I prepared and ran a vintage Midget - a 1961. I ran the Winners Circle
front springs - about 500Lb/in, I think, and lowered the car further with
about 1/2" spacers uder the spring pans. Ran stock shocks all round, filled
with mostly STP mixed with a little 90W gear oil. I made a front bar from
3/4" 4140 steel, heat treated to 35 Rockwell, and made up some alloy blocks
for it to run in using stock links. I put 3/8" spacers under the shock
mounts to gain some negative camber, also used the offset trunnion bushes
made from plastic, and the plastic inner a-arm bushes. I ran about 1 deg
negative, which suits bias ply racing tires. If you're going to run radials
you need about 2 1/2 deg negative camber, which is very hard to get on a
Midget with mostly stock pieces without cutting something.
At the rear, I just softened the stock (aftermarket multileaf 1/4 elliptic)
springs by putting a few of the shorter leaves under the main leaf instead
of on top, and ran the stock (original!) shocks with the STP blend. I ran
an open diff, and no sway bar. I ran stock radius arms, but your car has
half-elliptical, so it'll be a little different.
I ran stock rear brakes, including stock replacement shoes, and ran stock
front discs with Hawk Blue pads, from Winners Circle. The pads help a lot,
improves the brakes tremendously. I ran a Datsun 510 dual master cylinder,
you need to modify the pedal box a bit to fit it, but it's a great M/C, and
dead cheap! I ran a Jack Knight straight cut gear box, and with the 1275
engine a 4.2 diff.
With Formula Ford tires, and the 1275 engine (normally ran a 948, per Varac
rules) I ran a 1:48 flat at Mosport, which would have put me on the front
row of the all MG race that we had at our festival in 1997, so you can get
some good results from very simple and inexpensive modifications like these.
I hope you have fun! I understand IT racing is a blast, but I don't know
the prep rules very well at all. The key to going fast with a Midget is not
using the brakes, actually...and that's sometimes a hard trick to learn!
Cheers, Brian
At 05:49 PM 9/22/98 -0400, you wrote:
>Howdy folks -
>
>I have recently aquired a 72 Midget for the purpose of SCCA Improved
>Touring racing... I am not new to midgets (I have Prepared Solo 2 midget),
>but I am new to the track / road course setups. Looking for any advice
>from you vintage (or any ITD??) guys (/gals?). For example - whats a good
>spring rate and bar setup?? The IT preparations are similar to vintage I
>believe (thus the :cc) - Maybe those HSR folks would let me run with
>them.....
>
>Also, does anyone have any springs or bars (that fit a stock midget) for
>sale??
>
>I'm on digest mode - Respond privately unless the list could benefit...
>
>Thanks
>
>Kendall
>'72 midget (found in a barn - now going IT!)
>'72 midget (DP Solo2 - was whooped good last week in Topeka)
>'59 bugeye (turns 40 next year, maybe ready for vintage)
>'62 midget (resting in storage)
>'76 spitfire (rusting in storage)
>'80 320i (best $700 I ever spent)
>
Brian Evans
Director, Carrier Sales
UUNET Worldcom
(416) 216 5111
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