04/07/2002

Arrival of the first box of bits from the Frogeye Spares Co. The parts are to enable me to get the car ‘rolling’. Once the car is back in my workshop, I can establish what parts will be required and what parts can be restored.

05/07/2002

Visit to Abingdon to MGMidgets to assemble front suspension using both old and new parts - just to get the car rolling you understand !

06/07/2002

The big day! The car is collected by myself and Peter. The workshop has been cleared of most junk (the TR4A is still there, however!) and now a large working area is available.

July 2002

Most of the month was spent either on holiday or sorting out bits, cleaning and preparing for respray or blasting and powder coating. Various suspension items ordered and the front suspension is underway ! I also had the opportunity to paint the floor. This has proved invaluable - no longer do nice clean parts get covered in that gritty dust etc.

18/07/2002

The purchase of a spare engine (1275) matching gearbox, big valve head and a couple of brake calipers will allow me to get the car running fairly quickly. Engine and gearbox are reconditioned units, both in good condition and a bargain at £200.

10/08/2002

The front suspension nears completion. I have fitted performance Polubush bushes to the front. I purchased the whole kit as it was on offer and will treat the rear end to this when I get around to it. Other mods include standard discs and Goodridge S/S brake lines. I will fit the anti roll-bar in due course but at the moment it is not a priority. (As a note, the original wishbones did not have holes for the roll-bar so I suppose I will have to retain these just in case I want to have originality.

11/08/2002

I am now awaiting several bits that are stoping me from finishing the front end. Mainly replacement springs and the spring mounts. The mounts are still with the powder coating guy as are my calipers - ah well !Next weekend will see no work on the car as I am away but I should make up for it at the Bank Holiday weekend ! Bonnet off time and preparation of the engine bay for the Engine / Gearbox and the jacking up of the rear end for dismantling.

20/08/2002

The purchase of a 1275 Midget (1974) means I have become obsessed !!! No this is because I need various items that are missing from my car, namely: Correct diff and propshaft, accelarator pedal and linkage and various other bits. The car also gives me the oppportunity to have a spare engine and gearbox to tune (at my leisure!) The remaining parts will be sold off to pay for the car - or maybe a K-Series Racer one day! (Mmmmm.....)

22/08/2002

Collected the springs today - 9” and 340lb. I am hoping that this will give a sensible ride with an improvement in handling. We shall have to see what is done on the rear - there seems to be a general thought that I can remove some leaves in the 1/4 eliptical springs to lower (?)

24/08/2002

I am now in a dilema ! Having spoken to John Wake (local guy with 2 nice frogeyes) he really suggests that I install the later separate Master Cylinders - espescially as the engine bay is clear - ‘It is an easy job’  - I will deliberate over this. I think I will get the panel and see how much fitting is required. As I intend to give the engine bay a sand down and flick of paint, it may not be much of a job!!!

25/08/2002

Bank holiday weekend - and not much time dedicated! The steering column was re-furbed and painted. The steering rack requires new gaiters and track rod ends but apart from that it seems OK. A previous servicer had managed to inject grease into the rack and so it was a real mess inside. Once cleaned up it showed that there was minimal wear on the rack and so the outer case was re-sprayed and the rack assembled. The final job of the day was to clean all captive nuts in the engine bay area using taps. I noticed that one of the bumper retaining bolts has sheared off in the outrigger and so this will need drilling out - when I get a moment. I am now going to await the new panel before more work proceeds in the engine bay area.

28/08/2002

The arrival of a 1975 RWA Midget (1275) ‘WMH 5M’ means that I now have most of the bits to finish the restoration. Primarily, I will use the diff and propshaft. The chrome handbrake lever is good and so means I can avoid having to re-chrome the old one. Maybe I will keep the engine and box so that these can be re-built at leisure.

29/08/2002

OK - Brakes ! I have been deliberating about the brakes and whether to fit the later style separate master cylinders. This would mean ‘faffing’ around with the upper footwell panel - something I was reluctant to do. I then decided to go ahead and purchase a panel for the later pedal box. A few phone calls later and it transpired it was not that readily available. Wheeler and Davies said Moss did them but asked if I had considered fitting a Sebring Pedal box ! Anyway, they could supply me a complete box and pedals with masters and this would ‘pop’ straight in to the aperture of the forgeye panel ! £190 all in but I think it is the best route to go.

