Larry Macy wrote:
>
> Yesterday I was all giddy with delight having gotten the Midget running
> and legal. Today I am depressed and sad. Went to a dinner party at the
> bosses house and had to take the MG. Was a beautiful evening for a
> cruise. Everthing was great!! On the way home a serious racket developed
> under the hood about 3 miles from the house. I pulled over and popped the
> newly polished bonnet and there was the alternator squealing like a stuck
> pig. Decided to try to get home before the alt bearings failed and got
> about 2 blocks when the squeal stops and a vast amount of smoke bigins to
> flow out. I hoped that the friction would snap the belt, but when I
> popped the bonnet again it was still on the pulleys. Being the very
> intelligent person that I am, I had taken NO tools with me for this
> evening cruise. ;-( Having had the belt snap for the same reason in the
> 75 about 16 yrs ago I had an immediate solution, however it is predicated
> on the fact that the belt breaks if you have no tools. I went back to the
> boot took out the spanner for the knockoffs and used it as a lever to pop
> the belt off while the SO bumped the engine with the starter. It Worked.
> The frozen alternator was loose from the rest of the spinning bits. I
> then reached down to my sneakers pulled the shoestring out and tied it
> very tightly around the waterpump and crank pulleys. (remember I had been
> through this before). Fired that baby up, and with judisous coasting to
> help the cooling we made it home. Single word of warning if you need to
> try this use one of the old fashioned flat shoestrings not one of the
> newer round colored ones. The round colored one is what I had last night
> and it did not work as well as the flat one I had used before.
>
> Major question - We went through the Delco etc replacements for the B is
> there a Delco or other alternator replacement for the 1500 Midget???
>
> Larry Macy
> 78 Midget (Pretty as a picture, Gonna have to get it a Snickers)
Larry,
Check with Merryman Modifications in Hanover, PA.(717)633-6083. Their
alternator conversion is for the B series engine, but for sure they've
worked on a kazillion 1500 Midgets and Spits and can either modify that
or fix you up some other way. BTW, don't you ever wear loafers?
Charlie
'52 TD, '60 MGA, '66 MGB
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