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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Adding lightness but keeping it 'road-going'!

Hi all,
Got my midget about as disassembled as you can and have almost finished the welding. When the car is finished I'd like it to have some pep and nimbleness. Now I know that there are lots of performance add ons to be had, but I was always told that removing weightor adding lightness (as Colin chapman said) was the best first step. I am begining with a monza fibreglass front end and will be keeping the 1275 and standard gearbox and final drive. The car also has to be viable as a road car as it'll probably be used for the yearly run to goodwood when my elan is playing up.
Any thoughts
Tim
T Dafforn

There are expensive aloy doors around.
But a FG bootlid and doors might be more viable.

Not carpeting
Replace the spare for a foam canister
Alloy engine backplate
Light weight buckets
Aloy front and rear hubs
Replacing side windows for lexan
Etc
Onno Könemann

Remove the bumpers. Alloy wheels. F/glass boot-lid. Don't take a passenger. Single carb. LCB. ...

A
Anthony Cutler

Tim-
An aluminum alloy L-type radiator matrix will kill two birds with one stone: weight and heat.
Stephen Strange

Alloy panels are a pain in the ar*e

Unless you are happy to spend 3 weeks fettling, leave them well alone and go fibreglass.

Sound deadening (over the tunnel) weighs a brave bit, so get chipping (leave the car outside overnight in the cold and start chipping first thing in the morning, itll come off in big bits then.

seats are heavy, so get some lightweight jobbies, my personal preference is high back, but i know a lot of people prefer the low back stuff.

Carpet only holds moisture, so bin that too.

spare wheel - swap it for a tin of tyre weld

single box exhaust system instead of a twin box

break out the angle grinder and remove anything that doesnt look structural :P

oh and go for a poo before driving it

PeterJMoore

no roof
smaller/thinner tyres,
revolution wheels,
smaller steering wheel
no passenger seat?
my engine bay and underneath was coated in a good 1/4 inch of oily gunge - remove that if you have it :)
don't know if you can get plastic windows?
don't carry any spares or a jack or anything :s
gel battery

and

run it on fumes
fill tyres and sills with helium
half fill with oil
half fill with water
thin the propshaft down so it's like a straw
replace all the wiring with aluminium wires 'cos it's lighter
throw the doors away
and the boot lid
and the bonnet
and the entire exhaust system
don't eat anything for 3 weeks.
cut hair.
blow nose.

good to go!


*disclaimer*
some of these lightening ideas might not be such a good plan actually, reader discretion is advised :p
Rob Armstrong

One thing that I came to realize when I was trying to reduce the weight of my plane is that it is much easier to reduce the weight of the pilot (driver).

Rebecca
R Harvey

I took the decision to run mine as a three seasons car (although it recently proved to be a hoot on snow!).

So all the obvious stuff went:
Rubber bumpers
Carpets
Heater

Still not enough - so then next to go was:
Windscreen
Windows
Roof
Door internals
Door cards
Wipers

I put two little brooklands aeroscreens on and covered over the inside of the doors with gaffer tape.

Still to do: (apart from an engine update and type 9 box)

Sebring glass bonnet
Archers glass sprite seats

And of course all this weight loss has made the car ride and inch, maybe inch and a half, too high. So I'll need to fit the lowering kit.

The car now feels much faster with a pair of goggles on.
t halket

If you're rich and are going type 9, there are some very light alloy maincases & lids about.
Rob Armstrong

Rich? hah! make me larff.

What with buying the fronline kit, having BGH rebuild the box and Archers fit the thing, I'll be searching down the back of the sofa all summer long.

Tim

t halket

This thread was discussed between 17/01/2011 and 22/01/2011

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG Midget and Sprite Technical BBS is active now.