Hey y'all,
I'm new to the list and wanted to say hi. I was just given my
brother's 1970 Midget and figured I should get myself on (another!)
list to help me learn about my new ride.
The car was originally piece-parted together by my brother and his
friend around 1987 and a budget restoration was done on it. We now
estimate a total of 180,000 miles on it so far and, as you probably
would guess, the paint, body, and interior are now in need of help. I
have plans to fix it up, but only when surplus budget for the racecar
allows. ;-) In the meantime, it'll be a daily commuter when the Texas
heat allows.
The only catch about getting the car is that it was in San Francisco
and I'm in Austin, Texas. Instead of wussing out and transporting it,
I flew up there and the two of us drove it back to Austin on the 4th of
July weekend. 1800+ miles, 3 days, one big desert, one quart of tranny
fluid, and two quarts of oil later we made it to my house safe and
sound. No, not a _single_ thing went wrong with the car the entire
trip! We were happy to say the least, if not tired and sunburned. ;-)
For those that are interested, it was actually in one of the pictures
in a recent Road & Track issue on a story documenting the California
Melee of 1999. My bro was driving it at the time. His buddy has the
Lotus with the handwritten emblem on the hood. :-D
Anyhoo, to the question... There is a noise coming from the rear end.
When accelerating in any particular gear and then letting off the
throttle there is a pronounced "clunk" coming from the rear wheels.
Actually, it also happens at intial acceleration. It sounds exactly
like slapping two 2x4 pieces of wood together. Perhaps it's worn
splines on the axles? It doesn't sounds like that, but the timing of
the clunk would coincide perfectly with this problem. If it had rear
discs, I'd think the rear pads were sliding fore and aft hitting the
caliper under accel/deceleration. The car has spoke wheels with
knock-offs and I'd tightened them pretty recently, but could that be
the culprit? Anyway, I'd be more than happy to listen to what you more
experienced MG/Sprite folks have to say about it. :-)
Also, I'll soon be looking for various body panels to replace the rusty
ones, as well as other miscellaneous components. Any good sources for
used stuff via swap meets, online shops, businesses, classifieds? Any
in Texas, per chance? What about rear gear or rear end swaps? I don't
know what's in mine yet, but 4500 rpm at only 75 mph is kinda
unnerving. Maybe I should look into a 5 speed conversion? :-)
Well, if you made it this far, I appreciate your time and apologize for
all the questions. Being an American V8 car kind of guy, I sort of
feel like I'm entering a whole new world here! :-) I look forward to
hearing your comments.
Thanks,
Tommy
=====
Tommy Regan
'85 CP Camaro #95
'70 MG Midget
'95 GMC C1500
http://austin-f-body.wolfeden.org/members/regan/
_______________________________________
__________________________________________________
Get Yahoo! Mail – Free email you can access from anywhere!
http://mail.yahoo.com/
|