to 13/09/2002

Over the last week or so I seem to have acheived very little. The primary task was to re-spray the engine bay. I had decided to do this after the brake panel fitting but now can complete this. The lower section of the bay has had stone chip on it and so I have decided to leave this. The upper panels, now re-sprayed, look a little better and, when fully cured, I will strat to fit some of the powder coated items. I am now fitting the brake lines and this is proving a little easier than I thought it would even though I am making them up myself using brass unions and Copper/Nickel pipe. This coming weekend should see the front suspension completed - I have been waiting for some bits back from the powder coaters. One thing that has progressed over the last two weeks is the strip down of the Midget. This is now basically a rolling shell with the engine still in - a good enough place to store it as any !

to 16/09/2002

A variable period this one. Last weekend was devoted (when i was allowed !) to finalising the front suspension etc and finishing off the calipers. The calipers have now both been rebuilt and the front spings installed. A bit of bolting up here and there and that finished off the front ! Brake lines (front ones) were fairly easy to install but the one from front to rear needed me to research a couple of books to see its location. It is in, but it needs tidying up ! With the front, I need to check the steering etc but that is all I can do there at the moment so I thought it was time to attack the rear. The rear has been re-done but the springs are not right and the bearings have too much play. All I need is a big socket to remove the rear hubs. I intend to swap over the nuts and back plates from the doner Midget and thus use the twin piston cylinder in the rear drums. One rear caliper was as new and I bought another Lockheed one from my local motor factors for £11. During the week I picked up a set of repro Minilite wheels which I shall fit.(My birthday present to myself !) The tyres are 70 profile and are likely to be changed in due course to 60 profile.

to 23/09/2002

During the week little progress was made but at the weekend (my birthday) I was allowed full indulgence in the cars. Now, somone reminded me I was hoping ot have the engine in at this stage ! Mmmm, perhaps a few weeks yet ! The rear brakes were stripped off the old midget, the rear of the forgeye waits the new bits and I await the big socket to get the hubs off ! Whilst I seem to wait for various bits and pieces, trim samples, master cyls, pedal box etc, I thought it was time to have a go at fixing the loom. This comprised of 1) part stripping down the Midget wiring loom (to see how the alternator is wired and 2) modifing the new loom to get the alternator installed. The former task was a very dirty affair and once I had the loom unwrapped it was fairly easy to see the way it all worked. I made a mock up of the engine bay with the solenoid (I am going to use a later type), alternator, ignition switch, loom (iginition light fitted), battery, fuse box (later type with 4 fuses) and a common earth. Once the earth was working it was fairly straight forward working out how to wire it all up. I will post this in the technical section when I have finalised the wiring and got it all running. The lack of regulator means that the loom is much simplified but i have retained all cable and lengths in case someone wants to fit a dynamo in the future.

to 06/10/2002

Don’t the days flash by ! Little progress seems to have been made over the last few weeks. The Minilites were offered up to the front hubs in a hope to keep my enthusiasm alive and at least visualise the car with some wheels on. My pleasure was to be quickly wiped off my face when I found that the track rod ends caught on the inner rim of the wheel - actually stopping it turning. Much coffee, discussion and thought led me to believe this was no a fault of mine and the Spridget BBS and John Wake both confirmed that the track rod ends required a little reduction in height. That, coupled with a reduced height Nyloc (will also try K-Nuts) have now given me a clearance of about 1/8” - plenty of room ! The rear bub nut socket arrived - 47mm - and this meant I could remove the hubs from the Midget and the frogeye. The best 2 were selected (look like they were replacement bearings) and the 1275 back plates were sent off with all the other parts for the final load of powder coating. I should point out that the 47mm socket is a close fit and it was necessary to ‘de-burr’ the inside edges of the socket a little to make sure it fitted properly over the hub nut.

As for other tasks completed: The petrol tank (new) was rubbed down and a coat of antichip black paint applied, the 4.2 diff was removed and awaits the 3.9 from the 1275 Midget, the rear axles ends (where the backplates attach) were cleaned up and re-painted. And lastly the engine was ‘gunked’ and then pressure cleaned ready for a lick of paint !

to 25/10/2002

A bunch of small task and I am still no closer !! I thought it about time to start prepairing to get the engine and gearbox ready for installation. As previously said, I intend to ‘drop’ this unit straight in and see what happens. So the gearbox mounts were fitted and yes, 2 of the mount holes were stripped. A bit of pondering made me cut longer UNC bolts and after cleaning the holes with a suitable tap, the mount is tight and well fitted. It may be OK - we shall see! A new thrust bearing was fitted as was the lever cotter pin and that was it for the gearbox (It is clean and painted black with a few marker pen numbers on it, so it looks re-conditioned. The engine block is now painted a bright red and the ancilliaries are cleaned up. Distributor weights etc were seized and so a general clean and lube was necessary on this unit. (some parts coming from a spare unit !) The engine and gearbox are ready to mate and I will do this just before I install. The new master cylinder / pedal box has arrived and fits like a glove so I shall proceed with this next. (click here for more info)

