Joe Meek's Journal

April 6- Brought a '79 Midget home today. One owner, 18,000 miles on the odometer. The original owner bought it new in 1979 in Seattle and drove it till mid-1986. His family was getting too big to take out for rides so he drained gas and parked it with the intention of waking it up in his retirement. His life and other interests took over and he decided to sell it. It had been stored in a dry shop on concrete in central Washington. There's no apparent rust except on the front rotors. It's a very clean car and mostly original with the exception of carb replacement and air pump removal. It now has dual SU HS2's on it and a manual choke. Also, in 2018, mice got into the front carpet. The original owner pulled the seats and front two carpet pieces but made no other headway.

April 20- Pulled the radiator and hoses today, the radiator appears to have a leaked at the outlet so took it and the heater core to a shop for pressure test and repair. Ordered coolant hoses too but the Covid-19 event is causing delays with delivery date uncertain. I'm jus' goin with the flow.

Pulled the fuel tank, lines and hoses. Tank interior looks good so I just rinsed it out with fuel, and blew the fuel lines with air. Replaced the hoses and reinstalled the fuel tank. A hydraulic fitting on my lift started leaking so I'm gonna have to dig into that soon.

I pulled the drivers side rear brake drum to get a look at condition. No rust on drum contact area which is a bit surprising but a happy discovery. The brake cylinder looks good and it is functional. It is on the list to replace but will work toward starting the engine before doing restoring the brake lines and cylinders.

I've been spraying PB Blaster into the cylinders every couple days for a week. Also been hitting the top of the valve stems and tappet area. Today I turned the engine over by hand to make sure nothing is seized, including the valve train. I did this by getting the car a foot or so off the ground using the hoist, and turning the rear wheels with the transmission in 4th gear. The engine seems to turn over OK and the valve train is functioning. I'll adjust the valves soon. I can't get at the crank nut to turn it over due to the steering rack being in the way but my alternative method using the hoist works fine.

I ordered a Westco Miata 12V31M battery today. Like every thing else, delivery date is uncertain. Update May 21- this order thru GoMiata turned into a disaster! Received the battery but it was dead on arrival. Would not hold a charge. Got a return authorization from them after showing pic of battery at 11.7v and shipped it back, but GoMiata says it was damaged in shipping and won't refund or replace. Ugh! Went with a locally sourced group 51 while I tangle with GoMiata and shipper. I don't believe the battery returned in the original shipping box would allow damage they claimed. I wouldn't recommend doing business with GoMiata. My post purchase look at GoMiata reviews shows others have experienced a similar claim.

Frankly, until I try to start the car it has unlimited potential for me. As soon as I gas it up and try to turn it over, that unlimited potential will turn into something else. So I'm in no real rush.

I've slowly been working to get this car running over the past couple months and got the battery connected today after sitting 34 yrs. I'd been hitting the cylinders with solvent/lube, I adjusted the valves, and finally connected the battery today. The starter cranked as it should and compression ran between 166 and 175 psi.

I'll now focus on getting the cooling system put back together as soon as the last few parts trickle in. The coolant pipe through the intake manifold was totally plugged but is clean now and the block has been flushed. The block drain seemed to be pretty clear...a concern after seeing the sediment plug in the intake. The OEM fan clutch has some play so I"ll replace it with a water pump for a '74 Spitfire with fixed fan(7 blade). Today was a milestone 'cause ya never know if your "pissin in the wind" till you get that engine turning over again.

May 19- checked for and found spark at the plugs today. Also got fuel up to the filter, so the new fuel pump blown out lines are in working order. With spark and fuel it might just run. Decided to make the mod to eliminate the fan clutch and go back to the fixed fan blade so am waiting on the right water pump now.

June 1- I'm still waiting on the new SS return pipe (under the manifolds) in order to put the cooling system back together. In the meantime, the new carpet arrived so the interior is now completely back together and really looks like a car that just came out of the showroom.

June 7- I've got it all back together now and ready to start. Had to install a different V-belt (now a 7445) due to the different water pump. I'm watching for coolant leaks but all seems OK. I plan to give it a start on June 13 when I have some technical help.

June 13- Finally got to the point of starting the car. After a couple of runs of 10 seconds or so with the starter and not even a burp showing fire, I gave it a shot of starter fluid. That did the trick. It fired and stumbled several times and then went to an idle. Initially there was not real throttle response but a decent idle. It ran for several minutes and then I could get some throttle response. I ran it until it appears to be fully heated and then changed the oil/filter. I hadn't tightened down the valve cover quite enough so had a bit of a seep. The real issue was the non-working clutch.

The transmission would go into all gears with the engine off but not when running. I looked at the slave cylinder function and saw that a press on the clutch pedal resulted in full movement on the clutch release lever. Huh? The clutch plate must be stuck to the flywheel. There's no way to get at it so I posted a question on the MGExp and went back to the car. I popped the clutch pedal several times, started it up, and tried 1st....no luck. I then tried reverse and whooppee...it broke free and went into gear. I then took the car out for it's first drive of the 21st century.

