Midas Gold Convertible

If you're taking on the task of rebuilding the whole Midas, please put the project in here.

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Midas Gold Convertible

Postby Rich » Wed Apr 15, 2009 12:07 am

I picked up my Midas from the very edge of the Solway Firth in Cumbria at the back end of last year, the car had stood in a garage for several years and wasn't running though it was complete. It was to prove lucky that the car came with a virtually new complete rear subframe as well.

After an interesting two day journey back to Devon while my hired trailer did it's best to blow every fuse I had in the lighting circuits, the Midas was rolled onto my drive.

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Then it rained.......... for several months.

On the face of it, the car needed it's brakes freeing off, a new battery, tyres, headlights and a tidy up. Sadly the predictable truth was somewhat different.

The good news was that with a new battery and a gallon of fuel in the tank the engine spun well with the plugs out until the oil pressure came up before firing easily and idling smoothly. The bad news was the 3+ litres of fuel now on the drive and the distinctive sound of a rotted out LCB manifold.

The initial list of bits to get had just grown by a new fuel tank and LCB manifold, as the tank arrived first I decided to take out the old tank and drop the subframe to have a look around it properly. The list grew by a full set of rear brakes including handbrake cable and hydraulic cylinders at this point.... The subframe wasn't holed, but it was significantly corroded and there was that new one just sat there.. That list just got bigger with all the solid and flexible brake lines on the car, even the copper pipes on the rear had corroded and holed in the salty atmosphere.

Ok, so it's now 14/04/09 and this is where we are.

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New subframe, new tank, new pipework in kunifer, Goodridge flexi hoses, new hydraulic cylinders. All remaining brake components have been acid dipped to clean down to bare metal, neutralised in caustic soda before painting. The hubs are fitted with new bearings, lubricated with Castol BNS. The suspension has been fitted with new knuckle joints and new hydrolastic piping made up to replace the rotting steel pipe, the valve has been relocated to ease filling.

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You may remember the brake levers I rebushed and pinned..

http://87.82.64.76/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=311

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Now in situ with stainless pins and delrin washers connecting them to the new handbrake cable from Alistair that now has an adjustment built into the offside brake cable.

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It's a bit dark under here, but you get the idea. The hose dangling down is the new fuel pipe that still needs running through the car, I haven't forgotten it, honest.. and the stuff you can see wrapped around the exhaust is carbon fibre cloth the keep some of the heat off the fuel tank. The rear brakes are now nicely balanced with equal resistance and a good smooth pull. Mine is a GTM built car so there are no undertrays to go back on, yet. If anyone has some going cheap I'd appreciate a nod.

Now the rear end is sorted I've started on the front with the offside suspension coming off, to bring the front up to the standard of the rear I think I'm going to have to drop the subframe and engine which is something I'd really rather not do, but while it's up on stands I might as well.

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16/04/09

Front suspension components from the offside now stripped of rust courtesy of a night in acid, bearings cleaned regreased and set aside, the disc appears to be virtually new under the rust and has cleaned up like new with no wear ridges. Swivel joints removed with a big hammer and cold chisel.

All parts are currently drying outside after their first coat of paint. When everything is dry I'll fit the new swivels and bearings and put the whole lot away until the frame is back in the car. I've got some polyurethane bar coming that I'm going to turn into suspension bushes.

21/04/09

I finally decided that with the rear end looking nice and tidy I wasn't going to be able to get away without removing the front subframe, so today that's exactly what I've done. As I've come to expect, the nuts on the front subframe mounts appear to be of a size unknown to spanner and socket manufacturers. After spending the best part of the day wrestling, swearing and bashing my knuckles the last bolt finally succumbed to the angle grinder and the engine/subframe was lowered *cough* gently to the ground.

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Mmm, I don't think it's going to go back that way, I need to find an engine crane.......