I am still awaiting parts to return from powder coating and this will enable me to fit the rear hubs and drums etc. The captive bolts for the petrol tank took ages to re-thread - I say re-thread but what I mean id removing the various layers of paint etc. With the aid of a small wire brush and using a new nut, I managed to get the nuts to freely run up and down the bolts. (I did not have a suitable die for this task !)

to 28/10/2002

What with the bad weather and a new kitchen to install, only a small amount of progress was made at the weekend. The primary jobs completed were the fitting of the rear hubs, backplates and brakes etc. I started to fit the 1275 backplates, as the bits had arrived from the powder coaters. Of course it was not until I tried a mock fitting of the handbrake rods did I realise that I had the wrong ones cleaned up! The Mk1 rods are different to the ones from the 1275 Midget. The rest was straightforward but I will need to fit proper circlips for the slave cylinders - what they use those bent ‘c’ clips is beyond me ! The rear is ready for the half-shafts, but I have yet to get the diff off the Midget. Apart from the that then most bits are ready to assemble on the rear and I can then progress to engine fitting. The only bit I have not sorted out is where the clutch hose fits to the body (?)

As a finish to the weekend, I managed to clean up the radiator and give it a couple of coats of paint. It looks to have been re-cored - so lets hope. (A couple of  visits in between times to get the room battened down was also necessary during the gale force winds)

to 09/12/2002

It seems a long time that any work got done on the car. The bad weather meant that the stables sprang a leak and water managed to go everywhere I did not want it to go - mainly over my bench and tools ! The diff from the 1275 is now fitted (3.9 to 1) The diff was cleaned and painted and fitted to the axle with a new gasket and blue hylomar. I have no idea of the condition but it is a fairly easy item to swap. I then thought the best plan was to fit the rear half shafts and drums so that I could get the rear of the car rolling again. Why is it that every job turns in to a major op! The back plates that were powder coated (along with the drums) now have too much paint on them as the tolerance of the backplate to the drum means that the drums lock up when all is tightened up. So the easiest thing to do (after a lot of thought) is to machine about 0.0625” from the edge of the drum. It will be a lot easier than taking everything apart again and then removing a band of paint (powder coat) apart from that the only outstanding thing on the rear suspension is the rear brake lines need tidying up. Thursday coming sees the engine going in and that will probably mean I can progress at the front of the car a little

to 13/12/2002

Well, its Friday and yes, I did get the engine in yesterday. I have to say that the process took no time at all. The engine mounts all lined up and there you have it - well not quite. The Sealy Engine hoist was too wide for the track of the Frogeye so the front wheels had to be removed. The front nearside mount (removed for ease) did not go back on that easily and once the engine was rocked over a little, hey presto and it was in. I now find that one of the captive nuts on that mount is worn but at least that can be sorted easily. The gearbox mount was fitted with the original bolts as they were good. Now I know why one bolt had a taper on the start of the thread ! This lined up the hole, and then when removed I could fit the other bolt and then use the tapered one on the other hole. I got away with only a very small chip on the paintwork by the bulkhead that can easily be touched up - not bad for a first effort. (probably many more refits to come !) Now I can proceed to do the clutch lines and fit the ancillaries. (Sincere thanks to Rob S. who was not only happy to do this in the cold but also help me remove the TR4A gearbox ! - mad fool !)

to 31/01/2003

I have, quite literally, done nothing on the car since before Christmas. My workshop sprang a leak (that is an understatement) and the weather has been so cold that I have not daed to venture out in to it !! Oh for a space heater ! (plus I have felt a little obliged to finish off the new kitchen in the hhouse !) I am now about to get together some of the internal trim parts and I am keen to get my finger nails dirty - more news to follow !

31/3/2003

It lives !!! After a day off and the fuel lines completed, the car fired up. I make it sound easy but it took a while. The problems were two fold. 1) The ‘sparks’ was out - go the leads round the wrong way for some reason and 2) The timing was way off. I was using a mark I made on the distributor and assumed that this was correct. More info and pictures to follow