1973 Midget build by ianjoub

8 minute(s) of a 203 minute read

Looks like that guy in the orange car is sitting on the floor, not in a seat. Eith that or he is 4'11" tall...

I had originally intended, and bought the material, for the 2 hoop setup. I decided against it for the reason of appearance. My seats are not installed in the car symmetrically due to the angled driveshaft. If I did the 2 hoop setup, either they wouldn't be evenly spaced in the car or they wouldn't be even to the seats. Therefore, I went with the 1 bar style.

The material is 1.75" x .120 wall DOM, not seamed tubing. One would have a heck of a time convincing me that it wasn't far stronger than everything it is attached to... I'll stake my life on the fact that it isn't the weak point in an accident.

10-31-2014

The roll bar will be faired and painted at some point.

I am now working on installing a power port: 12v power outlet and a USB charger. I will be working on the speedometer after that, it still isn't hooked up and functional.



I installed the 4 point harnesses

A few pics of the rollbar

11-2-2014

Well, apologies to all, no video. I went for a drive today. The weather was beautiful! It was mid 60's and sunny, perfect weather for a convertible. The car drives very well. The power delivery is linear, smooth and predictable, until 7500 rpm's or so. Then it is game on. I didn't try faster than 4th gear, but it lit up the tires rolling on in 4th climbing above the 7500 mark. I guess that was about 80 mph or so.... I am unsure if I like the 2:73 gears, I may go back to the 3:73. It is, of course, more comfortable at highway cruising speeds, but requires me to be going 30 mph or so to be in the power in 1st gear.

If I can get a volunteer at some point, I will have them hold the video camera.

Any British car rallies I can attend here in the sunny south this winter?

2-14-2014

I had pondered a billet basket. There are a few companies that make them. That one is close to twice as much as some other brands with good reputations. If I get a new turbo at some point, to get to the 500 hp range, I will include the clutch basket in the cost estimate.

I am still trying to get someone to ride with me and hold a video camera... maybe this weekend?

I made some adjustments to the 4 link geometry yesterday. I was getting too much squat under acceleration. I was bottoming the suspension, then any sort of bump was upsetting the chassis. It seems to be a little better now, but more fine tuning may be in order.

Ok, videos aren't too good, but the first is a 3rd gear roll on, the 2nd is a 4th gear roll on. You can hear the tires light up in both gears when the turbo spools up. You can see the speedo jump as well as it is connected to the driveshaft. The speedo calibration is off a bit too. 50 mph indicated is about 60 mph. I have a speedo healer that will fix that. I just need to spend the 30 seconds and actually do it while driving.

10-14-2014

This one is neat ... I jerk the steering wheel back and forth about 1/2 way through the video. The car just turns, period!

11-18-2014

I made some 4 link adjustments. I got rid of the excessive squat under acceleration, but lost a bunch of traction. I may go back to the original setting and try stiffer rear springs.

11-19-2014

I decided on this setup for the handbrake. It is a 'cut to length' system. I hope it gives me the leverage I need to do some sliding around (in case the motor won't do it)

12-10-2014

Sorry for the long absence folks, life is getting in the way of this hobby...

I had to remove the turbo, weld up a crack, and order a new flange gasket. I also remade the clutch release lever and redesigned the speedometer pickup. Nothing glamorous there, so no pics.

I haven't ordered the parking brake setup yet.

I am now looking for mirrors though. I want the fender mounted style. Does anyone have any real world experience with them. I want some that are actually useful/useable.

1-6-2015

Ok, not much going on lately, been busy with the holidays. I did give the car an xmas present though, some polishing!

1-8-2015

Awww crap ....

Get one thing done and another creeps up. I was having a problem with shifting the transmission after getting on the power hard. I didn't have enough throw on the clutch. I went back to the 3/4" master from the 5/8" master, problem solved!

On my first test drive, when the shifting was resolved, I pulled in to a u-turn on the highway and the idle was hanging at 5,000 rpm. I pulled it back into the shop and started troubleshooting. I haven't found the problem yet. I am assuming it is some sort of sensor issue, but the diagnostics are very limited. I have an appointment on Sat. with the tuner as he has much better computer/scanning equipment. My first instinct is a faulty TPS. We will see.

I had actually brought the camera to get more video, but aborted that mission when the new trouble arose.

1-10-2015

Well, I'll be.... I have never seen this before.

All the sensors are ok. I bent a throttle plate butterfly in one of the throttle bodies. It was causing the other three to hang open. I bent it back for now, but likely need to buy a new set of throttle bodies.

I will try to go driving tomorrow and get some video. It is supposed to be close to 80 degrees and sunny here