Phil here. Doing a frame-up on a '71 Midget in Seattle. Work too much.
Eat food. Umm. Life good.
Just kidding! Lots of people here seem to like to chat. Just joined the
list a couple weeks ago; I find lots of things in common with the discussion
at hand. In particular, I'll be installing the Rivergate 5-spd kit soon -
and will be interested to compare notes.
Here's the story: I used to work as a groundskeeper at the Point Defiance
Zoo in Tacoma, WA; commuting in my trusty Midget. One day I engaged the
clutch and it ceased to disengage. Drove home sans clutch; pulled the
engine to look at the clutch (found a broken spring); and then thought I'd
look at the head as long as I had the engine out. And after I looked at the
head, and found that it could use attention, I thought I'd look at the bore
. . . . that was 1986. After moving about 10 times, transporting the car in
sequentially smaller and smaller pieces, getting (and leaving) several jobs,
getting married, getting divorced, buying a house, and so on: finally got
the body work done and started putting it together. That was about 6 months
ago. I think that I'm going to be really happy and proud when I get it
done. I don't remember what it's like to not have an albatross around my
neck - and I understand that the cars are fun to drive, too! It's not
making the reassembly easier, though - and I think I must have killed off a
bunch of the brain cells whose job it was to remember what goes where! I'll
be sending out a plea for some obscure parts soon, to replace those
originals whose whereabouts remain unknown.
Interesting notes in no particular order:
Wire wheels
5-spd conversion
Pretty paint job
Frontline Spridget suspension - front and rear springs(1 inch lower - not
too stiff), anti-roll bar, anti-tramp bars, panhard rod, tube shocks w/front
A-arm conversion.
Not completely sure what I'll do with the engine - I think that I'll keep
the stock displacement and concentrate on the breathing. Planning on
porting the head, cam (Kent 266?), 1.5 rockers, APT intake manifold and LCB
exhaust, stick with the dual SU's to start. Any suggestions as to exhaust
pipe diameter and muffler type? I've thought about a big stainless tube
going back to a transversely mounted hi-flow muffler.
Interior will be all freshened up
New wiring harness
Custom roll bar (sturdy with diagonal brace)
It was a bad choice of a shell to restore - so the bodyman told me after he
was done with it. New floors, heelboard, cowl top, grill surround, battery
tray. Evidently a tree had fallen on the car some time in the past, and
some poor-quality repair had been done.
Can't wait to drive it around! It's already taking up a lot less space,
too.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Glad to meet you!
> In a message dated 3/30/00 4:38:21 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> type79@ix.netcom.com writes:
>
> I just received a communiqué from Mark J Bradakis which states that
> there are 262 subscribers to this list. That seems to indicate that
> there is some serious lurking going on. Aside from the usual spies from
> National who are all you people? >>
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