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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Midget 1500 Rocker Cover Color?

Howdy all,

I spent a few hours this week repairing some mouse chewed wiring. I noticed the engine bay could use some sprucing up. No major leaks and no rust; just dust, dirt, and general dinginess. This will not be an easy task due to the explosion of wires, tubing, emissions stuff, etc.

So my plan is to spray some Gunk in there and gently hose it out, while wiping/brushing out what I can reach. Cleaning the wires and hoses and maybe some purely cosmetic painting. I do want to repaint the rocker cover. It's blue. I've read where US emissions equipped midgets had red rocker covers; Horler's Restoration Guide IIRC, however, I've also read somewhere that California emissions controlled Midgets were given blue rocker covers. I bought my '77 in California in 1991 and it has a blue rocker cover. I can find or remember where I read this. I would like to find it and see if I can't track down the proper color. Can anyone point to me to source?

At this point, I have no plans to remove the emissions controls - they ain't broke, so I ain't fixin' them...

Cheers,

Glen


G. D. Phillips

Hi, Glen.

I painted my rocker cover with Chevy Engine Orange. According to somebody (not sure who), this is a good approximation of the original color used for the '78 cars. If nothing else, it was a good cheap substitute, and looks okay! On that note, I've also seen them in black, although blue is a new one to me.

Now if we can nail down the color of the air filter box... I've seen them in different colors, too. Mine still had traces of the original paint, sort of a silver with a touch of green. I finally just stripped it and resprayed it in silver.

-:G:-
Gryf Ketcherside

Hi Gryf,

My air filter box is black and it is original. I think UK boxes (some, at least) might have been silver although whether this was natural metal or paint I have no idea. Maybe someone across the pond will weigh in.

Horler does say that US Midget 1500s were given red stamped steel rocker covers. The red was simply a means of identiying US Federal emissions standards cars. I read somewhere that California cars had the blue rocker covers because their standards were tougher than US Federal standards.

Still trying to pin this down...

Cheers,

Glen
G. D. Phillips

Ok, as far as I know, which probably isn't anything, the blue ones were for California emission spec engines, the orange ones (and Chevy engine orange is a great match) are for Federal emission spec engines and black for UK.

I don't think the silver covers are factory but hey, I'm open on that.

My 76 has an orange valve cover and a light grey/silverish air filter box assembly.
Clive Reddin

My '79 had a black air filter box.
I don't remember what the valve cover was, but I think it was red/orange. I've since painted it black.

Lee
L Fox

My '79 Federal was Chevy Orange, Black air filter box.
Mike
MK Mike

Ok, I found what I think is my source for the blue rocker covers. It's in the Midget General archive from 2003. Chris King mentioned it, but I still don't know any 'official' source for MG (or BL) 'Rocker Cover Blue'. None of the maintenance manuals mention it, nor do Horler or Bristow. Here's the link:

http://www2.mgcars.org.uk/cgi-bin/gen5?runprog=mgbbs&access=&mode=archiveth&subject=110&subjectar=110&thread=20030801154348572

I did find some pics of silver or silver-grey air filter boxes. It looks like the silver used on Rostyle wheels. Still don't know if this if factory, aftermarket, or owner accomplished.

Pressing on...

Glen


G. D. Phillips

Glen, at the risk of being called a blasphemer and boiled in hot oil, I found the Horler book to be a bit off regarding NA spec cars. I imagine he got the UK cars spot on because of the proximity of them compared to our cars.

Clive Reddin

Hi Clive,

I've always suspected that Horler's book was a bit lacking in NA spec cars for that very reason - proximity. That, and no book is completely immune from the occasional goof. I'm sure he's perfectly aware of this. Murphy's Law and all that.

A case in point: he points out a mirror is the only non-original item on a blue Midget Mk III. A closer look reveal a pair of mis-matched fenders - one with high parking lamp and one with a low parking lamp. I doubt this was a factory build. Bristow also points out mismatched fender issues in his book and my '72 has the same problem, so I'm somewhat attuned to mismatched fenders. Every once in a while, I see one.

Charting the changes to the cars during the mid and late 70s is fraught with contradictions. My '77 seems to have original components incorporating bits from late '76, '77, and early '78. It's my belief that it was simply an expedient method in which to get rid of older parts and start using newer parts that were meant for later cars, but already in the factory's parts bins.

It's like trying to pin down the production changes on late WW II Bf 109s...

Cheers,

Glen
G. D. Phillips

Glen, I agree. My 76 has a chrome parking brake lever. I see others with a rubberized type of handle on them. As you say, no book is perfect but I found the Horler book a really good reference but not the "be all to end all" book it was touted as.
Clive Reddin

Both of my California 1979 Midgets have blue rocker covers. I have an engine/od trans from a 1978 Spitfire that also has a blue rocker cover. R
Richard 1979 1500

After looking at several original North American sales brochures (76,77,78 & 79), it appears that the FED spec rocker covers were more closer to Ford red. I've also seen a few original Midgets on ebay that had luckly a few hundred miles on them, the California models were light blue. I saw a "1980" Canadian model, that was never driven... it had an "Chevy" Orange rocker cover. The Horler book says that rocker covers for the UK cars were silver and later black. This is to be my best knowledge, based on what I've seen.

~ Ron.
Ron Koenig

This thread was discussed between 10/10/2008 and 17/10/2008

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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