It all started because I had to move the '79 from the driveway to the back yard
because my brother is leaving his Mazda pickup with us while his job sends him
to Brooklyn.
We were just going to push it back there, but the engine does run. My wife
says, "too bad the clutch doesn't work, we could just drive it back there." We
had bought a new master and slave, so well, why not?
After removing the old master and slave, I started to install the new Lockheed
that I got from Moss. It's got a new plastic reservoir that doesn't fit beside
the brake master. ^%(&**&^!!
Off tho the Moss warehouse in Dover to exchange it. No luck, they're all like
that. So I pick up a rebuild kit to just get by. A quick replacement of the
seals in the old master, and install it, the new slave, and new hose. Then to
bleed. (many posts on that!) We has success drilling a small hole in the
reservoir cap and using a bycyle pump to pressurize the system enough to get
all the air out. Great! I put my newly painted Rostyles on, and I lower the car
to the ground. Connect the battery, start her up. Sputters and comes to life!
Thry to put it in gear, but she just doesn't want to go. Uh oh, clutch disk
stuck to the flywheel! I try to spin the starter with the car in gear and the
brakes on. This tells me how inadequate the brakes are currently! After a bit
of this, the clutch comes free! Yes!!
So I took her for a short spin down the street and back, anout 1000 feet total.
She looked real odd with no bonnet and no left front wing and no big rubber
bumpers, but she went! Parked her in the yard in a spot next to where I'm
working on the replacement bodyshell. Got a question.. is the 1500 gearbox
always loud? It sounded like I had straight cut gears in all forward speeds?
I've discovered that she looks better to me without the bumpers. So I'm looking
for different options for bumper replacement. Ought to be interesting!
First drive! I love this car!
-=Chris
'79 Midget (It runs, It drives, it's being restored)
Chris King - cbking@alum.rpi.edu
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