Mockup Time!

Engine and box have met with 25mm machined off the bell housing and a custom spigot bush.

 Used a laser aligning beam to locate the centre of the tail shaft, then placed the engine and aligned the centre of the crank pulley.

Mocked up in the engine bay to check clearances, etc. Looks good in there!

Engine will lay over more to get the sump horizontal but everything seems to fit well at this stage.

Approx shifter position:

Will spend some more time aligning things and get the engine leaned over to the correct position then will get started on fabricating custom engine & gearbox mounts.

Nearly ready to bolt up 'box

Alloy adapter plate water jet cut, holes countersunk for M12 stainless bolts now bolted firmly in place:

 

Sintered bronze spigot bush on gearbox input shaft, bush OD to be machined before ready to install into crank:

Bell housing is having 25mm machined off, then should be ready to bolt gearbox to engine!!

Then to check clutch operation, (throw out bearing, fork, etc) then mock up time and engine mount fabrication!

Gearbox Found!

Gearbox Adapting

So looks like a suitable ‘box has been found!

I’m going to use a Toyota T-18 5 speed. These are strong and feature an alloy case. Plus they’re great to service with a split case. Bearings will be replaced before final installation.

Had a bit of trouble finding one that had the shifter in the right place (so it wasn’t too far back) and that would accept a flywheel of 295mm (as I’m using the Rover one because it has the signals for the crank angle sensor.

Rover bell housing:

Trialling different boxes (T18 5speed I’m using is in the middle and was chosen for the forward most position of the gear lever and flywheel capacity):

Dash and wiring / instruments removed (I’m going to fabricate a totally new dash from scratch):

Mock-ups on the bench:

So now I’ve measured and drawn (I’m a draftsman) an adaptor plate to be bolted to the engine and allow me to mount the gearbox.

My plan is to use the OEM Rover starter motor, but mounted on the engine side which will mean I’ll have to have it reversed by an auto electrician.

Adapter plate:

So it Begins!!!!!!

Ok guys, thought I'd create this blog to step you through my progress in restoring an MG midget. I’m taking the time to put this blog up as a record of the build and possibly to help others.

The Car

My Father-in-law and I bought this car many years ago for little money as a cheap project.

Being heavily involved with the Newcastle MG Car Club we both have owned various model MGs including late model examples (ZS & ZT).

So the car was very rough when we bought it (hence why it was cheap) in 2004 ish?. It had already received an engine transplant. The asthmatic A series engine was long gone and in its place was a Mitsubishi 4G32 1.6L & 5 speed. Although the engine had received a lot of attention, the rest of the car is pretty rough.

Apart from putting a roll bar in it, some proper seats and fixing a few things like the exhaust and bonnet, nothing much further was done with the car. My father in law drove it occasionally in motorkhanas. It ran well but clearly the suspension is tired, bodywork rough, etc, etc.

Here’s a few pics of my Niece driving it at a local tar motorkhana event:

The intention with the car shortly after buying it was to convert it back to an MG "Siiloutte" engine so we could run it at MG National Meetings (as I didn't own an MG at the time of purchase)

We obtained a rover K series 1.8l engine, ECU and wiring loom from a Rover freelander. A blown headgasket was attended to and then things just stalled......

Which brings me up to today.

Recently I've got a new motivation to see this project through.

Although I'm reasonably handy in the garage (built my own RX7 race car) I'm no expert by any means. Just a guy with a bit of an idea and no fear to get his hands dirty!!!

So here’s my work bay, ready to start. All painted, lined and fully insulated:

I plan on doing most, if not all the work myself with help from others such as my father in law, father, etc, etc.

Here’s the mighty K series 1.8 engine to be used:

Ready to go:

Front off, preparing to pull the engine:

Out she comes:

Using crane scales, I decided to weigh the old mitsu engine and compare it to the K series. The mistu has an alloy head but cast iron block. With clutch and flywheel it weighed in at 98kg:

Still lighter than the original A series (from research is about 120kg?)

The new K series 1.8 is all alloy and weighs a mere 76kg:

Empty bay:

Gearbox has since been removed as I won’t be able to use it (bell housing is too small to go over the K series flywheel.

The jigsaw puzzle:

Some tired old suspension that I will be addressing later:

So the 4G32 engine / box is up for sale.

My next task is to have an alloy adaptor plate water-jet cut out which will be used to bolt a different gearbox to the K series engine. There are custom bellhousing adaptors one can buy from shops like Frontline in the UK to adapt a Ford Type 9 gearbox but that process would be extremely costly.

Will post further updates as they come to hand. Feel free to comment or follow me as this project develops!