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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Clutch Pipe

I'd like to know if any Frogeyes are still running with the helix arrangement for taking up engine movement in the clutch pipe, or whether a flexible to the slave is much better practice.

If so, where did you fix the bracket?


Nick and Cherry Scoop

not just Frogs, wasn't that arrangement standard right up to September 1966 when the 1275 was introduced?
David Smith

Another option is just to run a braided flexi line all the way from slave to master cylinder. No bracket needed, just a few P clips on existing studs.


AdrianR

Was it? My MkII came with it, but I did not realise the 1098s had it too.

I like it. It's an elegant solution, though I bet it was chosen for cheapness.

Adrian - have you done that?
Nick and Cherry Scoop

I use a Peter May flexi on the race car, no brackets or clips just direct run (well, gently curving).
David Smith

Solid copper helix pipe me. Been there 30 years so far.
Simon
Simon Wood

The coil works quite well, I used it for my oil pressure feed on my Sprite as well and Citreon used that technique to get the brake line out to the rear brakes on the 2CV with the coil going into the hollow tube the swinging arm fits to.
David Billington

I thought the 1098 had a flexi hose?
Dave O'Neill 2

Horler p.107 indicates it came in with the 1275
David Smith

My 1966 Mk11 had the expansion loops and now my 1968 Mk111 has the flexi hose.
M J Chapman

I used stainless steel braid with AN aircraft fittings easy and cheap

Thst said i was going from tilton triple masters to nissan ? Slave for the datsun tranny

But yeah thats an easy path, and i could buy that tubing by the foot at the time

Prop
1 Paper

Nick - not on the MG but I did fit one to my Elise to address the so called "red hose" problem of OE clutch hose supposedly expanding when hot and losing travel.

The Elise being mid engined you had to find a route from front to back of car, MG would be much easier.

AdrianR

I will just use the curly pipe style on my frog. I think it looks nicer on an early car. The only thing is l would have expected the coil to be slightly further down the side of the footwell, with the pipe clipped just after it bends down over the top edge and before the coil. But maybe that would make it conflict with the dizzy or the starter motor.

Nick, l see your brake pipe route to the front o/s wheel is not standard - it's done like the later cars. Maybe it was altered because of your Frontline suspension?
GuyW

I don't think so, Guy, because I used the original pipes and I don't have a flaring tool. But perhaps the extra bends show that it did originally sneak through to the bracket on the spring housing, and I just pulled it back and cut a new hole.

The awful truth is, I don't remember. I did the Frontline conversion quickly, without photographs, and I was working on re-assembling the MkII at the same time.

I'll use the curly pipe too. All the pictures I've seen are like this, with the last clip on top of the footwell, then a horizontal coil before diving down to the slave. If it were clipped vertically, with the coil below, then the engine movement would really be making the coil do some work, whereas here there's a big elbow to absorb it.
Nick and Cherry Scoop

Nick, that last comment of yours is exactly why : I would expect the coil to absorb the flexing better than causing the elbow around the corner of the footwell top to move around where it is more likely to chaffe against something.

My comment about the brake pipe is only that I spent some time browsing photos in Horler and elsewhere to check on how the brake pipe squirms its way past the shock absorber to connect to the end of the flexi hose. On all of the photos I could find, the end of the flexi hose is anchored to a bracket mounted on the top outer edge of the upper front spring housing. And the copper pipe wends its way through a gap between the shock absorber and the inner wing panel.

Later cars (1500's) had the flexi hose anchored in a hole in the inner wing, like yours, so the rigid brake pipe connected direct to it, inside the engine bay. But if yours is original on a Frog, then the story may not be a simple as that!



GuyW

And in the photo from Rob


GuyW

No, I think I must have altered it - or somebody before me did it. The great length of pipe compared to other pictures I've seen suggests that it wasn't an original feature. I see from Horler that the change occurred in spring 1972.

I definitely didn't change the route on my MkII, but it didn't get Frontline.




Nick and Cherry Scoop

Guy

At least some of the 1275s had the flexi-hose bolted through the inner wing. My last '72 did, as did the race car - I'm not sure of the age of that shell, but it was a RWA.
Dave O'Neill 2

My later car is a 71 Austin Sprite and l always forget that they continued making the MK3 midget, but with further minor modifications, for a few more years before introducing the 1500s. Not least of course, the RWA cars!
GuyW

This thread was discussed between 15/10/2017 and 16/10/2017

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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