Milwaukee Midget

[jdincau]

     My car has an hydraulic throwout bearing which can be a real pain to bleed. Rather than extend the bleeder out of the bell housing I put a dry break fitting in the line. I can then bleed the assembly on the bench, unhook the dry break fitting and install the parts as needed. I have removed the engine three times and have not had any clutch problems nor have I had to re bleed it.
     If you extend the bleeder line I would not use copper tubing as it tends to work harden and stress crack from vibration.

[Dr Goggles]

You know, as old as this thing is in its design, and as ubiquitous as they are, when working on one, one must remember that the Midget/Sprite started out as a bin car, and one not too far removed from a kit car, at that.

The engine, transmission, brakes, rear end, suspension - all out of the Morris Minor - all production pieces that were never intended to be put together in a package this small.  It was Don Healey's aim to make a cheap sports car using as many production pieces as possible, in a simple stamped psuedo-monocoque that could be thrown together quickly and easily.

To that end, it's a raging success.

To those of us who, 53 years later, are cursed to have to work around his workarounds, well, there are times I'd like to punch old Don right in the puss.

Our tank has a bunch of secret men's business in the dismantling and assembling.....it is not a shining beacon of convenient and sensible design....our excuse is we only have one.

I can't imaging that the Midge is more of a pain to work on than an XJ......when was the last time you had to remove the entire rear superstructure of a car to remove the brake pads?

What I could never fathom though was the Poms reluctance to steal obvious and simple construction and production methods that were commonplace elswhere......too many parts, too many bolts.

[Milwaukee Midget]

I suspect that when I pull the engine this winter, I'll just knuckle under and get a Tilton unit, which fits entirely in the bellhousing and has a bleed valve and hose that exits through the inspection hole on the top of the bellhousing.  Seems to be the choice in SCCA and vintage Spridgets.

I'm eventually going to need a tougher clutch, anyway.

Put the grill in tonight - it got a little nicked up in the attic this winter - something fell on it.  It gives the car an "I do a lot of Meth" type of a gnarly, beat-up smile.

Also built a new driveshaft loop - the car now has 2.  After seeing the beating Ray the Rat's car took at WOS, I just didn't feel real comfortable with only one, what with a driveshaft spinning about six inches from my hip. 

[grumm441]

.
I can't imaging that the Midge is more of a pain to work on than an XJ......when was the last time you had to remove the entire rear superstructure of a car to remove the brake pads?

Geez Goggles, how long did you work on those things for?
Everyone knows that you remove the rear seat and use the hole that has been cut there by the last person who changed the pads

All the modern Guzzi's now have a remote bleeder on the end of a hose that comes out under the seat
Seems like a good idea, not very Italian at all
G

[Milwaukee Midget]

I can't imaging that the Midge is more of a pain to work on than an XJ......when was the last time you had to remove the entire rear superstructure of a car to remove the brake pads?

What I could never fathom though was the Poms reluctance to steal obvious and simple construction and production methods that were commonplace elswhere......too many parts, too many bolts.

Designed to be put together on an assembly line, with no thought to the eventual need, and numerous number of repairs that would lay ahead of it.

At least an XJ is big enough that you're not cracking your knuckles or your coconut on - well, EVERYTHING.

I looked at a gutted, engineless '63 XKE roller at the same dealer I bought the Midget from.  It almost came home with me.  When I did get home, I started pricing out things like lens covers and engine components . . . I'm glad I picked the runt of the litter . . .

[Milwaukee Midget]

I can't catch a break.  The "Open Tune and Test" for this weekend at Great Lakes Dragaway has been supplanted by a rescheduled bracket event that was was called due to weather the first weekend of October.

Yeah, I'm going - complete with my expendable 155/80R 13's.

So what could have been a decent number of passes dialing in the Weber will now be a few passes between 10:00 and 1:00 in order to ostensibly dial in a bracket I don't give a crap about, skip the eliminations, throw it on the trailer and head home.

All I want out of this weekend are some trap speeds.  I'll get a few, but this was not the plan.  

There was a time when I'd have been enamored with the idea of running brackets.  My second car was a '66 Mercury Cyclone GT, with the 330 hp 390 and a top loader.  Lakewood traction bars, a set of sticky Mickeys and shackles . . . But this is so far removed from what I'd hope to get done this weekend, I'm at the point of spitting.  