The rusty green lump you can see is one of Adrian Dodds tuned 1330 engines, appearances are deceptive as it runs beautifully, it'll even be quiet when it has an exhaust attached. ;)

29/04/09

Managed to pick up a decent English made engine crane at the weekend courtesy of Ebay, got the engine and subframe separated and started stripping the subframe ready for painting. Having spent the best part of a day working my way though corroded fasteners I now have a much lighter frame, just need to degrease it now. All the parts removed have gone into the acid to strip the rust, they'll be in there overnight.

30/04/09

Frame degreased and drying ready for painting. Starting to remove the rubber bushes from the suspension components so I can start making the poly bushes on the lathe...

01/05/09

Subframe painted with hammerite, various brackets stripped and painted. Finished removing the rubber buses from the suspension arms and ended up using an angle grinder to get the anti-roll bar bush sleeves off one side.

Polyurethane bushes made up and fitted to the suspension arms.

http://87.82.64.76/viewtopic.php?f=75&t=346

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02/05/09

Front subframe rebuilt today with suspension upper and lower arms, despite the upper bearings being cleaned it took forever to get clean grease pumping out, still need the poly bushes for the ARB to arrive. I'm not going to build the frame up beyond this as it's starting to get heavy to lug about, so the hubs etc will only go back on once the frame is fitted back to the car.

In amongst revising one of the poly bushes I've also rebuilt the nearside hub with new ball joints and fitted new knuckle joints to the upper arms.

06/05/09

Front hydrolastic units stripped in the acid overnight and repainted today, just waiting now for the Hammerite to harden before putting them away ready for the suspension rebuild when the frame is back on. Still waiting for the ARB bushes to be delivered.

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Started replacing all the metal brake pipes under the bonnet, typically ran out of Kunifer. This car has used a roll and a bit of this stuff already, I reckon two whole rolls would do all the brakes and the rear hydro pipes with a little left over.

07/05/09

Bad news on the ARB front bushes, been onto the suppliers and the manufacturers haven't bothered to make any over the last couple of weeks. It's going to be a another week at least, not impressed.

I had hoped to refit the frame with the bushes in place so it went back on today without them, before this the steering flexi joint was replaced (what a fun job that was..), steering rack cleaned, regreased, new gaiters and track rod ends fitted before being fitted back onto the frame. I abandoned any hope of lifting the frame physically up into the car and hoisted it up with the engine crane. I'm leaving it in loose for now and won't tighten up the suspension until it's got it's weight on it.

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The rest of the time today has been spent running the brake lines to the Goodridge flexible pipes at the subframe brackets before rain stopped play, I picked up a small pipe bender on the Automec stand at Stoneleigh and I'm well impressed, damn I wish I had a garage... I'm on duty for the next three days so no Midasing this weekend. My Stepdaughter is just finalising her A level Art workbook and she's nicked my camera, I'll put some pics up when I get it back.

I've just realised that I haven't done the drive shafts and CV's yet and they will need to go back on before the hubs go back on. The rusty CV's are now enjoying the acid bath for the night, I can't for the life of me separate the shafts from the Cv's so if anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears. I had to pop the bearings out of the inner joints to withdraw the shafts from the sub frame.

08/05/09

Remember those bushes that were going to take at least another week because they hadn't been made? Guess what's waiting for me when I got home tonight...... :roll:

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09/05/09

Bimbling in and out of the house today in between calls, drive shafts have been separated from outer CV joints using the correct recommended BFO hammer. The shafts are in the tank losing weight and the CV's have been scrubbed clean, de-greased and painted. Finally got my Paypal account back today and hit Ebay for a small pile of bits.

10/05/09

Driveshafts painted, inner joints fitted and greased.

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Outer CV joints waiting to go on.

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11/05/09

Having waited for so long for the poly bushes for the ARB it would have been rude not to fit them first today, not a difficult job with just a bit of jacking used to line up holes. They come with a sachet of 'special' lube which I assumed would be silicone grease, turns out it's coppaslip. The lower suspension components were checked for easy movement, no problems there thankfully. The front subframe is now bolted up to the body of the car.

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Next is finishing the hydraulic pipes under the bonnet now I've bought another roll of kunifer tubing, annoyingly I'm short of about 6" of tube from the original roll so I've bought 25 feet just to use 6". Never mind, there's a Porsche 924 here that's going to need re-piping too. Still very impressed with the little tool from Automec.

