Last updated on Monday, August 4th.



1979 MG Midget
Limited Edition Rally Sport








Links that helped me:
British Cars Web - Scions of Lucas
MG Web - SOL
MG BBS Midget Index
MG Midget Homepage
team.net homepage



Monday, 5/5/97:
I bought the 1979 MG Special Edition Rally Sport Midget on this day, May 5th, 1997. This day will live on in history to be known as The Day Eric Bought His MG, for lack of a better and more creative phrase. I bought the car from Linder's Automotive Recyclers for $500.00. All tires were flat, there were four Pirelli tires sitting in the passenger seat, a few dead bees on the floor of the passenger side floormat, dead wiper blades, and a very dead and very non-working Triumph Spitfire 1493cc engine under the hood. Here's a picture of me posing with it after it came off the tow truck!


But what promise, what potential fun, what adventures to be uncovered held this beauty, this feat of engineering, this very, very small british passenger car. My friend Patrick ("P=TOWN ") and I wandered across Linders on the way back from retrieving an oil dipstick for his Oldsmobishi from Kenny at Standard. Kenny could have probably just welded us a new MG from spare parts and broken transmissions, but Kenny was having a rough day that Sunday and we decided not to bug him. After all, he is the true Automotive Prophet. Manuel delivered the car on a flatbed truck to my driveway. Later on after work that day, Patrick got his seals replaced at the Oldsmobishi dealer and drove home with me. He and I jacked up the car onto cement blocks and took the wheels off and packed them into my Mazda with the new Pirelli wheels so I could take them to Goodyear the next day to get them put on. We WD'd a few brake joints, and I connected the Midget battery to my Mazda to check out the electrical system. About half of the lights worked, and all the dash lights worked, to my great joy! Here's the inside of the midget:


I spent the rest of the evening spraying WD around the engine on rusted parts and screw-joints and cleaning the softtop and windshield with Lysol tub and bathroom cleaner. I examined the fluids, namely the oil reserve, and found it very watery and very old.
Total investment to date: $500.

Tuesday, 5/6/97:
Today I dropped off the rims and Pirelli's at Goodyear on my way into work and they should be ready right now - I'm picking them up on my way home. To put the tires on and new air pokey-things and to balance each tire is costing me about $70 total. I also stopped by Auto Palace and talked to the fellow there about my plight and the operations I had planned on doing tonite. I invested $118.13 in miscellaneous tools, a new battery, new Champion gold spark plugs (0.025" gap), brake fluid, marvel mystery oil to loosen up those cylinders, a new fuel filter, an oil filter, 4 quarts of 10W-30 and a thing of Slick-50, and some spray solvent and brake cleaner (basically the same stuff but I bought both of them anyway).
Total investment to date: $688.13

Wednesday, 5/7/97:
Well, this morning brings some interesting news. As it turns out, the oil filter is not replacable without "converting" the center oil filter thread to a 3/4" standard thread. No aftermarket company around here (Fram, Purilator, OE, etc) makes an oil filter for cars with the smaller diameter thread (it's like 3/8 or 7/16 or so). So I need to do some investigation and auto yard searching for the converter in order to get a new filter on. Another issue is replacing the spark plugs - the first spark plug is blocked by the alternator! Check it out below - I took the boot off the plug that the alternator blocks:


Click on it for an unecessarily immense enlargement. I was later able to rotate the alternator out of the way to change all four plugs.

