Looking Good under the Bonnet

Progress on the Joint Midget Project

During the last few weeks of warmish weather Adrian and I did some more work on our jointly owned Midget.

The main event came about because we thought it would be a good idea to bleed the brakes and maybe change the brake fluid. So with me on the pedal and Adrian on the wheel cylinder we started, only to find that the bleed nipple and cylinder were full of a strage black rubbery treacle! So after purchasing new cylinders, callipers, flexible hoses, shoes, and pads along with the brake and clutch master cylinders and a large can of brake fluid the job was ready to be done. We discussed where best to do this now major task and quickly came to the conclusion that we needed the help of an expert and a ramp. Pete Giles to the rescue. We organised a day to turn up at Pete’s workshop and on the first day the three of us made good progress. Day two, with just Pete and Adrian, the clutch slave and master cylinders were changed and a good bleeding of all systems. The slave cylinder proved to be a real problem to remove and Adrian learned a few new swear words as Pete struggled to remove an item that had been in place for 40 years!

Job done and the Midget returned to Adrian’s garage where we started to work under the bonnet. We needed to clean off old overspray of underseal and other dust and dirt accumulated over the years of storage, and remove and respray the black metal bits. I has to be said that although I was there to help Adrian did the lions share of the work and a great job he did too.

After all this work a short run was in order and now the Midget is resting in Adrian’s sons garage where it is on SORN until next year.

Hopefully we will get a much better season next year and we will get some real use out of the car and be able to show it off.