How to get your Midas on the road again....Cheat!

[Mtrike]

Mine has just passed its MOT. It's a 1990 registered on a Q. The MOT station only did a visual emissions test.

[kelvink]

Amongst other things I've been busy with I managed to do a bit of tinkering on the Gold Coupe

Basically I started on the ignition side of things as right before I bought the car I could tell things were not all right with it as it was clearly running rough. Anyone who's had an A Series engined car though will instantly recall the juggling of choke and throttle dependant upon weather conditions and wind direction or anything else to getting their car started.

So first off let's see how many cylinders we're firing on? Hmmm after removing HT leads in turn I came up with the wonderful result of two cylinders! It was however apparent that HT voltage was going to all four leads though some was being lost along the leads from the various arcing points noted in the engine bay. I say engine bay but it resembles more a grubby tar pit it's filthy.



Dizzy cap and rotor arm were cleaned up a bit out of curiosity but I have always simply replaced these as they are relatively cheap and dead simple to do. I also got new HT leads while I was at it. I had to find out first which Dizzy was fitted as it wasn't the usual type but after first getting the wrong one that was sorted and we were now running on 4 cylinders regularly. Taking HT leads of one by one now had the same effect which ever lead you removed.





The engine was still pretty lumpy and while looking around it was clear that the inlet manifold was not good. There were 3 visible fractures in the manifold thanks to stresses induce from the adjacent Maniflow manifold flanges being different thickness to the inlet flanges. OK well I can change the manifold at sometime though I don't relish the task of removing the corroded studs so for the time being lets see if I can temporarily seal things with some silicone mastic applied by finger around the manifold and the fractures.

Hey presto a great improvement.

So I decided to run the car for a minute or so at differing revs. Sadly at 4000rpm I'm getting wispy blueish exhaust. Looking like piston rings are worn though I'm hoping it's lesser more easily fixed issues.

Now given that my intentions with regards this car are to first run it as a heap while I do the mods I'm doing on my Mk2 and then once I've done that I intend doing a proper job on this car including a total engine change (and I mean change the engine entirely, think modern fuel injection 16v circa 120+bhp) I'm simply looking for a quick fix to get by on for the moment. Hmmmm ultimate bodge it and hope approach lets get some oil treatment to thicken up the oil and see what that does.

Well a can of Wynn's Supercharge Oil treatment and we seem to be on the path of passing the visual emissions test. (fingers crossed) There's a few other things to be done yet before I pop it in for an MOT again but really it's just the CV joints to be looked at for the moment to just get it through. I'll tackle everything else later

[kelvink]

Well here's the results of the above tinkering with the engine... Seal the inlet manifold cracks, fit new HT leads and Dizzy cap and rotor. set the timing up a bit better (by no means accurately as my strobe light is dire) and some oil additive. Tadah!!!!



Addressed all the other items on the fail list ie CV boots now fixed firmly with stainless steel circlips. Windscreen washer jet moved so that the feed pipe is not kinked restricting the water flow. A couple of other bits n bobs here and there leaving plenty of silly advisories like rust on suspension arms etc...

So I've now got an MOT and this morning I have phoned round a number of insurance companies to get cover sorted.

I have to say most of them left me feeling less than confident that I'd have proper cover on my car for what I want to use it for which is simply to and from my workshop with some shopping here and there. All in all exactly half of what I've been doing with my Xsara Picasso, as I'll use that for the longer journeys and for when I'm doing a bit of towing. Graham Sykes Insurance even decided they would argue with me over how my car would be insured before I'd even got a quote!!!!! Not exactly filling me with confidence.... They would all ring me back but i was over the moon at how I was able to speak with the lady at Osborne Insurance who knew exactly what I wanted gave me unlimited milage and total confidence that I was dealing with a company that knew what they were doing.

Osborne Insurance why did I ever leave you? Oh yes I sold my Kit Cars and the Lotus years ago and have been running round in production cars for the last few years, silly me!

So once I've posted this and taken Evie for a walk I'm off to get some petrol in the Midas and find out just how bad an idea it was to have paid money for this neglected example of a Gold Coupe

[Stuart]

I look forward to seeing what you think of the car.

[kelvink]

First impressions....