In addition, I discovered that it didn't even match the three Champion plugs I had removed - it was Uni-friggin-part, the same brand as the old oil filter - which means the car was probably taken to an MG dealer, given Unipart plugs and oil filter (this is all like 10 years ago), and then the three plugs were later changed. So basically this plug has been sitting in the engine block for about 10 years and very much needs to be replaced. On a sadder note, the battery I got from Auto Palace is the wrong size. So that's getting returned during lunch today. Another interesting note is the alternator output of 36amps - that's not going to be enough for any kind of respectable stereo system. That's barely enough to recharge the battery during normal operation. So I think I'm going to throw original parts to the wind and get a GM alternator or something to replace the little bitty Lucas alternator that's on there now. Since I have to take the alternator off anyway, I might as well put one on there that has a higher output. Maybe I can trade it in or something at Parts America or a junkyard, who knows. As for tonite, I'm gonna check some auto yards during lunch and see what I can come up with and go from there.
Well, it's after lunch. And what a story I have for you, the patient internet enthusiast: So I go to Auto Palace and exchange the battery for one that will fit my midget. No problem, he can't figure out why the other one came up as a perfect fit, I didn't care, I just wanted a battery and wanted to get out of there. So that done, I went to Rich's Auto in Hudson to look in a couple MGB's I knew he had in hopes that one of them would have the 3/4" adapter for the oil filter. No luck there, but he tells me to go to School Street Garage in Acton, about 15 minutes away. So I drive out to Acton, passing signs for east and west Bumblehump and covered wagons, and finally get to this garage right out of a Steven King novel, with parts and naked photos of women hanging all over the garage. There's an old geezer sitting in a chair chowing down on wings and carrot sticks and talking to me through this edible train wreck in his mouth in a thick german accent. I can't understand a word he's saying. So this 22 year old kid, bless him, asks me if I need an oil filter. Yes, I exclaim, and he just goes in the back and says here, this one will fit your unconverted midget. I bless him and thank him, run to an ATM machine, get some cash, go back to Hole In The Ass garage and pay the dirty bastard and his grubby wingy fingers. I nod politely to the buck naked 20 year old temptress on the wall as I hastily exit the garage with my brand spanking new Bosch Oil Filtre in hand. That was probably my problem the whole time, I was looking for a filter when I should have been asking for a filtre. Never again will I make this harsh mistake. The old swashbuckler charged me $6.75 for the filtre! I said it better be made out of hard-pressed gold for that price, actually, I didn't say that out loud, but I sure thought it pretty loud while I was forking over the money. I gave him a $20 and he even shortchanged me with change, but I didn't want to press the issue because no amount of money could pay me for the mounting fear that was welling in my gut the longer I stayed in that Satanical Pit.
Well, last night uncovered some interesting points. I discovered firstly that the oil filter I went to great lengths to get doesn't fit any better than the other ones I tried - this was a great disappointment. So we DUCK taped the old filter that I had put a screwdriver through to get off and screwed it back on for lack of anything else to use, and then went about changing the oil:


Do you know what happens when you try to start the car with a duck-taped oil filter? Let me show you:


We could not budge the 11mm square nut that was the oil drain plug. We couldn't fit a crescent wrench around it because the car was too low to the ground and the angle was too sharp. So Patrick and I drive all over the place looking for a 11mm sqaure ratchet attachment. No dice, even at the Automotive Super Store, which isn't so super, but has some super people working there. Anyway, we get back and end up jacking the front of the car up and putting blocks under the front tires, another set of blocks under the frame in case the car rolls off the blocks, and the nut was off with the crescent wrench in a matter of minutes. Slick50 and 4 quarts of Quaker State went down the hatch. A gallon of gas went into the tank, and we tried the ignition for the first time. A noise, but no engine movement. So I say we should roll the car forward and pop the clutch in 4th gear to free the engine from seize. So Patrick dutifully goes to the back of the car, I clamber into the drivers seat, and Patrick pushes. The car moves 3 inches forward, and I never let the clutch out. Apparently the wheel bearings are very, very dry. Very dry. So dry, in fact, that the 1000 pound car might as well weigh 5 times that because the friction of the wheel bearings is too much for P=Town. So Patrick pushes the car back to its original resting place 3 inches back into the garage, and just for kicks I try the ignition again - for some reason, the belts started turning this time! Everything was cranking but we couldn't get the engine to start. So we take the distributor cap off and look at the points. A bit dirty, but they look functional - removing a spark plug revealed that we are getting spark in the engine, and a sniff-test of the end of the plug revealed that we were definitely NOT getting any fuel into the engine. By that time it was time to eat and getting a little nippy outside, so we called it a night. Tonite will bring an attempt to locate the fuel pump and filter in hopes of determining where in the fuel line the blockage is, or if the fuel pump is even good, once we find out where it is. I guess a shop manual would really help us out here, but it'll be another couple of days before that shows up.
I returned the old oil filter last night, so that's $4 off the total, plus $6.75 makes a grand total of...
Total investment to date: $690.88