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The front flexi hoses have been fitted so I can get the heights right for the solid pipes, obviously they'll have to come off again to be fitted to the calipers.

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Both hubs are now fitted loosely, drive shafts are fitted, discs and hubs fitted. I've stripped the calipers (again) and the paint is drying overnight.

12/05/09

Another day of decent weather so continued on with yesterdays work, the new bleed nipples for the calipers arrived this morning are were fitted before the calipers themselves were bolted on and the Goodridge hoses connected up, fitted the NS engine mount and found that the new brake pipes were in the way so new pipes have been made up. I've found that the kunifer tubing really work hardens when you use a tight angle bending tool so re-bending the original pipes just looks a mess.

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The underseal in the front wheel arches was grey and chipped so I repainted that once I'd finished working under the arches, I've still managed to get a large blob of it on the back of my head. :roll:

The hydrolastic units have now been refitted, I would have fitted the bump stops at the same time but I can't find any UNF nuts to secure the Mini sourced rubbers right now, tried to put some pressure in the system and the ruddy pump sprung a leak.

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Having finished all the brake work I realised that I haven't done anything with the master cylinder, taking that off revealed a small amount of brake fluid in the body of the servo. Not sure if that's normal but it means that I'll be taking it apart. The servo is now out as well, for some reason it's been totally slarted with underseal. I suspect it might have been an attempt to stop a water leak under the dash. Luckily my car has no interior at the moment because I'm not the shortest person to squeeze under the steering wheel.

16/05/09

Today it's mainly raining............

In between downpours I've removed the rod change unit, stripped, cleaned and rebuilt it with new rubbers and a Minisport quick shift kit before bolting it back into the car.

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17/05/09

Raining again.......... Went out and picked up some odds and sods, I've sourced a nearly new master cylinder and servo that should be here in the next few days. Later in the afternoon it dried up so I started on a job I've been putting off for a while, wire brushing the engine and it's components before painting it all. Most of the old stuff brushed and scraped off easily and it wasn't too long before this.....

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.... started to look like this..

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I took the clutch cover off as the actuating arm is rusted solid in the cover. After a bit of persuading with a large hammer it was in bits, the plunger and pivot pin were cleaned up in the lathe.

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Once the paint was touch dry the core plugs were replaced and the cleaned and painted components bolted back onto the engine. The gearbox/clutch housing is painted with silver hammerite which will need to harden off overnight before I can do much with the clutch actuator.

Looking a bit tidier now.

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Though the engine plaque has had to come off for the painting, soon be back on though.

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22/05/09

Not much been happening this week apart from work, still it's giving the engine paint chance to harden off before it all goes back in. I've found a nearly new master cylinder and servo care of Ebay which arrived the other day and will be fitted once I've had the pedal box out as it looks like water has been coming in through it's upper mounting. Once done I should have brakes.

07/06/09

Slow progress due to work and having my boys down for a week. The drive is currently blocked up with my better half's Porsche 924 now she's got an MX5 to play with in the sun. It should have been gone a week ago, needless to say I hate deadbeat Ebay bidders with a passion..........

Managed to get a couple of hours in today, I've now replaced the metalastic gear shift bush over the diff housing and both of the output oil seals. Following Adrian's advice I bought the correct Payen head gasket from MRA Minis, unfortunately it arrived damaged but to their eternal credit a replacement was sent out immediately with no fuss at all, big thanks to Debbie.

I'd forgotten how easy a gasket change is on an A series engine, 20 minutes all in. The machined surfaces looked like they had just been done and there's no discernible wear in the bores.

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Once the head was torqued up I started measuring up for the bracket to hold the pick up for the MegaJolt ignition system, I machined the pulley ages ago for the timing wheel. The hope is that I'll have a simple post mounting bolted onto the timing cover that fits within the confines of the fan belt routeing.

