62 MG Midget MZR

Brakes complete. More coming together. Fuel is going to be complex with the cell feeding a swirl tank. Minor stuff is now keeping me up at night. But things are slowly coming together. 
 

I'm a bad person because I feel like I'm throwing $$ at problems as I get closer to the finish line. For whatever reason the throttle pedal has just been a big mental block for me as there is not much room. I'd like long throw and relatively friction free. So I opened up the checkbook and bought a Tilton to finish out the pedal box. 
It's not exactly plug and play but has all the adjustments I want and it really is a nice piece. And with some minor modification to the mount arrangement it clears the steering column. 

Chug chug chugging along....

Got the fuel system in the trunk mocked up. Need some more 6an fittings so I'll get an order in there. 

then on to some frivolity. Well not really because it needs to be done at some point but I need something to hold onto while making car noises. I bent up a 1/2" stainless exhaust hanger and hung my shift knob in it. It's just hose clamped on there but I think I need a little more "S" in the bend. Still already better than stock. 

Teh E36 M3 said:

I'm a bad person because I feel like I'm throwing $$ at problems as I get closer to the finish line. For whatever reason the throttle pedal has just been a big mental block for me as there is not much room. I'd like long throw and relatively friction free. So I opened up the checkbook and bought a Tilton to finish out the pedal box. 
It's not exactly plug and play but has all the adjustments I want and it really is a nice piece. And with some minor modification to the mount arrangement it clears the steering column.

There is no shame at all in that. Happy to see the progress! 

I have an 06 Miata & a love of old British roadsters. My Dad had a restored MGB in the late 80s. I can barely remember it. But, I was wondering the other day if someone had ever stuffed an MZR into an MG. This thread makes me happy. Goob job!

The airline worked me a lot this month so I'm back in slow mode. Got my alternator adjuster done tonight. 

I've got to pull the motor again to install the sound/heat shield on the tunnel and footwell and top up the trans fluid. Also would like to add another coat of engine bay paint. I'm so close I can taste it. 

What an amazing build.  I have neither your skill nor your patience but so respect the progress you've made.  Look forward to seeing it running soon!

In reply to Loweguy5 :

Thanks bud. I am too!!

When you sold your last MG, I was all like: "The fool! How can he part with such an awesome car?", But now, I better understand. I think it is really interesting to refine your design/approach to the same platform. A fair number of the same parts, Too (Miata wheels, uprights, brakes, etc.). I also approve of the more refined, ie, prettier bodywork. 

Haha. You've been here a while! Joel man thanks for pushing me like this. I wish I could fly one or more of you guys out to get this thing over the finish line. Every finished item spawns a list of new things that need doing. But they get more and more trivial. That's the good news. Things are looking up for a moderately productive week. The boy is coming home, so I get to help him with head gaskets on the 4Runner, but maybe there is help there for a few things on the MG.
 

Thanks for the support and encouragement. 

Put the roof rack on my boys 4Runner today and still had some gas left to add the heat shielding to the tunnel and firewall.

DEI stuff seems legit- thickish stainless or aluminum metal cover over what appears to be rockwool then a very (very!) sticky bottom layer. I did the exhaust side of the tunnel as well (remember through the tunnel exhaust).  
 

Engine had to come back out again last night for this all to happen. Overcame a little malaise yesterday to pull the motor and trans again. Got another coat of paint and the heat shielding and I'll get the motor back in again again again .... tomorrow. Maybe this is it?!

I used that stuff to replace the damaged stuff under my wofes minivan.

Some testing with my brother (re: berkeleying around) saw no appreciable burning when you stick a piece to his hand and hit it briefly with a propane torch at 3 inches away.

Had a little heat transfer, but i expected that. Ibwas shocked at how well it worked. Im a believer. 

Just have to figure out how to install it neatly. Ideas?

Haha. I like your empirical testing method. I'm hoping it carries through to my use case. I applied this over the top of the second skin audio heat control stuff 

https://www.secondskinaudio.com/heat-insulation/firewall-coating

Worst case I'll have to build another stainless heat shield with standoffs, but I'm hoping this does the job. 

Getting it together a little at a time. Got the engine in to find that I'd cracked my powerplant frame, so had to take it out and weld it. Oil lines look mostly done. Fuel lines in trunk mostly done.  

I ended up ordering new cams from SBD in UK- the pound is so weak right now I could get a pretty decent deal on a set of custom ground for my application. I'm pretty excited about it. it should be a good balance of hot street/track day and he said they will offer them as an option so won't charge me for design.  

Now I have to get the exhaust in, tie it together with my huge 1 in/2 out muffler. Cooling system, intake.  Then wiring, which somehow I'm looking forward to. It's starting to feel real. 
 

I'm trying to keep the effort up and complete or make one small bit of progress every day. 
Yesterday I mucked about with engine wiring. Trying to decide between Rusefi and micro squirt. Rus gives me sequential and built in knock sensing. I'd like to find out if they wire up similarly as I believe they use the same connector. Wishful thinking to be able to try them back to back. 

got a good bend in my shifter that I'm comfortable with. 

I've had this idea for a dash shelf since I was gifted the mini project. I love the idea of having a parcel shelf and maybe just making up a gauge binnacle with 4" tach, 3-3/8 Speedo, and four 2" gauges. 

Finish it in alcantara and have a forward lip to catch stuff. I could easily get speakers in there too, which I like better than the doors. 

Or this. 

Both dash looks great, the shelf is more minimalist and different, the full wood more classy..

I'd go minimalist ! 

Got my cams in. 276 duration 11.15 mm lift. I'll install today. 

I hope I got these done right. It is super hard to determine lift with my dial gauge and mag stand. Aluminum head. Not much room on the lifter cups for the pointy bit. I ended up using the slots at the rear of the cams and timed it like stock cams even though they want 105 degrees for both. I'll get it running and dial it in later, although my guess is that I'll never ever notice 5 hp on this thing. 65 hp stock and these should be around 230. Anything above 200 at the wheels will be so dumb and vaguely controllable it won't matter. Back to normal programming. Begin (Again) final assembly. 

Took it back apart today. Had an epiphany at 3am. I had the lift at TDC off by a factor of ten in the mm to inch conversion.  Made a steel plate to mount the indicator. All is better after retiming both. 

Cool seeing this getting close to done. I vote for the dash shelf - had a couple of early Minis and love just the simple gauge set up.

Dash shelf with large binnacle is the direction I'm headed currently.

Passenger door finally hung after a fairly large mistake when replacing the lower hinge mount after rust repair. Installed it upside down so the holes didn't line up. So it was either start from square one with the repair or finagle some new threaded holes, which I accomplished yesterday amongst much gnashing of teeth.  
 

Plug wires assembled and routed. 

fuel lines constructed, and I will neaten installation in trunk and engine bay when I've got a better idea of how all the coolant lines will run with everything else in there.  
 

I have some stack covers coming in the mail to take care of filtration.  
 

Fitting seats sucks. That is all. 

stack covers look cool and are the easy button given space constraints. Probably not the highest flowing but the tb's are 48mm. 
Still fitting seats but came up with a bracket design I like and am getting them sorted out. Stupid things are taking way longer than they need.