Oops! You did say "hard to break". Sorry. However, I stand firmly behind
what I said about the Triumph tranny, as fitted to the 1500 Midget. True,
the Spridget ribcase is far from indestructible, but, aside from first gear
being noisy, fragile and impractical for driving in traffic, the ribcase box
is a delight. It has nicely spaced ratios and a quick, smooth shifting
action that just cries out to be driven hard. The one in my Midget has way
over 100K on it, and is in the very final stage (the 90 wt stage) before I
rebuild it. However, the syncros are STILL unbeatable and the thing still
shifts very smoothly and effortlessly (and, I use my wrist, rather than my
entire upper body, to move the gear lever quickly).
No matter how you compare them, the A series is a better engine, cc for cc,
in every way. Modified, unmodified...doesn't matter. If you don't know
what to look for or how to deal with it, the 1500 is as close to being a
"bad" engine as I've ever seen. None of the A series engines had any built
in defects. Period. Sure, the early 1098s weren't really well suited to
tuning, due to the 1 7/8" crank journals, but, the reality is that you could
take any new A series engine and given correct, timely maintenance/clean
oil, correct fuel, drive it for a long, long time with never a thought of
catastrophic failure. With a new 1500, no matter how well you took care of
it, sooner than later it would develop major bottom end problems.
Do I think that the 1500 Midget is a P.O.S? No. Abingdon never produced
such a thing.
However, the current, market price for any pre '75 Spridget will always be
significantly higher than that of a 1500 Midget in comparable condition.
That speaks volumes for the desirability of one vs the other, wouldn't you
say?
Maybe the 'ol "good sex-bad sex" analogy applies to pre '75 vs post'74
Midgets. They're all still pretty darn good.
Bud Osbourne
----- Original Message -----
From <ckotting at wideopenwest.com>
To: "Bud Osbourne" <abcoz@hky.com>; "Steve Kirks" <srk@mac.com>
Cc: <spridgets@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, June 16, 2003 12:52 PM
Subject: Re: MG Midget Buying Advice
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