Thursday, 5/8/97:
This afternoon I plan on going to Foreign Auto Parts in Marlboro to try to hopefully get an oil filter that will fit my car or a 3/4" spin-on adapter for the oil filter mount and maybe, just maybe get some tips on cleaning fuel lines and where the fuel pump is.
Well, the oil filter fit, thank goodness. When I got home in the evening I put the filter on and changed the oil again, putting 20w50 in. I then checked the fuel pump and it wasn't looking good. The gas line from the tank to the engine compartment looked alright, I could suck gas up out of it - this was good. The first couple of squirts of gas I got up were a bit brown-colored- but all in all not too bad. I was actually expecting worse. At any rate, I located the fuel pump and the line going from the pump to the carb was dry as a bone. Bone-dry. No gas in there. So the pump isn't pumping, and that's my biggest problem as I see it right now. An interesting note is that there is no electrical connection to the pump and I'm wondering just how the pump is supposed to pump without being connected to any power. It mounts into the engine block so I'm thinking perhaps it pumps using some sort of hydrolic pressure but I'm really not sure. There is a wire hanging near the fuel pump that I thought might be the mystery pump connection, but feeling around the bottom of the pump yielded no place where the wire might connect. So for now it looks like I have to find a pump somewhere before I can have any hope of starting the engine.

Friday, 5/9/97:
Stopped by Foreign Autopart today in Marlboro and ordered a fuel pump. I found out a vital piece of information - my fuel pump is NOT electrical, which solves the dilemma of whether or not the Mystery Wires go to the pump or not. Choice B, thank you. So now that that's that, and may I say I never thought it was possible to use the word "that" three times in a row in a grammatically feasable manner, I have only to wait for the pump to show up in Marlboro, which should be Monday afternoon or Tuesday sometime. In the meantime, I can set up a Q&D fuel feed system by hanging a bucket of gas from the raised hood and running the fuel line down to the carb. Gravity should provide enough fuel pressure to the carb to enable the engine to start. This would make me very excited to hear the engine actually running, plus it would enable the oil to get circulated around the engine and it would tell me whether or not the fourth UNIPART 15-year old spark plug in cylinder 1 is firing or not. It would also give me some sort of clue as to how the timing is aligned. That's my theory, anyway, I just wanna give it a shot and see if I have any other large obstacles to get over in my attempts to get the engine running. The fuel pump will cost me like $45 but I only put $20 down, which itself was a loan from Pam. I also shelled out $60 for a Midget shop manual, or at least I think it was $60. So..
Total investment to date: About $770.

Friday, 5/9/97:
I got it started! After bypassing the fuel pump with a funnel and a hose clamped to the end of the funnel and the carb, the engine started up after I flooded it a bit and finally jumped to life after sitting dormant for more than 5 years. In 1985 the car was sold to one John Nelson for $3000, and in 1997 was sold to me for $500. What a deal, folks! I went to Foreign Autopart today and ordered another fuel pump to replace my busted one. It should arrive Monday afternoon or Tuesday.

Monday, 5/12/97:
Well, not much happened today. Patrick and I tried to get the fuel pump off but we didn't have a 1/2" socket that would fit our 3/8" or 1/2" ratchets. What are ya gonna do, right? Exactly. So I'll have to pick up some quality sockets on the way home from somewhere, perhaps I'll make another stab at Building 19, and hopefully then I'll be able to get that thing off, and let me tell you, it's on there pretty good. Patrick made some mean steak fahitas, though, so he, Pam, and I ate pretty good. Crunch-n-munch, brother! In addition, Patrick got me a MG hat! Isn't he a great guy? I haven't got the hat yet, but it'll come soon enough.