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The post is still on the lathe, back to work now for a couple of days. Hopefully back on Wednesday with another update

11/06/09

I'm pleased to confirm that a fully assembled A series can be hoisted back under the bonnet without touching anything :D

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Once the engine was back in I fitted the new servo and master cylinder before setting about bleeding the brakes. I couldn't find the appropriate pressure cap for the Metro reservoir so i couldn't use my pressure bleeder, after much pumping of brakes (how many cars have 8 bleed nipples?) and just over a litre of DOT 5.1 I now have a nice firm pedal.

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Next was the clutch cable which has been shimmed with several large washers, turns out the adjuster mechanism on the cable is U/S so back to Ebay tonight for a new replacement.

I've had the roof off today as I've been working on my back under the dash, seeing as I'm not exactly short I needed somewhere for my feet to go. ;) these cars look nice with and without their tops on.

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13/06/09

Ebay came up trumps today with new clutch and throttle cables on the doormat this morning so the first job was fitting the clutch cable, I've now got brakes and a clutch.

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Next was fitting the gearshift, after a bit of jiggling it was all connected and bolted up and it feels as though I can engage all the gears, though even with the quick shift I'm cracking my knuckles on the dash. This car was built without lengthened shift rods and I don't want to start cutting holes in the chassis now. Looks like I'm either going to have to find a bender or shorten the stick as that's going to get really annoying otherwise.

Ok, gears, clutch, brakes and steering all working, it's starting to feel like I'm on the home run now.

The LCB manifold was bolted up to the engine, I bought this just after I got the car when I thought it was just going to need a tank and a manifold... it's been sat in the workshop for months and I couldn't find the 'Y' piece, so I've turned the workshop upside down for a couple of hours looking for it. Then I found it in the boot of the Midas, it's going to be one of those days...

I've got a threaded boss to weld into the exhaust to speed the tuning process once the car gets on a rolling road, and somewhere I've got a tank cutter that will cut a perfect 24mm hole. The key word there is 'somewhere'. Cue the workshop being turned upside down for the second time, the blasted thing was nowhere to be seen so an unsuccessful tour of the local tool shops ensued before yet another online order. For now I'll have to make do with a 'X' marks the spot..

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Manifold bolted up and it's time to clean up the carb, luckily it's pristine internally so after a bit of brushing externally it was bolted up to the newly cleaned and painted inlet manifold. I don't know if I'm going to stick with the MG airbox (already got a K&N filter in there), for what little I might gain with a foam filter I get the added noise in what's intended to be an every day car.

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Back to work now for a couple of days..

17/06/09

Cracking weather while I'm at work, piddling it down when I'm on days off......

I recommissioned my MIG welder today, it hasn't been used in several years but fired up once the rusty wire had been stripped off the reel. Five minutes later and the lambda boss was welded into the Maniflow LCB 'Y' piece, this has got to be the only rebuild I've ever done that has only needed 6" of welding.

Back inside and I've finished the mounting post for the timing sensor and bolted it up to the timing cover, I'll need to fit it all up to the engine before I can finalise the height of the post so that the sensor is picking up along the centreline of the timing wheel. When I'm doing that I'll also cut a groove in the base of the post for an o-ring with the aim of keeping as much oil as possible on the inside of the engine.

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18/06/09

Exhaust fitted today, the 'Y' piece on the LCB was too long for the Midas system so the system has been on and off several times while it got trimmed to length. The clamps supplied by Maniflow didn't want to fit side by side so I've used stainless motorcycle clamps. After much levering and bashing of knuckles the system just fell into place and lined up ready for clamping. The system doesn't appear to knock on anything, though we'll see what happens once the engine is up and running.

I've finished the fitting of the sensor post, the o-ring idea didn't work as it left the post (relatively) easy to rotate even when bolted up firmly so it's now bolted up with a liberal smear of sealant to keep the oil on the right side of the timing cover..

