1968 MG Midget

Heavy metal stories... As mentioned in a previous post the front frame was in worse shape than I'd imagined. You can see in the photos below and elsewhere the bent frame rail and steering rack mounting beam, plus the really bad work on the front chassis horns.    The painful kink in the frame rail. Fortunately, a few very kind folks took the time to explain to me how to approach this sort of a frame repair. So, I bought a "portapower" on sale, and a frame clamp and followed the Eugene's directions. And slowly, carefully, was able to pull the frame mostly straight.   Amazing! A great first step. I also used a large C clamp to bring the box section back into square as it had been moved into a parallelogram shape at the site of the bend. As detailed in another post, I was able to salvage he front half of a parts car. Thanks for your generosity Ken!  From this I cut some repair pieces required for Miguela. So far, the steering rack x-member and a section of frame.   Re

 Miguela's seized engine could not be freed in situ.   After weeks of soaking, rolling etc I could not get it to budge and resigned myself to the teardown I had suspected was inevitable.  The odometer reads 49000 miles.  The "12CD" series engine is original to the car, and it does not appear to have been opened in the past, though it does have a copper-faced head gasket which may not be original. Some of the photos also show the light green paint colour that is particular to this series of engines.   They are rare and particularly fast as a result.  Ease of access is facilitated by the absence of any front end sheet metal.  After more hardened mud and grease were removed, the starter, generator, induction and cylinder head were removed.  The engine and gearbox were then unbolted and removed.   While lifting the engine alone was possible with a helper, an engine hoist will be required for reassembly as the gearbox and engine will be installed as a unit.   The teardown was

Update Oct 23 - Worse than I thought.... In preparation for repairing the frame I removed the front suspension and other obstructions, then cleaned off as much of the cement-like mixture of clay and grease.   This provided the chance to check the frame rails and unfortunately the drift begins further aft than I thought, to a max of around 3/16.   The good news is that - I think - the front crossmember is where it should be.   More than I bargained for but so it goes.   Miguela had some rough times in her youth and bears the scars, worst of which is the damage evident in the front subframe and chassis ‘horns’ as pictured here.  I first noticed this when I arrived with the rented uhaul after a 2+ hour drive (with Covid sy symptoms peaking...  my excuse)  I noticed a bit of irregularity and had assumed someone had tweaked something to fit an exhaust pipe.  I should have looked harder, and taken a moment to think....     Fortunately the car is straight in the horizontal plane.  (See the ch

  Firewall area