Tuesday, 5/13/97:
This afternoon I plan on picking up the fuel pump at Foreign Autopart. I've read quite a bit about them online and found that even the new fuel pumps are often made kind of shotty - and that you should take apart your pump even if its new and verify that all the mechanics are lined up properly. Curious indeed, I mentally noted. So I will be sure to make the proper inspection of the pump. On a side note, Pam thought I was driving a bit fast in to work this morning. This truck cut me off and didn't use his turnsignal, so I drive by him in the fast lane and he's cursing up and down at me and I look at him in pure amazement and signal with my hand in a turnsignal fashion and mouth, 'Turnsignal! Try using it!'. He just looked on dumbfounded, the new information that he has such machinery in his vehicle apparently overwhelming him.
Well I picked up the fuel pump at FAP and what a pump it is! Made in England by the Rover company, it's an original AC replacement pump. I'll strap on the inline OE+ fuel filter I bought last week at Auto Palace and we'll be good to go, extracting only the best high octane fuel from the tank. I have also found out that the fuel pump is attached to the block with 13mm nuts, so I'll pick up a socket on the way home so I can get that nasty off and get the new beauty on. The only remaining thorn in my side is that the clutch isn't really doing much of anything. I'll worry about that after I get the pump on and working.

Wednesday, 5/14/97:
The fuel pump worked! It was an exact AC replacement, even had the same model number stamped on the arm. I originally hooked it up backwards, and when Patrick finally arrived he affirmed that it looked like air was getting pumped into the fuel filter element rather than gas being sucked through. So he and I unscrewed the hose clamps, put the in on in and the out on the out, reclamped everything, turned the engine over a few times, and viola!


She was purring right along - the exhaust is a bit dirty but the important part was that the engine WORKED!


My battery clamp is a little corroded but that's super low priority right now. On the clutch front, it seems to be the opinion that the reason the clutch won't work is because the friction plate is frozen to the something else and in order to free it I have to push the clutch in and keep it in, put the car in 4th with the engine off, and pull or push the car forward. Since I honestly don't think I can do this by myself, I might just attach a rope to my Mazda, tie the other end to the midget, and try to pull it with that. The hardest part will probably be something to brace the clutch in with. It'd be nice if someone else could help me with this part but Patrick is going to be out playing ball this afternoon and I'm not sure where my roomate will be. I wonder what Pam will be up to... Anyway, I ordered an air filter from Auto Palace that should be in tomorrow afternoon. That was like $7, and I got some more clamps from AP too in case I need any in the future, they were like two bucks. I picked up a set of brake pads from FAP for the front brakes and I'll eventually get my rotors turned when the time comes, those were $18.
Total investment to date: About $795.


Thursday, 5/15/97:
It worked! I got the clutch free. I had to push the car back and forth in gear with the clutch braced in with the car jack, and I think i pulled a couple muscles doing it, and I tried pulling it out with my mazda nad that worked 3 times until the rope broke, then I just tried starting it a couple times with the clutch in and the tranny in 4th and it eventually freed itself and started up. i didn't like the idea of starting it in 4th with the rear end jacked up and then having someone push the car off the jack and having it slam to the ground and freeing the clutch that way. That just didn't sound like a "wise idea". Call me crazy.
I'm trying to get the title for the car and it's a pain in the tushobula. (Yeah, that.) I sent out a check for ten bucks, a copy of my bill of sale, and a nice letter to the NH DMV in hopes of getting a certified copy of the last time it was registerd. Supposedly I take that certification along with my bill of sale to the MA RMV and they give me a registration for the car. Who knows, maybe it'll work, I dunno. I hope so. Oh, I pulled the car out today and washed it. Got some GOOP, too. When you have spots on washable clothes, you should really try using some Goop!




Friday, 5/16/97:
The car needs a good coat of wax pretty badly. Especially the front. Well today not much is planned - I did check on the brakes yesterday for a short time and there is plenty of pad left on them, the lines just have to be bled and the rotors need to be turned to even them out.