22/06/09

All the big stuff is done now so progress feels slower as I get hung up with silly little problems. The battery went back in and I've started to make some sense of the wiring loom which has been hacked about somewhat over the years. The salty atmosphere that has caused so much work has also done for most of the 'Lucar' connectors under the bonnet, and there's a few of them to go at. Before long I've got sidelights, main beam flash (including driving lights), wiper motor, hazard lights and the horn. What I don't have are head lamps, indicators, stereo or electric aerial .

The lights are a bit of a worry and I spent much of the day checking relays, fuses and wiring. In the process I've replaced both earthing points with new bolts, nuts and lockers, I need to buy some more earthing straps, the nearside earthing strap is what appears to be 10A wire.

By the end of the day I've removed a medium sized pile of rotten connectors and several yards of surplus wire, most of the new connections have been made with solder protected by heatshrink.

After dark I stripped down my hydrolastic pump, looks like the main piston seal is goosed but I've honed the cylinder and removed most of the corrosion and scoring so it's fingers crossed for tomorrow.

23/06/09

Back to trying to sort out the lights today. Steering wheel off, dash out, switches pulled apart. Everything checks out ok on the multimeter, just no power. This went on for some time until I found a free-floating switch under the loom behind the dash, one of it's flying leads disconnected. Looks like someone has wired a simple immobiliser into the ignition but used the accessory circuit instead of the ignition circuit, when the switch is 'on' I've got my lights and indicators again :roll:

Spent the rest of the day wiring in a new stereo with it's CD changer unit and correcting the wiring for the power aerial, I've removed a few more yards of surplus wiring and another small pile of lucar connectors.

26/06/09

Just doing bits and bats today, radiator fitted and most of the piping done, I've got an MG oil cooler that I need to build into the circuit and space is getting tight in there. I've sorted out the earthing so that all large bits of metal are earthed, hopefully this will help avoid the problems associated with plastic car electrics. I've also bought a ceramic blower to point at the rear window for demisting. Once I have finished running wires through the car I'll be able to fit the extra sound proofing I bought at the Exeter show and get the interior back in.

27/06/09

Fuel lines fitted, a couple of gallons in the tank and the Midas is continent! No puddles and turning the engine over results in a flow from the pump. The vacuum lines are now plumbed in.

28/06/09

Not much time having just finished a busy 12 hour shift....

Rebuilt the dash clocks, main odometer set to zero and new bulbs replacing the dodgy looking ones. All the leather cloth re-glued around the dash surround and made tidy again.

29/06/09

Set off today with the intention of getting the car running on the distributorless ignition system so I started with lining up the trigger wheel on the crank pulley so that the triggering gap was 90deg ahead of the sensor and then tack welding the ring in place. When the pulley was bolted back in place the alignment was checked again, looking good. Most of the rest of the day has been spent soldering up the loom to join the Ford EDIS unit with it's coil, crank sensor and ultimately the mappable MegaJolt ECU. The EDIS system can run in a limp home mode without an ECU so the loom was rigged to achieve this allowing me to concentrate on getting the under-bonnet system working before wiring up the ECU inside the car. It also allows me to isolate where in the system any problems may be if/when they occur.

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Naturally I've run out of heatshrink so the loom is currently a temporary effort, but with all the plugs wired up and the plug leads clipped on the engine started on the first turn of the key :D

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This system gives a rock solid idle on it's fixed 10deg advance, in fact even when it started rattling the idle remained steady.......... :shock:

It sounded for all the world as though there was a nut in the inlet and it was bouncing around on the back of a valve, obviously I didn't spend much time listening to it, I just shut it down with a sinking feeling. I couldn't see anything in the cylinders, but turning the engine over by hand found it going solid just as cylinders two and three were heading for TDC, taking the inlet manifold off and poking around with the light didn't show anything either. Nothing else for it, the head had to come off.

The head was off five minutes later, no damage to the valves or pistons thank God, nothing in the inlet or exhaust tracts either. The engine still locked up, but now when the centre pistons were half way up the bore this time. Then I remembered the distributor drive shaft, the one I was supposed to remove before starting up the car.... Bollocks.

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I've now got a drive shaft that's missing a few teeth so the oil is coming out now, or at least it will on Friday when I'm off next. Hopefully the new gaskets will have arrived by then.