Just a brief jaunt to get some petrol as the radiator is almost completely devoid of cooling fins

Dreadful dreadful seating position, well more the controls than the seat as such. Pedals are obviously designed for the sit up and beg driving position in the donor Metro but as Hans spotted early on they've not been modified. Steering is likewise set up for the sit up and beg Metro, either that or it's built for bus drivers. But that I've changed on my Mk2. I'm going to be putting in some lightweight seats I'm making and I'll be doing a pair for both the cars so that's all addressed.

Loads of rattles thumps and bangs but I expected that, It is after all an old and rather neglected car but I'll get them all sorted when I rebuild it

Gear change is, well errrr ummm it's more a case of stirring some gloopy dollop of dough with a broken wooden spoon. Yep that describes it well. I'll get under the car and tighten up the linkages for the moment but I've got a different gearbox that's poles apart and more like the bolt action of a Lee Enfield so I'm not too fussed there really.

Performance well this I've got to check out sometime when there's no traffic about but currently I'm thinking the speedo must be out because the needle points at speeds I just cant believe I'm hitting so quickly. Now I can't see how this can be wrong as surely the instruments will be matched to the car? If it is this quick then oooh boy this could be fun.

So I'm toying with the idea of getting back to the workshop after the England Uruguay game to have another play as the car is at my workshop at the moment and I've written this at the Half time interval.

[kelvink]

Right I've just done a little 17 mile jaunt in the Midas to fetch some things i forgot to take up to the workshop with me this morning so had a good excuse to give it a bit of a wizz

Well appart from the various rattles thumps bangs etc. and the bad driving position i have to say I'm pretty chuffed with how this little car handles. I live in a pretty rural part of Dorset and so have a mix of hilly winding A class roads followed by some proper rally type country lanes with lots of hairpin bends and the likes. The Midas simply relished them all and got me thinking that this little car back in it's day must have been a right little cracker. Two words came to my mind Lotus and Elise. The speedo is I'm sure not reading correctly so i'm going to pop a speedo app on my phone and see how far out it is but I left a couple of Audis behind me that i got bored following.

I'd seriously like to try this car up against an Elise some time. Obviously mine currently is somewhat knackered to say the least but with all the tired bits and pieces attended to it would be great to see what this car could be like. I'd definitely get the whole ergonomic thing sorted out but I've got a long way forward on that so ar with my Mk2 and the Gold Coupe is very much the same. Trust me I've been round it with a tape measure and compared things.

As I've mentioned before I'm intending to change the engine and gearbox, though for the journey I've just done it was impressive. OK no whiplash acceleration and the breaks are a bit of a 'hope these work' kind of a thing, but in all it was very competent and didn't feel at all stressed by the little test I just gave it.

So what is my impression of a knackered nigh on 30 year old metro based Midas Gold Cope kit car? Definitely recommended and probably one of the best value for money smiles per mile cars you're likely to find. At today's prices I'd say to anyone out there snaffle one up now, they're great fun and a perfect project car to restore and have some fun with!

So now I'm thinking let's find me a sprint/hillclimb or race track to have a blast on, shame it's just the return journey to the workshop.

[Stuart]

I'm pleased you like it, I had started to worry a little, that it wouldn't live up to your expectations.

A friend took me out in his series 1 Exige, from the passenger seat I forgot any ideas about being able to keep up with something like that on the road. What a pig to get in and out of though.

[kelvink]

Return jpurney has confirmed a wildly optimistic speedo of 15 to 20 mph thanks to a gps speedo app on my phone. Still great fun all the same. Pop a different engine in there and i will be quite chuffed with it Im sure.

Definitely not in Exige territory but given how old the Midas is its an impressive little car.

Sent from my Nexus 7 Using ForumTouch for Android

[kelvink]

Aha! It seems I'm not alone in the super-fast Midas ownership.

http://midasownersclub.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=488&p=1992&hilit=drive+speedo#p1992

I particularly like Alan's impressive 998 convertible.

[DavidL]

I'm with Hans here, I'd much prefer my speedo to read correctly. However, I've no idea what my final drive ratio is, so yet another item on my things-to-do list is to jack up a front wheel and count the ratio of engine revs to wheel revs and work it out from that - simpler than removing the diff to count teeth!