[Dr Goggles]

pic from national geographic

aaaaand , post No. 666

[Milwaukee Midget]

Infidel.

 

[38flattie]

That's a bummer to hear! In the end though, I've got to think some will still be better than none!

[Milwaukee Midget]

Yeah, Troy, I agree.

A - I've got to be sure it will run
B - If there is an issue, I want to know ASAP
C - I need some seat time
 

I've owned 4 MG's in my life - the only time I've EVER driven a Midget was last year at Bonneville - hardly a successful outing, although I made better time heading back to the pits than I did on the course.

I think Kate clocked me at 30 . . .

I may take a round at eliminations, if things are going well.  But I'm no drag racer, the transmission has a non-synchro 1st, and with the way the thing idles, I'd be looking at 4500 rpm launches through a stock drivetrain.

At least I won't have to worry about the tires hooking up . . .

Back to the garage.

[Milwaukee Midget]

Well - that's interesting.

I thought I had this one figured out.  Seems I've jumped to an erroneous conclusion.

New short block - New ignition - Hood off - And a clandestine trip down the ally (shhhh) revealed the exact same problem I had last year at Bonneville - in gear, no acceleration.

The one remaining piece from last year - the carb.

I suspect the floats at the moment - something I monkeyed with on the salt before my starter gave up the ghost last year, but I won't be able to prove that until tomorrow after work - I'm not going to try this in the dark at 9:00 at night.  I made an adjustment on them, and it sure idles better, but I had to shut it down before I asphyxiated myself.

Although I do love the smell of burned racing gas . . . 

Anybody have any ideas beyond that?  I'd take any advice from someone who has dealt with DCOE's before.

Here's the critical info -

14 degrees advance idle, all in at 3300, where it's at 36.
110 octane - moving to 114

Carb
38 mm choke
195 main jet
F2 emulsion tube
45 pump jet
50f2 idle jet

Essentially I'm using David Vizard's recommendations for a full race 998 as a starting point.

[Graham in Aus]

Hi Chris, what have you done with the pump spill jet in the bottom of the float chamber? On siamese port motor it's best to block this with solder as the two ports need all the pump they can get, if your carb was previously on one port per cylinder engine this may be the issue?

Does it just die when you put your foot in? More accelerater pump required! (or less spill back) You can block the jet with solder.

See page 43 in HTMYM (How to modify your Mini!  )

[Milwaukee Midget]

Graham - is this the piece to which you are referring?

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=dcoe+%22Spill+jet%22&hl=en&sa=X&biw=1038&bih=489&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=II-uKJh-ywLc2M:&imgrefurl=http://www.weberperformance.com.au/index.php%3FcPath%3D6_13&docid=HJ-uLBBSUePyAM&imgurl=http://www.weberperformance.com.au/images/spill%252520jet-150.jpg&w=150&h=113&ei=okCjTtyBMqOGsgK28KWQBQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=137&vpy=200&dur=2893&hovh=90&hovw=120&tx=106&ty=56&sig=106358393424742230139&page=1&tbnh=90&tbnw=120&start=0&ndsp=8&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0


Seems "Spill Jet" might be an Aussie-ism?  I just want to be sure - After all, we're dealing with an Italian designed carburettor with a German name, produced in Spain, being installed on a British car in America by a guy with Czech heritage, asking an Australian for advice.

[fredvance]

Sound reasonable to me.

[Tman]

Graham - is this the piece to which you are referring?

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=dcoe+%22Spill+jet%22&hl=en&sa=X&biw=1038&bih=489&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=II-uKJh-ywLc2M:&imgrefurl=http://www.weberperformance.com.au/index.php%3FcPath%3D6_13&docid=HJ-uLBBSUePyAM&imgurl=http://www.weberperformance.com.au/images/spill%252520jet-150.jpg&w=150&h=113&ei=okCjTtyBMqOGsgK28KWQBQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=137&vpy=200&dur=2893&hovh=90&hovw=120&tx=106&ty=56&sig=106358393424742230139&page=1&tbnh=90&tbnw=120&start=0&ndsp=8&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0


Seems "Spill Jet" might be an Aussie-ism?  I just want to be sure - After all, we're dealing with an Italian designed carburettor with a German name, produced in Spain, being installed on a British car in America by a guy with Czech heritage, asking an Australian for advice.

The "Melting Pot Midget" !?