04/07/09

The teeth are coming out one by one with much fishing about with flexible magnetic pickups and flushing through with cheapo oil, the local recycling centre is beginning to think I'm running a garage business with the amount of oil that's going into their tank. If I'm not careful I'll be getting banned (again) for recycling too much.... :roll:

In between oil changes I've been at the wiring again, the EDIS unit and coil pack are now located on the left inner wing and the coil has been rewired to take it's power supply from the hard cut rev limiter that lives in the same box as the MegaJolt. The MJ has a 'soft' rev limit where it backs off the advance at whatever revs you want to limit it to, the 'hard' limiter reduces the power going to the coil once you get past this point as just a bit of extra insurance.

06/07/09

Rubbish day today, rained every time I set foot outside, not namby pamby drizzle though, proper monsoon stuff.

Staying inside I've made up an aluminium plug to fill the dizzy hole based on measurements taken from the removed distributor, made it pretty tight and had to gently persuade it into place with a rubber hammer. If the engine ever develops enough crankcase pressure to blow it out I'll be looking for the holed piston.

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Wired the hard rev limiter onto the Mega Jolt main board and managed to damage a surface mounted 10k resistor in the process, I've had to buy 100 online to replace just one resistor, still it works out a few quid cheaper than buying just one and paying £5 :o postage, at least Dick Turpin wore a mask.

07/06/09

More schitzo weather today, I've been up and down like a brides nightie in between torrential downpours and burning sun, can't wait for the snow...

I've more or less finished under the bonnet now, the cooling system is now all connected up and filled, the under bonnet part of the Mega Jolt is finished and connected up, I'll need to get some plug ends so I can shorten the Fiesta leads and stop them touching the bonnet.

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I've now started on the dash which was sort of floating around in the main moulding, all the loose leather cloth has been secured and tidied up and the Metro dash unit secured properly, when I've got more light tomorrow I'll find the wires I need to tap into for the Mega Jolt unit and look at the options for fitting the Thatcham 2 immobiliser into the system. I'd hate to lose this car as soon as it gets mobile.

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08/07/09

I hate vehicle wiring.

The Mega Jolt is now wired up, that was the easy bit. Wiring in the immobiliser was something more of a challenge, there are wires everywhere. I've got it to the point where everything appears to work but due to the damaged resistor in the MJ I can't start the engine. An odd problem has raised it's head, no dashboard back lights, no switch lights and the headlamp/main beam indicator lights aren't working either...

I hate vehicle wiring.

13/07/09

IT'S ALIVE!

Several hours of messing about with the wiring on the ECU only to find via a process of elimination that the rev limiter was completely goosed, two minutes with a soldering iron and one limiter later and the engine is running.

Just got to solve an elusive problem in the dash illumination and then I can rebuild the dash and start on the interior.

30/07/09

I hate the British weather and I need a garage.......

Just managed a few bits and pieces over the last couple of weeks, I've sorted the dash illumination problems though I'm still lacking fuel and temperature gauges. The ignition system is working fine and is currently running Grahams 1380 map which seems to do the business.

03/08/09

Had the front suspension apart today, I must have put the driveshafts only part way into the outer CVs as they both popped out when I attempted to move the car so today I did it properly and now I can drive the car around on the drive. :D It's been a long time coming! Over the previous couple of days I've been cutting and fitting foam sound insulation, partially refitting carpets and the drivers seat. Lots of angle grinder work has reduced the seat height so I'm now looking through the screen rather than over it, the car has leather Richfield seats so the next step would have been replacement with side mounted buckets or something similar. As it stands the roll bar is currently providing head restraint duties so some heavy-duty padding has been added to the shopping list, any known work-arounds would be welcome.

I started fitting the new dampers to the front suspension, my car has never had dampers fitted before so I'd had to buy mounting pins and drill the bodywork for the top mounts. Thankfully I've not refitted the dash yet as access is interesting to say the least, rain cancelled play again at this point so I'll have to fit the nearside damper another day.