Monday, 5/19/97:
Well, I got my MG hat from Patrick! It's very nice and fits rather snugly! It will be an excellent addition to my working-on-the-car line of fashion accessories. At any rate, I finally got a socket set and managed to rotate the alternator out of the way so I could change the spark plug on cylinder 1. I'm thinking that some moron put a fan belt on that was too small. If I get a slightly larger one I could swivel the alternator out to a point where getting at the plug wouldn't be so bad. That would be rather handy for future tune-ups, and a new alternator belt would probably be something filed under the category of "Wise Purchases." The engine idles a lot smoother now with all four Champion Gold plugs firing rather than that 10-year-old Unipart piece of llama dung that was in there before. Unipart. One part. What good is one part? You need more than one part to survive. Unipart just doesn't cut it.
I put a coat of wax on the hood with that color restore stuff in it, it seems to have worked pretty good. I'll eventually wax the whole car but that's on the back burner for now. On the front burner is getting the front rotors off, and then getting them turned. While I have the front wheel assemblies off I'm thinking of repacking the front bearings with some grease - they're probably in need of some assistance. Hopefully I won't have to replace them. Another thing that's on the fritz is my fuel tank sender unit - it ain't sending a signal to the gas gauge that says how much fuel is in the tank. Along those same lines is the fact that my left blinker doesn't work. And at the same time that all of this is happening, I'm trying to get the car registered and on the road. I'm waiting for the paperwork to come back from the NH DMV right now, they're supposed to send me a certified receipt of registration so I can then take that to the MA RMV and get the car registered in MA. It's a big pain.

Tuesday, 5/20/97:
Well last night I took a break from the car and went out with Pam. But tonite will score some minor accomplishments on the car - I got a new fan belt today at FAP with Patrick and I'm going to rotate the alternator out of the loop one last time to put the new fan belt on. I'm going to then make a stab at getting the front rotors off with patrick and taking them somewhere to get them turned. I'll also take the wheels back to Goodyear and get them resealed - two of the wheels are flat already and I didn't even drive the car on them.

Wednesday, 5/21/97:
This afternoon some lady cut me off in the Digital parking lot going over a speedbump! I slowed down the take the speed bump at 2 mph below the posted speed limit and she gunned the engine, went AROUND me into the opposite lane, over a SINGLE SOLID YELLOW LINE, over the speed bump at like 50mph, endangering my life and hers and Patrick's who was riding with me, and then took off in a puff of smoke. She drove a tan Infinity sedan. Unbelieveable, the things people do. Simply unreal.
Anyway, my brake rotors were too thin so I ordered some new ones from FAP down the street. They're competant, they're honest, and they've given me exact replacement parts everytime without fail so far. I am either going to replace the bearings or get new bearings, I'm not sure which right now. It depends on how much they cost. I also need a new set of anti-squeal shims because whoever the MORON was who last put in the brakes, first of all he didn't put them in all the way so only half of the pad was making contact with the rotor, and second of all he lost one of the anti-squeal shims, so I'm just gonna get a whole new set of shims, rotors, bearings, and lugnuts, depending on how much the bearings cost. If its $10 or so I'll just go the whole 9 and get new ones, it's a cheap alternative to having them burst on me on the highway and getting me into an accident because one of the wheels won't turn, right? I haven't gotten that fan belt on yet because I am having trouble loosening one of the nuts that hold the water pump onto the engine block assembly. It's on there real good and it's in a real hard place to get to.

Thursday, 5/22/97:
Oh what a loaf!


