REMOVABLE FRONT

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REMOVABLE FRONT

Postby ilmung » Wed Apr 29, 2015 5:36 am

I wonder if anybody tried already to make a movable front on his Midas , like they do with the mini's ?
Or is this total excluded because of to big lost of strengthness of the body ?
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Re: REMOVABLE FRONT

Postby Hans Efde » Wed Apr 29, 2015 7:11 am

There is 1 Bronze that was modified with a removable front. It was done by a professor in composites so he knew what he was doing. Generally yes the body will loose stiffness because there are structural members in the front.
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Re: REMOVABLE FRONT

Postby Hans Efde » Wed Apr 29, 2015 7:17 am

Found a few pics of it in my library, just small ones I copied from Ebay where the car was offered for sale many years ago.
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Re: REMOVABLE FRONT

Postby ilmung » Wed Apr 29, 2015 11:39 am

I think the front was extendted to , because I see a lot more place between the valvescover and the frontinside ?
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Re: REMOVABLE FRONT

Postby ilmung » Wed Apr 29, 2015 11:46 am

Hans
Can you send me by email this pictures so I can zoom them to see better what the prof did .
First I thaught he extended the front ,but I am not sure anymore.......I think he just made the headlights and frontmiddle movable to have more space to work on the engine

gvanassche@abriso.com
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Re: REMOVABLE FRONT

Postby ilmung » Wed Apr 29, 2015 11:50 am

Hans
it's ok , I copied the pictures to my directory , I can zoom them now .
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Re: REMOVABLE FRONT

Postby Alan D. » Wed Apr 29, 2015 10:54 pm

Hi Geert,
I spoke to the gentleman who created this car, his name was Richard Brabbins, sadly he has passed on. He made two cars a black car and the red car which you see in the pictures. It is just a standard front, not extended. It is very cleverly done to give you better engine access. I did try to buy the moulds from him, but he sold the moulds on to one of the cars new owners. One of the cars I believe went to Ireland, possibly with the moulds. one of the cars appeared on this forum for a time and I did message the gentleman but he never replied. These moulds would help me my quest of fitting a modern engine into a Midas.
The owner of the car went under the name of "Catgill" on this forum. The post is still in my outbox! I sent this post in November 2010.
Alan D.
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Re: REMOVABLE FRONT

Postby ilmung » Thu Apr 30, 2015 8:26 pm

Hi Alan
The Midas convertible just passed the technical control in Belgium :-)
The removable front is a good solution for repairing and installing engines more easier .
I waite some time to have more info about this point ,otherwhiles I will start by myself this modification.
I have enough experrience with fiberglass and theory of strength of matrials from the past when we were making wings for the electric windturbines , but of course I prefer to find the person who has this knowledge already of removable midas fronts .
Please inform me if you find something more about the removable front .
regards
Geert
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Re: REMOVABLE FRONT

Postby Alan D. » Thu Apr 30, 2015 9:59 pm

Hi Geert,
You cannot remove the front on a Mk3 Midas, it uses a Metro sub-frame, as this sub-frame is fixed on all four corners and the top of the wings have a box section shape to give strength to the front sub frame fixings, have a look at the spare sub frame which I sent to you.

The Mk1 and 2 Midas's use a Mini sub-frame and not a Metro sub-frame.

The Mini sub-frame is fixed to the floor below your feet and also at the bulkhead, via the "tower bolts". The fixings on the front of a Mini sub-frame do very little in the way of strength! that's why you can fit flip fronts to Mini's. The Mini sub-frame cantilevers from the bulkhead, hope this makes sense to you. But if anyone can offer a different slant on my explanation I would be obliged.

By the way I know of a Mk1 Midas for sale here in the N.E. of England, it belongs to David Angles, who tells me he has a back problem and now has difficulty getting in and out of the car. The chassis number from memory is 64 out of 67 Mk1 cars made, then there were about 300 Mk2 Midas's made.
Someone will correct me if I have my numbers wrong!

Glad to hear your car is now fully legal.

Alan
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Re: REMOVABLE FRONT

Postby ilmung » Thu Apr 30, 2015 10:08 pm

Hi Alan
Can you give me the info about David who owns the MKI ?
geert
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