OK, so we have this new MG forum where perhaps I need not feel quite so guilty
about posting things not so interesting to the LBC public at large....
So I'm in the middle of rebuilding my spare 1275 for my Midget. I shouldn't
say "in the middle" because it's only disassembled; the block and crank go to
the machine shop on Saturday, and I find out what size pistons, bearings, etc.
I need. I have a feeling that reassembly will not be so simple as
disassembly. Sooooo....Anyone know what a particularly good place to get
pistons for an A-motor would be? I already bought the gaskets and things from
VB, but I'm looking for fairly inexpensive roughly original-spec preferably
forged pistons. Marcus recommended I try Mini Mania or British Motorsports;
BM has a promising-sounding set for about $190 or so and I haven't called Mini
Mania just yet.
Question #2: Are there any catches or difficulties I need to be wary of,
either in disassembling the motor or reassembling it? Any little plugs and
things hiding somewhere mysterious that I should pull before the block goes in
the hot tank? Any funny assembly tricks that the Bentley book doesn't tell
me?
Question #3: I accidentally broke the plastic tube in which the dipstick
resides in the crankcase. VB does not seem to list a replacement. Is there
someone else, somewhere else, who can sell me one? Does someone on the list
have one?
Harvey the Midget and I went out for a drive yesterday. Here in Champaign, IL
the temperature is somewhere in the sixties and the sun is out. The whole
driving experience would have been a bunch more pleasant if I hadn't had to
listen to rod knock. And the car still has to make it 150 miles or so to the
garage where it gets its new heart.
This Midget is fast turning into the proverbial "Grandfather's axe." You
know, the head's been replaced three times and the shaft's been replaced
twice, but it's still your grandfather's axe. I can't wait for real spring to
start.
Cheers!
Michael Chaffee
mchaffee@sumter.cso.uiuc.edu
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