16/08/09

Just a bit of a cumulative update, my opportunities to work on the car have been few and far between with continual rain on my days off......

The nearside damper caused a few problems with fitting as the access to the top nut is virtually non-existent to anyone without arms like an orang-outang. With my youngest holding up the damper from under the arch I used a small rare-earth magnet on the end of a length of 2.5mm piano wire to drop the washers over the threaded section before cutting a small cross in the rubber and using the same length of wire to drop the rubber in place. Two small magnets were used to hold the nut square while Peter twisted the damper body to catch the thread, a 24" breaker bar and 15mm socket were used to tighten everything up. The whole operation felt akin to changing the spark plugs via the exhaust pipe. Although the dampers are just oil the suspension is now sitting nearly an inch high at the front now despite me bouncing up and down to settle it.

The dash is back in, I've had to replace both the oil pressure switch and the temperature sender after spending ages trying to find a problem with the wiring that didn't exist.

I've beefed up the fixings for the door panel, it was held in with M3 machine screws that screwed into some dodgy aluminium rivet jobbies that fell out every time I closed the door, I also made up a new internal release rod from piano wire to replace the two-piece effort that was held together with electrical connectors. The panel is now held on with M6 countersunk fixings.

Next little job is to get the gear stick bent properly to bring it closer to where I want it and stop belting my knuckles on the dash, I've found a small motorsports preparation business nearby who's not only happy to put the stick in his pipe bender, but he's also got a rolling road and donkeys years experience of setting up A series engines.

20/08/09

Ended up bending the gear stick myself and I'm not cracking my knuckles on the dash any more, the rear window ceramic heater is now wired in and the rest of the sound deadening has been fitted followed by the rest of the interior. For the first time in about 10 months the car has carpets and both seats where they belong. The car is insured from September 1st and the time spent in between now and then will be spent spanner checking and getting it ready for the MOT.

I'll be claiming my free entry to the Exeter Kit Car Show this year!

25/08/09

Spent the last two days buffing and cutting back the gel coat, the effect has been astonishing to say the least. Still need to do my spanner check and fasten down the hard top properly and it's MOT time.

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MOT booked for 2nd September, fingers crossed!

10/09/09

MOT passed on the 3rd after a small amount of work sort some minor problems highlighted by the MOT. I've been driving it for the best part of a week now and haven't come home on the back of an RAC truck (yet). Spent yesterday on the drive sorting out issues that have become apparent while driving the Midas to work and back over the week.

The clutch cable (brand new) broke it's adjuster leaving me unable to engage a gear with the engine running, thankfully I habitually use clutchless changes on the move anyway so I managed to get home after starting the engine with 1st already selected. I think the problem stems from the AP rally clutch that's fitted to the Midas and the extra effort needed to depress the clutch is goosing the adjuster. The cable has been replaced but I'm not sure how long it's going to last so I've two options open to me, either lash up a solid adjuster or convert the beast to hydraulic clutch.

Considering the spec of the engine I've been slightly disappointed by the performance of the car, until I looked a bit closer and found I was only getting half throttle. A bit of bending later and things are much better, overtaking is now an option.

The doors have been re-hung as they weren't fitting properly, and the window mountings firmed up at the same time.



Pepper says hello

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Rich
;-)
Last edited by Rich on Thu Sep 10, 2009 8:42 pm, edited 47 times in total.
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Rich
 
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Location: Devon

Re: Midas Gold Convertible

Postby absolute crest » Thu May 07, 2009 4:59 pm

Hi, Rich

monster efforts inc proudly present!

I also have a basket-case; I'm chewing through other (domestic) to-do list items before I get to the Midas. It will always be there, I expect; perhaps I'll find how much of it will always be there when I start.

One point in your engrossing story catches my eye; what 'acid' is used when you're derusting stuff - one of the proprietary derusters, or phosphoric, or..? I'll be having more or less the same tricks myself, so I'm keen to learn from someone else's experience.

regards
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Re: Midas Gold Convertible

Postby Rich » Thu May 07, 2009 7:27 pm

absolute crest wrote:Hi, Rich

monster efforts inc proudly present!

