1st time in 12 years

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1st time in 12 years

Postby dusz » Sat Feb 09, 2013 3:10 pm

My Midas Mk2 has been in the garage for the past 12 years since I got a company car. One of my sons has recently started thinking of buying a classic Mini so I thought what if I got the old Midas running again. Over Christmas I uncovered the bonnet. With a spare battery I cranked it over with the plugs out to get oil around the system. Then I emptied the old petrol out of the tank - easy with an electric pump. There was only 4 l in there. Next I checked for a spark - none. Did the relevent checks and ended up replacing the condenser. Checked for a spark last night - yes it is there. Looked today for a fuel tank off an old lawnmower and managed to connect it to the carb although I then found that the tap was weeping slightly. Cranked it over to then get some backfiring. Checked the plugs - doh I had connected them the wrong way round. Tried again and she fired into life straight away. So after 12 years the Midas lives.
Now all I have to do is:
Check the throttle return action as the throttle appeared to be sticking,
Replace antifreeze,
Uncover the rest of the car
Empty out the interior
Remove all the wheels and either get the wheels refurbished or buy new wheels and tyres
Strip down the brakes and replace all the fluid,
Full engine/suspension service
Replace the seats or get the old ones recovered
New carpet (possibly)
Clean everything
Enjoy

All of this may take some time as I have another car that I must try to get running again - Pug 205 for my youngest son who is away at uni so that he can use it over the summer. I also want to go out and enjoy my motorbike (32 year old CX500 Custom) when the weather improves.
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Re: 1st time in 12 years

Postby DavidL » Sat Feb 09, 2013 5:53 pm

Hi Jeremy, welcome!

Any pictures of your Mk 2?


It isn't Q284PES by any chance? :) (my first Midas, haven't seen it since 1994!)
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Re: 1st time in 12 years

Postby dusz » Sun Feb 10, 2013 12:44 am

Hi David
I know there are not many yellow MK2's around. Mine was originally Geoff Ball's and I am the third owner Q 255 RGC 1st reg in 1986. As for pictures, at the moment it is covered in a lot of junk and I cannot move it as both rear tyres don't hold air for very long.
The second owners had some gorilla of a mechanic looking after it unfortunately.
What I thought was a slipping clutch was a totally chewed up taper. On further investigation what was supposed to be a 1380 was in fact just a standard overbore and the cam wasn't what it was supposed to be either. So the engine was replaced with a 1380 fitted with a mild cam to give plenty of torque.
The day before I bought it, it had a new MoT but when taking out the engine I found that the discs were wafer thin and three of the four ball joints were shot there is no way that it should have passed an MoT. So as well as the engine and a gearbox refurb the front supension and brakes were fully stripped down and refurbed - polyurethene bushes replaced the old rubber bushes. I then also changed the rear brake cylinders.
Just before getting the car back on the road the nearside wiper wheel box fell apart so it was replaced with new. Then only two weeks later in winter time the same thing happened on the offside. Had to drive 70 miles with the wiper popping up ever few miles and disengaging so had to stop and thump it back down.
Managed to break the rear hatch so replaced it with a tinted rear screen and then replaced all the side glass with a similar tint. Before its last MoT I had to have a new screen which Charlie Dodd fitted.
Then I got a company car and it stayed in the garage. Some people say why didn't I sell it but having put so much work and money into it I wanted to keep it just in case things didn't turn out. Also I would not have recouped anything like the money that I had spent.
So 12 years on and I have an itch that I want to start scratching.
By the way my Midas has odd doors. When Harold was building the car he layed up two yellow MK2's. One for Victoria Tennant and the other for Geoff Ball. Mine has one door with Ball written inside and the other has Tennant inside. I spoke to Victoria many years ago and she confirmed that her car also had odd doors.
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Re: 1st time in 12 years

Postby Hans Efde » Sun Feb 10, 2013 8:23 am

I have a few pics of this car on my photobucket:
Image

Image

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Re: 1st time in 12 years

Postby lankyjames » Sun Feb 10, 2013 9:28 am

Welcome back Jeremy, hopefully it won't take you long to fix your midas back up to what it once was, it looks great with the window tint.

Where abouts in the UK are you?
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Re: 1st time in 12 years

Postby Stuart » Sun Feb 10, 2013 9:48 am

I've got a couple of old photos of your car Jeremy, one is from Sandown park circa 1989, and the other from the 20th anniversary at Gaydon in 1995.

I'll try and take a photo of the photos later today and upload them here.
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Re: 1st time in 12 years

Postby lankyjames » Sun Feb 10, 2013 10:02 am

Stuart wrote:I've got a couple of old photos of your car Jeremy, one is from Sandown park circa 1989, and the other from the 20th anniversary at Gaydon in 1995.

I'll try and take a photo of the photos later today and upload them here.


And then they'll be off to the members section gallery! Hah
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Re: 1st time in 12 years

Postby kelvink » Sun Feb 10, 2013 10:57 am

Ah excellent! another Midas being brought back out of the cobwebs. They are far too good to sit there being buried by junk. Good to hear you've got the bug again Jeremy. Maybe we might see a growing number of Midas at Stoneleigh this year :) Mine was laid up for 8 years and I thought that was bad.
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Re: 1st time in 12 years

Postby DavidL » Sun Feb 10, 2013 12:04 pm

lankyjames wrote:Welcome back Jeremy, hopefully it won't take you long to fix your midas back up to what it once was, it looks great with the window tint.

I have to agree with that, yellow with tinted windows looks rather good.

I can't remember yellow being on the options list when I bought mine (1985). I wanted a red car, but Harold's red was too orange for my liking, which is why I ordered mine in white, with the intention of painting it the shade of red I wanted - which in nine years of ownership, I never did. Bear in mind that when I built my own heater for the car, it took me six months...

I do remember a bit of correspondence in the early MOC magazines about white gelcoat turning yellow though, but not this much... :)
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Re: 1st time in 12 years

Postby dusz » Sun Feb 10, 2013 12:37 pm

Many thanks for the pictures Hans. The lower two were when Geoff had the car, notice the side windows arn't tinted. The top one must be after I fitted the tinted windows.

Stuart, the pictures that you have from Gaydon in 1995 were my first ever trip out in it after having bought it. It was theere that I was told the story about the doors which is true as I had to take both door trims to fit the tinted glass.

In my previous write up I neglected to say that once I had it home I gave it to a garage so that the following weekend I could go to Gaydon. On the way down everything seemed OK and the engine, although I found out later was not the correct spec, did pull very well. However, on the way home to Nottingham where I then lived the clutch started slipping again. So, the car went back for me to be charged with having the flywheel skimmed to re-true it. Got the car back and the very next morning decided to go to work in it (Blythe Bridge, Stoke-on-Trent). I hadn't gone 50 metres and it slipped again so it was park it on the drive and go in my other car. That evening I took off the clutch housing myself as I no longer trusted the garage, to find the large D washer in several bits and the flywheel just fell off - no need for the puller. That's when I started on the road to discovery as to how the car had been butchered and the need for a virtually full rebuild.
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