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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Longest time required for diagnosis



I'm curious which diagnosis of your Spridget took you the most time. I remember 2 situations that took me months:
Sputtering and loss of power by running on 3 cylinders with a warm engine, choking only helped for a while, in the winter it was a little less. This turned out to be based on a crack in the head which I didn't see due to carbon formation. Peter Burgess saw it immediately and solved it.
Another problem was high fuel consumption at certain revs. I looked at everything until I looked under the car at high revs and saw that the overflow pipes of the front HS1 carburetor was leaking petrol. It turned out to be based on the type of float needle. Replaced with a Viton tip needle and with a spring solved the problem! In the Healey Museum I later found that it was a known problem: It turned out to be spotted in 1957 by Eddie Maher of Morris Engines, he was the guru who prepared all BMC motorcycles production and the man behind all competition and record cars from MG, Healey Cooper etc..
Let us know what took you the most time.

Flip
Flip Brhl

Hi Flip,

It may be frustating trying to find the source of problems with an older car but I would rather do it the old fashioned way rather than look up OBO codes with a modern car. A midget will not fail its MOT because of a mis fire, a Mercedes SLK will because some obscure dash light is blinking.

Cheers

Jan T
J Targosz

Flip, I'm sure you'll be aware of this.

I've been trying for OVER 45 YEARS, and the *DEFINITIVE* diagnosis has still not been found by anyone, including me (it doesn't happen to every 1275, only some).

45 plus years, although I have found the solution.

SHHHHH. YOU KNOW WHAT. 🤣🤣🤣.

OIL SUCKING.

Liquid oil being drawn up from inside the timing chain cover, via the pcv system, sucked into the inlet, burnt, and ejected from the exhaust tail pipe as clouds of dense blue smoke, and at its worst, dripping oil.

No need to debate, the archive's full of debates about it. 😁😁.



anamnesis

Not sure that qualifies Anam. It's like claiming a world record for running the Marathon when you've only just passed the 20 mile marker. Or possibly only the 10 mile marker! Who knows? 🤣
GuyW

Well I did say I only found the what, and not the exact why.

I still think it 'kind of' qualifies, as when and if someone does eventually find the precise why, it'll surely be some kind of record for how long it took. Lol.

Me though, as you say, I stopped running in the race. 🤣🤣. Life ain't long enough to complete it. Lol.
anamnesis

Sorry Anam. Really!
It can rightfully claim to be both the most memorable and the most painful of all BBS threads!
GuyW

😆😆😆.
anamnesis

Like Anam’s but not.

Newly rebuilt engine burning loads of oil. Thought it was oil sucking but it turned out to be warn rockers bushes that were leaking too much oil on to the head and down passed the valves creating clouds of blue smoke.

Spent so much time reading all the posts on sucking oil including, yes you know the one that gave War and Peace a run for its money! 😵‍💫

Got there in the end.
James Paul

Here is a photo. I am glad to hear from you. I am not the only one.
Flip Brhl

Even with rocker/shaft bushes being in a good condition it is worth plugging the upper feed holes using aluminium rivets to ensure a good oil feed through the lower holes to the actual contact location. Once wear occurs virtually all the oil leaks out via the upper holes in the rocker shaft meaning no feed to the contact to increase wear rate. This was a typical 1960s mod on Mini engines.
S G KEIL

This thread was discussed between 28/06/2024 and 30/06/2024

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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