Checking MGExp a couple hours later I noted a response to my posted question suggesting I free up the stuck clutch doing something very similar to what I actually did. I owned a '59 Bugeye back in the early 80's and might have stuck with it if I'd had access to the resources I'm finding at MGExp!

The car idles smoothly but it seems the carbs need some work...putting a load on it makes it stumble or putter a bit when driving. New tires will be ordered and I'll have a go at the carbs tomorrow.

June 14- cleaned the carbs today then adjusted the mixture and balance (my unisyn doesn't work for balance...no lift in the tube) so tried with hose by ear. Running ok now all the way thru the rpm range. Idle set at 800 and timing at 10 btdc.

June 27 - installed a new turn signal switch and they are working now.

July 1 - pulled the fuel tank and found a disconnected wire....now have the fuel gauge in proper working order. Also replaced the front tie rod ends due to weathered/cracked rubber boots. Old ones came off easy with a small ball joint separator. Checked toe-in and adjusted to 1/16". Car drives straight and steering is very concise.

July18- had a proper go at adjusting/sync the dual HS2 carbs today. Used the wire method and found them to be pretty much out of sync...so much for a hose and my ear. With an adjustment to the carb linkage they balanced nicely. Adjusted the timing to 12 btdc...the power curve seems best there.

Aug 1- changed the differential and transmission fluids. Changed oil and filter (2nd change post prolonged storage period). Pulled the oil pan to get a look and found normal conditions. Installed new pan gasket. There wasn't an excess of sludge or residue following the long storage period. I torqued the pan gasket to 20 ft/lb per Bentley specs but man, that's pretty darned tight. Update-3 wks later the pan gasket is showing signs of excess torque (squeezing out). 12-14 ft/lb would've been better.

Aug 17- changed out the front brake pads today, deglazed the rotors, and bedded the pads per the usual process. Changed out the brake hoses and bled the system. Had to chase around getting the red brake warning light on the dash to go out.

Sept 3- Installed a 14" Mountney Steering Wheel today. The smaller size gives a slightly better look at the road as well as the speedo and tach. This car drives perfectly straight and has no play in the front end; after about 70 miles today I can say the new unit is a very nice addition. I'm very glad I went from 15" to 13" instead of going just to 14".

Sept 15- Pulled the carbs and replaced OEM throttle plates with solid units.

Oct 4- The car has been running on the cool side, I suspect because of the 160 degree thermostat, the fixed fan (Spitfire), and complete cooling system renewal/flush in May. The gauge needle just clears 'cold'. I installed a 180 thermostat and new gauge sending unit today. The gauge now shows the car warms better with the needle centering in the gauge.

Oct 12- After replacing the throttle plates in Sept, I''ve needed to get back to adjust/balance the carbs since I now have a slight hesitation in the mid RPMs of the power curve. Today I found that the rear carb couldn't be enriched without lowering the jet a couple extra full turns. I discovered that the fuel level in the rear carb needed to be raised. These SU HS2 carbs have all plastic floats; the level had been shimed by the PO using an extra fiber washer on the float valve. I removed the
shim which brought the fuel level up in the jet. I then adjusted the air/fuel mix and balanced the carbs. It is running very well now, the best it has run since the restart.

Dec 21, 2020- Installed new rear brake cylinders. I used my snap ring pliers to remove the OEM brake cylinder retainers and again when I reused those snap rings and wave washers on the replacement cylinders. Brake function is restored to original condition.

Dec 28- Installed a headlight relay kit from Bruce (riley1489) since this car has higherwatt than OEM aftermarket Cibie H4 headlights. No cutting or crimping required...the kit he puts together for the MGB worked perfectly on my Midget. Note that I mounted the relays on the left side just above the headlight wiring harness and took power from the solenoid. The kit provides proper wire colors and plug in connectors for an MG to make it look OEM.

Feb 12, 2021- I took the British Leland radio to 'Bill the Radio Guy' in Shelton Washington for repair last month. He let me know that restoring original AM function was going to be difficult so I opted to have him replace the receiver with a modern FM unit. I re-installed it today, using the original speaker and wiring. It works well.

Feb 13- Opened the fuel emission canister and reactivated the charcoal.

June 20, 2021- Installed a buzzer on the turn signal circuit today so I have an audible reminder that anything less than a sharp turn may not cancel the blinker. It is pretty loud so I placed a piece of tape across the face and now I can hear it but softly enough that it doesn't drive me nuts.

July 24- adjusted the valves following an oil change.

April 2020. This car truly represents the state of the MG sports car market in the US in 1979....with features deemed to be undesirable by a few MG aficionados but that are representative of the changing environmental and market demands of the 1970s.. Those demands made 1979 the last production year for MG Midgets.

In the photos you can see the car as it was when I brought it home in early 2020, the original dealer ad from the 1979 Seattle Times, and how the car looks in 2021 with just 21,000 original mi on the odometer.