I also have a basket-case; I'm chewing through other (domestic) to-do list items before I get to the Midas. It will always be there, I expect; perhaps I'll find how much of it will always be there when I start.

One point in your engrossing story catches my eye; what 'acid' is used when you're derusting stuff - one of the proprietary derusters, or phosphoric, or..? I'll be having more or less the same tricks myself, so I'm keen to learn from someone else's experience.

regards



Hi there,

I'm using diluted sulphuric acid which comes from the local farming shop for filling batteries. You can use it neat, but if you forget the part is in there it will be considerably lighter when you do remember it!

I would guess I'm using 1 part acid to 5 parts water in a 50 litre container, this will remove most rust during an overnight soak right down to bare metal. I then rinse in water and then drop in another container with caustic soda in to neutralise any remaining acid before rinsing again and allowing to dry. The dried component will usually develop a coat of flash rust that will scrub off easily with a wire brush leaving you with clean metal.

Obviously (for the Americans out there) you need skin and eye protection and don't let the kids or cat take a bath in either container.

Rich
;)
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Re: Midas Gold Convertible

Postby Hans Efde » Thu May 07, 2009 8:05 pm

Pretty amazing job you are doing out in the open! I would prefer something dry and windfree, but you made it clear that the real enthusiast doesn't need shelter to get his Midas fixed. I suppose your story will enthuse others to start getting their sleeping Midasses finished again!
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Re: Midas Gold Convertible

Postby manifold » Thu May 07, 2009 8:39 pm

Keep the posts coming Rich, this is just the kind of input we want.

I'm enjoying watching it as you you put it all together.

Come on all you lurkers out there. Lets see the results of your labours!

Photos very welcome.

D
Midas Cars Forum & Facebook Page Founder

Midas Gold Convertible: 1380 steel 16v KAD & 5 sp dog box, Titanium mania, KAD fr/rear callipers, CF Steering

Midas Gold Coupe: 1380 7 port xflow, SC/CR gearbox, Titanium mania, CF Steering & seats.
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Re: Midas Gold Convertible

Postby Rich » Thu May 07, 2009 9:03 pm

Hans Efde wrote:Pretty amazing job you are doing out in the open! I would prefer something dry and windfree, but you made it clear that the real enthusiast doesn't need shelter to get his Midas fixed. I suppose your story will enthuse others to start getting their sleeping Midasses finished again!



Hi Hans,

I'm pretty much ruled by the weather I'm afraid, it's only a matter of weeks since we had snow on the ground down here so I'm currently making hay while the sun shines (occasionally).

It would be nice to see more of these little cars out and about, I'd like to think I could be part of that process.

Rich
;)
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Re: Midas Gold Convertible

Postby Stuart » Fri May 08, 2009 3:55 pm

I enjoy reading about your progress, thanks for making the effort to write about. :)

Keep up the good work
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Re: Midas Gold Convertible

Postby absolute crest » Fri May 08, 2009 6:17 pm

Hi

thanks for the info. Blimey - it all sounds a bit, erm, corrosive, so I suppose you could sell tickets for the first few occasions. I'll indulge myself with that method, though; neat sulphuric from a farm shop, diluted to taste. how many batteries must farmers have!

regards

geoff
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Re: Midas Gold Convertible

Postby Rich » Fri May 08, 2009 10:51 pm

absolute crest wrote:Hi

thanks for the info. Blimey - it all sounds a bit, erm, corrosive, so I suppose you could sell tickets for the first few occasions. I'll indulge myself with that method, though; neat sulphuric from a farm shop, diluted to taste. how many batteries must farmers have!

regards

geoff



It's not that dramatic thankfully though it is a bit of a leap of faith the first time or so. I imagine the acid could be had from Chemical suppliers or shops that specialise in batteries as unsealed batteries can only be shipped dry with the acid in a separate bottle.

:)
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Re: Midas Gold Convertible

Postby Rich » Mon May 18, 2009 8:59 am

Still slowly plodding on!
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