Hello to the list! I have been receiving mail from the M.G. list for several
weeks now and I think it is absolutly fascinating, if not a little
overwhelming considering the volume. Now I am ready to try my hand at
posting a message.
To Martin Baker who writes about his Midget rear suspension in a Apr 19
posting: I have a 1977 Midget (91,000 miles) that I bought new and it has
the same problem of being low on the driver's side. A number of years ago a
mechanic had the rear springs re-arched and the car leveled up nicely for a
while but now once again lists decidedly to the left. I recall a fellow who
had been a mechanic for the local M.G. dealer when M.G.s were still current
telling me that this was a recurring problem when the cars were new. Is
there a point when re-arching the springs is not a reliable fix? Are new
springs the better answer?
To Terry O'Brien who has problems keeping a constant idle speed on his 1500
Midget, I have very similar problems with mine. My Midget runs strong and
smoothly from start-up and on the freeway on a daily basis. It will continue
to run smoothly after reaching normal temperatures until I shut the engine
off. It is hard to restart when the engine is warm and refuses to idle for
several minutes, dying at every stop sign if I don't keep my foot on the gas
pedal. After a while it does even out and start behaving again. I had an
excellent mechanic named Doug Keeble maintaining my car and he made it run
better than anybody else who had worked on it. However, the fix for this
erratic idling problem continued to elude him. He found that the automatic
choke was gummed up and sticking. After he cleaned that problem up he found
that the carburettors seemed to run rich. The last time he had it I left it
with him for over a week to drive on a daily basis to continue to tweak the
mixture. It ran beautifully for several weeks. Then Doug left town and now
it's starting to misbehave again. I haven't had the time to investigate
whether or not the choke is sticking again. Advice on this matter would be
greatly appreciated. If anyone in Illinois knows Doug, tell him that I wish
he were back!
To John Elwood who has the antique MG pocketwatch and wanting historical
information about it, I have some friends in England who were connected with
M.G.s in the early days. I met these people while filming interviews for a
soon-to-be-released videotape I am producing about the pre-war M.G. Car
Company. I will forward your messages on to them to see if they can shed any
light on the watch.
At one point someone was asking for addresses of M.G. clubs. I belong to the
Houston M.G. Car Club, P.O. Box 441-1241, Houston, Texas 77244-1241.
I guess that's enough for now.
Thanks for the space and thanks in advance for your replies.
Gary Watson
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