulb out. Pull the front bulb too.
Disconnect the battery.
Switch the ignition switch on, put the indicator stalk down to put on the right signal on.
Test the resistance between the front indicator centre terminal and the battery + lead. (Well, the back one will be easier for you, but you'll probably have to use a length of wire to extend the multimeter wire for the front unless you use the starter solenoid connection)
It shouldn't be more than a few tens of Ohms (5-30)
If it's more than a hundred or so there's your problem.

I'd put money on the indicator > wing > body connection. It's nearly always bad, even with good metal like you have. I ran a ground lead from the front light mounting nut up to the battery - mount nut and it helped immensely.

--Phil

too cold in the garage tonight so stayed in and ordered some proper bits to create an earthing point under the bonnet (abttery is in the boot now you see)

finally managed to find some time to get back in the garage and do some more work on the car.
Idecided to take the front end apart again and I'd forgotten to put some brackets on and I wanted to finally fix the lights. With the bonnet off it's also easier to sort out the fusebox and I also need to fit the heater. If I have to do this again, I might get a fiberglass bonnet

semi-dismatled:


forgotten panel:


possible cause for the bad earth ? new ones will be bought tomorrow

spot the difference


drilled to take a dedicated earth lead:



refitted to wing - the new seals aren't quite right so it doesn't look as god as it could :/

Can never understand why the Manifolds never fit, the engines cant be that much out can they.

In recent new I have also picked up a New Midget for the missus, best part its got Race running gear.