MG Midget Restoration
Turbo Mini Forums

Some of you may remember the story of a MG Midget that was found in a barn on some land bought by a family member 10-15 years ago.

Well, as I'm suffering PCS with the Mini and a change is as good as a rest, so they say, we finally pulled it out into daylight, brought it home as set to work.


It's a bit of a mess:


Took the Mini ramp down to make room and managed to get it sitting lengthwise in the barn:


Started to remove the outer panels:


Braced the cockpit to try and minimise any distortion:


Put it up on a rotisserie:


Removed a floor:


And that is where we are currently at.

This is going to be a faithfull restoration (at the moment) no fuel injection or turbo, just a couple of SUs and a dizzy.

I must add that Axel is doing all the donkey work. I'm just keeping him going in the right direction and doing the small job of weilding the welding torch now and again.

I'll add more photos as we go.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

Shame about no turbo, but it will be a better car for resale if it stays original.

No shortage of parts availability either !

I've built an A30 Academy car, but didn't use the uprated lever-arm dampers as supplied by MotoBuild.
They're the same as used on a Midget and are effectively new. Not cheap, but a worthwhile upgrade.

Metric is for people who can't do fractions.

Yes, no shortage of parts :) Axel has ben buying up panels on the cheap over the last couple of years. As with Minis though, they are a poor fit, even the Heritage ones.

Plenty of swearing today getting the new rear bulkheads and spring hanger in but got there in the end.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

Nice project

great stuff guys, stick at it. These can rot almost as badly as a Mini

'Where does the engine go?'

Nice. looks good project to keep you busy.

I brought a running ish one of these years ago for £80 sold it for £1500. great fun little cars wouldn't mind another one but think id MX5 it underneath

What is "PCS" ???
Sorry for being Johnny Foreigner but I'm lost!
Nice project though. I do like seeing diversity

Project ....... syndrome ?
(can,t remember the second word so substitute a word of your choice )

Project Completion Syndrome: When the last 2% of the job takes 98% of the effort.

There a long post on it here somewhere.

Edited by Paul S on 22nd Nov, 2016.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

Steady progress over the last few weeks:

New Floor welded in:


Then new front inner wing and a couple of patch repairs:


Next job looks a bit tricky:

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

Ouch! Also the offside front chassis leg on mine is quite manky due to years of coolant being dumped on it was drained.

'Where does the engine go?'

All quiet on the Mini front still, but have been bust getting the welding finished on the Midget. A few photos of progress:
























There's still a bit more welding to be done but I can now turn my attention to the engine which is going to be pretty boring but a nice change.

Edited by Paul S on 22nd Nov, 2018.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

Excellent! Text book stuff, hope you enjoy the finished product, (but a turbo would be even more fun...)

'Where does the engine go?'