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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Gearbox tunnel rust

Evening all,

Been quite a productive weekend as the wifey has been away so have been able to spend a heap of time in the garage! :-)

I spotted this on the seam of the gearbox tunnel (on the drivers side). The hole is about 2cm long. Is this something to be worried about or just to be expected on a car 35 years old?

Clean up the inside of the tunnel and paint in something nice and gloopy and rust stopping or do I need to do something more drastic? I have noticed you can't buy new tunnels like you can every other panel.

Also is the black tar mat stuff original? MGs only concession to sound proofing? It's fairly brittle and un-sticky after all these years so I am stripping if off and replacing it as I have some Silent Coat matting lying around.

Cheers all,

Malcolm


Malcolm Le Chevalier

Gez... When was the last time you put oil in the engine

Ive never heard of a rusty tanny tunnel, let alone seen one

No the sound deadner is not factory or even dealer option...its a PO add on...BUT a great add on, i did my interior in dynomate a stick on film that reduces noise and does an awsome job...so yes id clean it off and use a newer tech of sound deadening



As to how to fix the rust in the tunnel...id say add top off the oil in the engine

Prop
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

Prop is my hero :)

please don't give him more details or it'll spoil the fun

sound deadening is a good idea but sound proofing matting is best left until you know the car is quite water tight as it can hold a lot of water for a very long time

anyway you want to be able to hear the noises from the engine, induction, g/box, r/axle, suspension and exhaust so you can tell when the sounds differ and what that might mean :)
Nigel Atkins

I agree with Prop. Normally there's so much oil swimming around in the tunnel, rust doesn't get a look in.

But as for the black matting, mine has that too although it's not brittle. It was there when I got the car in '77, so I'm pretty sure it was original.
Lawrence Slater

Can you remind me where the oil fill plug is on my car...?


Malcolm Le Chevalier

Reminds me that the late John Mead told me about a guy who was very proud of the fact that his engine didn't chuck out any oil and it was noted that was the only car he'd seen with a rusty transmission tunnel.
David Billington

lol Malcolm.

Just how long has your car been sitting around in that condition then? ;)
Lawrence Slater

Malcolm I asked you not to give Prop details

and that'll remind him of his unfinished cylinder head, you're cruel
Nigel Atkins

Ahhhh nigel,

You havent seen my newest post from last night, once im back home from work today i hope to finish my mod work on the head and its ready for the machine shop

Yepp i got my mojo back

Prop and the Blackhole Midget

I saw it Prop and read it and it let me feeling hope






and fear :)

I was hoping Malcolm wouldn't put up a photo of his car to continue the fun, he's too much repect for senior citizens :)
Nigel Atkins

Malcolm,
Did you / how did you fix the door / sill alignment problem on the n/side door?

I suspect that rust has attacked it from the cockpit side where damp has lingered, rather from the prop shaft side where oil prefers to hide.
Guy W

The fear part i can truly relate to...im going all out on the head this time...im so tired of popping head gaskets after 300 miles, so im covering ever weakiness this time

But now a new thought came about...if i solve the HG F issue, will i transfer the issue deeper into the engine and start popping pustons instead...thats my gut fear
Prop and the Blackhole Midget

aye, you are better off just leaving it unfinished Prop! :-)

Guy, I didn't take any photos unfortunately, but I braced the door gap top, bottom and diagonally (as I determined that the A/B posts were correct and it was the floor/sill slightly wonky. I then cut through the B post and cut out the heelboard and spring hanger (as it was all rotten anyway. I then put a jack in where the spring hanger used to be and opened up the B post/sill gap before welding in some more braces to hold the sill in the new "lower" position then welded in new spring hangar and heelboard to hold things in place before removing all the bracing. Need to finish off the B post and front wing alignment isn't great, but life is too short!

Learnt my lesson on the driver side, when bracing the door gap and before cutting out the old sill I welded in some little bits of angle to line the new sill up against (see pic, there was one at the front too out of shot) and braced the floor straight with some bits of box section to make sure floor is flat. Drivers side is going together much faster and hopefully more accurately! :-)

Cheers,
Malcolm





Malcolm Le Chevalier

Very good! I am glad you got that sorted.

An easy way of fine-tuning the B post door panel gap is to slit down the length of the rear wing immediately behind the edge of B post, top to bottom, adjust the gap to match to the door edge and then reweld.
Guy W

Yes, soundproofing is original.

Those Triumph engines were so noisy, they had to do something! ;o)

The rust in the transmission tunnel is due to the fact that you don't have a scroll seal on the rear main.
Dave O'Neill2

Youv'e cracked it Malcolm, thats how its done and its a lookin great. Keep goin.
Transmission tunnel on mine is extremely oily even after over 10 years in storage. (about 12 if you count my slow restore). If its not a machined hole patch it up and make sure no oil can get through by either seam welding or using seam sealer. Oil covers the whole of the inside of the tunnel right to the exit of the propshaft at the back.
Dave Squire - Notts

My 1500 had exactly the same tar like sound deadening - So I would say perhaps the later 1500's had it as standard.
C L Carter

Tarry stuff in bottom of original passenger footwell on mine.
Dave Squire - Notts

My 79 also had the tar stuff on the tunnel.
Rik
Rik Hogan

in my best Monty Python voice..... Rust!!! you call that rust!!! you're lucky!!!

I have the black tar mat stuff on my 1970 midget, it's a perforated sheet, covered in the origional paint too.


Flyster

I got some of that perforated stuff like Flyster's as well. Fixed all the rusted floor without affecting the perforated sheet stuff and tunnel (very well oiled on the underside). My perforated sheet stuff is in good nick, not cracked, and the coconut matting type underlay stuff is stuck to it then carpet over.
Dave Squire - Notts

:-)


Guy W

Amazing what people are salvaging these days.

Spridgets in far better condition used to be crushed back in the '60's, '70's, and '80's.
Lawrence Slater

Guy.... you're my hero!!!!! just when I thought mine was as bad as it could get, you put that image on & suddenly what I'm faced with becomes a lot less daunting.
Flyster

Your right Lawrence

I cut up 3 frogeyes in better shape including one which had a rather unusual coupe body with a bonded in windscreen! I wanted the engine which had Speedwell stamped on it and ran on Amals. All 3 were less than £10. They were just rusty bangers then

Bob
Bob Beaumont

Quote "I cut up 3 frogeyes in better shape including one which had a rather unusual coupe body with a bonded in windscreen! I wanted the engine which had Speedwell stamped on it and ran on Amals. All 3 were less than £10. They were just rusty bangers then"

cry cry cry cry cry!!!!!
Andrew McGee

How do you think I feel now!!
Bob Beaumont

Bob! you're my anti-hero!! ...... now I'm off to cry into a beer in memory of all those body shells in a better shape than mine that went off to make baked bean tins :-(
Flyster

There must be literally thousands of stories like that.

Think of all the great Spridgets involved in accidents in the past. Mechanically repairable, but insurance writes offs, and into the crushers they went in no time at all. Or just simply taken to the scrappers as unwanted.

And that story isn't confined to Spridgets. Think of all the other great classics that ended life prematurely as minced, but otherwise healthy rust free metal.

Such is life. :(

Lawrence Slater

Come on chaps, think of the future, think of keeping them going and the sight they make compared to all this modern sameness.

I'm reminiscent but at this rate my pint will be totally diluted.
Dave Squire - Notts

This thread was discussed between 16/09/2012 and 22/09/2012

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