Last night Patrick made quite possibly the most fantastic meatloaf the two of us had ever had. We both agreed it was quite The Loaf! We put the old rotors back on the car, which turned out to be under spec and unusable, so I bought new rotors from FAP which turned out to be a bit more expensive than necessary but sometimes that's the price you pay for friendly (free) advice and a wide variety of accurate parts that will fit your british roadster.
Last night we didn't make any stabs at that fan belt but we did get the wheels back from Goodyear and they look "Good" so far. Hopefully they'll stay inflated longer than a "Year", only time will tell. On a somewhat sadder note, when I took Patrick out for a quick spin down the driveway and back, it felt like the Midget was hesitating on something - almost as if the handbrake was pulled up just a little bit. It felt like the engine was laboring a little harder than it was supposed to. I'm hoping this was because of either the quick-and-dirty reassembly of the front rotors just for the purposes of putting the wheels back on or bad transmission fluid, two things that are very easy for me to fix. I still have to figure out how to put transmission fluid in, but I have a stack of laundry that needs to be done and I made plans to get together with Pam tonite, so it's not looking like too much will be done with the car tonite. It's just as well because I have to wait until my new anti-squeal shims come in to put the new pads and new rotors on and then bleed the lines. So tonite is more of a waiting time than an action time, if you get my drift, and I think you do.

Friday, 5/23/97:
The SHIMS are in! Shim-shimmery-shim-shimmery-shim-shim-sha-ree, Ellyn gave Patrick a glance and he buzzed like a bee! Whatever. Anyway, I got the anti-squeal shims for $4.15 (Patrick had the $0.15) and the rotors ran me $61 or something like that the other day, so that ups the ante. I'm gonna quit doing a running total because I've lost track. I'm gonna put all the receipts in one place but right now they're in my wallet and I can hardly dig it out of my pocket when I need it - I'll do all that garbage this weekend.
Anyway, after work today ON GO THE ROTORS and the new pads and the new shims (they're teflon coated for maximum anti-squeal). Here is a picture of me removing the front right rotor -
Can you find: (A) Rotors, (B) Brade pad box, (C) Funk machine, (D) Snatch Ratchet, (E) Cinder Block, (F) WD-40, and (G) Beer?


This picture has also come to be known as the "Mister Fix-It" shot and also makes a good background graphic and holiday wrapping paper. Please note that you should never work on an automobile in an intoxicated state. I was not drinking the beer, it was Patrick's who set it down to take the picture and inadvertently included it in the shot. Here is a close-up of me holding the old rotor and pad next to the new rotor I had just finished putting on the car:


We had only to bleed the lines after putting the new rotors and pads on.

Saturday, 5/24/97:
Today was the day of The Panned Cake, otherwise known as the Pancake, and I showed P=town the ways of the pancake. Everytime you make pancakes at our place you have to sacrifice a portion of your meal to the two squirrels, Clark and Henry, and the three birds, Clyde, Ralph, and Dee-dee. So it is with great pleasure and questionable mentality that I present to you, the esteemed reader,

The Panned Cake Purveyance There comes a time in a man's life when he must confront nature in all its wonder and glory and make a contribution to it to make up for his indifference and lackadaisical posterity in conforming to said virtues in a salute to all that is natural and good. And so it was with this drivel in mind that I convinced Patrick that we must make a sacrifice, a sacrifice of the coveted Panned Cake, or Pancake as most Americans refer to it as. Many round steamy discs of wheat and milk were cooked up this sunny Saturday morning before going out to work on the Midget (Lil' Racer), and two extraordinary events were caught on film. One is me teaching Patrick how to flip a pancake with the pan rather than use the better-known "spatula technique." Below you can find Patrick testing the coefficient of friction of the spatula on Cake Beta-Niner over the safety net of the frying pam. Patrick is pointing to the tip of the cake which will revolve three times in the air before expertly coming to rest in the pan: It's The Flip! Notice Patrick is still pointing to the leading Flip Edge of the pancake. This isn't just mere coincidence, folks. The pancake is in the apex of its travel, approximately 0.2341 meters from the skillet. Now comes the release of the pancakes to the outside world, time to let the pancakes to their homes in nature. Here Patrick tests the torsion strength of the pancake-spatula system support (otherwise known as the Spatula Handle to lay folks) and poses for the camera. You might want to save this graphic, folks, it makes a great background graphic and prints out wonderfully to use as postcards for the holidays! The Release! What follow-through! Excellent! Here is a shot of the expert placement of Cake Beta-Niner. Good shot, Patrick!