George,
Congratulations on a beautiful looking MG. You are correct in your
assumption about the fuel filter. You need to hook up the missing hose to
the open end of the filter. That should solve the no running problem. As
to the choke cable problem, it looks like the cable may be pulled too tight.
Try pulling it out of the firewall and making sure that it isn't binding or
making too much of a sharp bend. I have had that problem with the throttle
as well when working around the cable and moving it aside to get at the
problem. Sometimes it just has a little too much bind and won't return the
way it should. There should be springs beneath the carburetors hooked to
the heat shield to pull the throttle and choke back when you release them.
You might check that out as well.
You have more faith in your girl friend than I did in my daughters. I made
them learn to drive a stick on another car before I let them drive my MG.
Dave 72 B
-----Original Message-----
From: George Cahlik <styloroc2000@earthlink.net>
To: mgs@autox.team.net <mgs@autox.team.net>
Date: Wednesday, July 19, 2000 2:08 PM
Subject: My First Post, LBC, and...Problem.
>Hello Everyone,
>Let me introduce myself. My name is George, I am 21 and I've been wanthing
an LBC ever since my father sold his triumph when I was 4. I am new to cars
in general, but I've always wanted to learn mechanics and whatnot. It
wasn't until now that I could afford a car and I figured if I were to get a
car, I'm going to get a car that I actually want rather than out of
convinience, there is some sort of romanticism to that.
>
>Well I finally got my hands on a '74 MG Midget, it's beautiful. Has 50,000
original miles on it, pretty much everything on it is original, including
interior, paint, and engine, and it was taken well care of by a sunday
driver. I suppose this could be a good and bad thing.
>
>Anyways.
>
>I anxiously awaited the arrival of my MG, and last Sunday I finally got it.
It _ran_ perfect. I drove it easily (I wasn't going to let my dream die
too quickly) and that evening I finally gave into pressure to teach my
girlfriend how to drive a stick. The car, in the hands of someone
accustomed to automatic transmissions, naturally stalled out the first
couple of times. I also had a hard time teaching her how to shift from 2nd
to 3rd. So, generally, our ride was a little rough, but that was to be
expected. After about 45 minutes of abuse, and a stall, I tried to start
up the car, and it startd to run rough and backfired. Scared, I decided to
quit the lesson and I had a horrible time trying to get home, I couldn't
achieve the power to go above 40 mph.
>
>I couldn't figure out what was wrong. Yesterday I took a few pictures
hoping someone could help me out. What I think happened (now keep in
mind, I know NOTHING about mechanics aside from what I learned in physics
classes in high school) is that the hose from the fuel filter came loose or
broke and too much oxygen and not enough gas was getting to the engine,
which caused it to backfire.
>
>I made a small webpage with my images of what I believe is the problem at
this site:
>http://home.earthlink.net/~styloroc2000/midget.html
>
>I really hope someone can help me, I honestly can not afford a good import
mechanic and I think this would be a good learning experience anyways.
>
>I would also like to know what is the proper amperage/voltage resistance
for the fuses in the Midget. The car came with 25amp fuses (I forget the
voltage), but the person who sold it to me gave me 30amp fuses. I know 25
amps is safer, but what is sufficient?
>
>Thx.
>George
>
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