Nocones Rotary MG Midget

In reply to NOHOME:

Let's just say I have a few 10" wide black marked on my road

Got the garage cleaned up tonight and brought the car in for corner weights and alignment.

The alignment was way way off. Front toe was almost 1" in which requires extending he stering links to correct. That work is 50% done. Rear Camber was way out on the Right rear, Rear toe is ~.25" Total Toe In. I will likely leave the toe in for now. Ride height was a bit low in the rear, I set the L/R shocks to the same adjustments. Front springrate seemed a little low so I adjusted it upwards about halfway with the bellcranks which seems better.

I suspect with those changes it will drive different/better.

Weight as it sits ready to run full of fluids was 1350lbs. 700F/650R or 52%F, 48%R. I'm fine with those weights. It would be ideal if it was a bit more biased to the rear but it should even out with driver in it. L/R balance on the car is 50/50 which is not the best. Historically the body has added ~175lbs. I'll be very very happy if the car ends up at ~1500-1600 lbs. It's a bit heavy for Dmod but with the roll cage I expected that. The plan is to move it to Emod eventually which has a minimum weight more similar to what the car is.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/9R6lvKTrs8c

And it works! Today was the first autox. Last night a friend and I were up until 3 getting the finishing touches on the car for its first event.
I ran the car for 15 minutes before the event and was ready to start it to pull for my heat and the fuel pump died. After troubleshooting I determined that yep, actually dead fuel pump. Thankfully AutoZone had the 1989 F150 Delphi pump in stock so I had to swap it. I scrambled to get it in and got the car running in time for 3rd runs. They let me take all 6 anyway thankfully. After the fuel pump the car ran flawlessly for 8 runs. On the 8th run the clutch master cylinder came apart. The circlip came out of the Grove letting the piston out. Not sure why but it happened once before. I think i will just buy a new one.

Overall the car performed great. Handling was better than it had any right to be for a completely unsorted car. Braking performance was good and I could trail brake on corner entry so it showed the chassis has no huge issues. The engine ran great with no big issues. I need to fix the clutch and it will be ready for the next event. Then over winter put the body on.

Curious what your results were??

Oh sorry 2nd on Raw .047 behind a 2017 GT3. Pax isn't worth mentioning because I ran in AM because no bodywork.

Kick. berkeleying. Ass!!!

I have to say- that's the first time I've ever heard of that kind of failure (not the fuel pump- the master).

Odd.

Great that it worked as well as it did!

What has to change to move to EM?

It seems the circlip is to small for the groove, or the groove is not cut square. I'm going to look at it and call Wilwood to see if they have any ideas.

To move to D/E mod all I have to do is install the bodywork I have. The car is legal I just didn't put any bodywork on to allow for easy maintenance if something broke. I I'll get the body on this winter unless I get ambitious before the next event.

Thanks for all the kind words. I'm super happy it worked well.

It's so wierd working on a project that works. I'm not used to this. Two nights ago I went out to make all the repairs required before the next event. It included installing and bleeding the new clutch master, adjusting camber, adjusting idle and refilling with coolant. 27 min later since all of that was done I decided that I might as well put the body work on before the event on Sat the 12th so I can make sure the body work is secure and has clearance before I finish weld and paint this winter. I also drove the kids around the block. I am off for more training but will get some pictures as I install the body wed/Thurs evening this week.

Current status. Front fenders are mounted and bolted. The hood fits but needs some removal off structure and may need a small bulge and a large vent. I probably won't have time to modify it prior to the event so it will just wait until winter. The flares work fine despite being built for tires that should be .75" per side inboard of where they are. The drivers side will need the wheel opening relieved a little in the front and I had to roll them a little but seems like clearance is adequate. There is a certain flushness to the flares that I find quite pleasant.

Tonight I should have the rear clip and doors on. Then Friday I will just do a bit of extra welding and grinder work on the seat corners and drivers front fender and be ready to race Saturday. Looks like it will be a DM car instead of AM this weekend.

That is sexy.

Nice work.

Thanks guys. Out to work on it again. Hopefully pictures if whole bodywork late tonight.

That would be awsome to see when I get up in the morning.

In reply to Dusterbd13: prepare for Morning Awesome sauce.

It's so stancebro with the rusty fenders

All is not perfect. I need to figure out a way to make the doors not rattle and I need to do some serious adjustment with the angle grinder on the front of the rear flares. It should be fine but I will bring the tools to remove the rear clip if the tires rub. And the hood is just sitting in place.

GRM stickers go on tomorrow so I can submit magazine worthy pictures. I may paint the doors flat black just for a tiny bit more consistency.

Man, this is great !!!

amazing

I mean this with all the respect in the world, but... you just made my pants much tighter.

That looks killer!

That was some good awesome sauce. Damn that looks fun to drive.

What an exiting week. I was featured on the GRM Facebook page and another successful Autox In the books. Sadly it's the final event of the season. Loaded up ready to go. The trailer is a landscape trailer I purchased specifically because the footprint was just bigger than the MG. The ramp/gate is a hassle though and will get converted to a ~2' dovetail with removable ramps over winter which should help the outback pull it better. The Outback is a 6 speed 4cyl and is adequate for the task now but the wind resistance of the gate is a bit much.

I had a friend codrive this event as I want to share the car with people and I need it to get more runs on it to get the kinks ironed out. The car ran good however I found out it gets fuel starved if the tank doesn't have lots of gas in it. I may devise a swirl tank with a transfer pump in the future but for now I will just run it with >1/2 tank.
I got all 6 runs however my co-driver only got 3 but not because the car broke but because the car broke him. He found a burr on the drivers door and it cut his hand He unfortunately couldn't finish the event. He did enjoy his 3 runs and the seat is open for him again in the future.
The bodywork cleared with no rubbing which was a huge relieve and nothing fell off. I did have an issue on my final run where a rubber cap on the plugged coolant line that went to the throttle body burst releasing the coolant. It was my last run and I was able to drive the car onto the trailer after it cooled down so it's carnage that needs fixed but not to bad.
I've began the punchlist for winter for the car and will start tweaking on it soon. Probably wont be much going on that will be noteworthy for a while but I will for sure provide updates when big things happen.
My first large project is going to be removing pre-load from the shocks. The shocks have ~100lbs of pre-load which limits droop travel. I'm going to make the shocks pre-loadless and then raise the car about a .5" in order to run slightly softer wheelrates for our bumpy site. I'll leave you with the video of my best run and a few "glamour" shots I took before I left. Thanks again to everyone who has been following along and encouraging me. There were MANY times where I thought about giving up but knowing people were tagging along helped keep me motivated.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/VRQ5nBXgZBU

Looks like a lot of fun. Congrats on getting the car "Done" How people manage to find a course amidst all the orange cones eludes me, especially if driving a car this lively I suppose like everything, its time and practice.

I have enjoyed the utube vids and watching the progress. Looking forward to seeing the car run in person! Simply spectacular!!

Looks great! I'm glad to see the motor worked out.