Nocones Rotary MG Midget

The top-down of the monochrome MG looks like a chibi-Lotus 7. I like it.

Makes me wonder what the Wreck Racing Midget would have looked like with flares. 

LOL almost exactly another year has passed and the MG has..  Been driven a bit.

The MG got pressed into Challenge duty and I towed it down to Florida and participated in the Overbudget class.   The car was the 2nd fasted GTU autox car, which I was fine with given the winner was a GT4 and the tires were 6YO A7's.  I also did the post challenge FIRM trackday which was fun as I was able to let several people try their hand at the MG.  GRM made a nice video about the car which was great.

I've put some more thought into "what's next" and am deffinately going to go down the path of "Street" focus for the car.  I'm not sure when I will get to it, but I hope to start work on it this year sometime.  This year being the next 12 months not before the end of 2023.  

I saw a IG image of a MG fitted with an Ashley GT hardtop and though I like that but not entirely the way they did it.  

I also really like the look of a early 911, but can't afford one anymore.  I wondered.. perhaps would a early 911 roof design language fix most of what I don't agree with on the Ashley GT?

Obviously this is quite Crude.  I didn't attempt to integrate the roof..  at all.. just scaled and stretched it to make it fit.  But, the Arched window opening, the C shape window ending level with the door really correct some of the "aftermarket top" look of the Ashley.  Also the smaller rear window opening that intersects with the extension of the bottom side window curvature really makes the hump look better.  

Is it perfect.. no, but I think the general Idea of this roof shape would be really neat.  There are definitely some changes I would make to the front fender openings to speak a little better visually with the roof, and I won't simply copy a 911 roof but I will lean heavily on the style.  So I think that is likely the way I will go.  New seats, new Roll bar then build a had top.  Whenever I get around to it I will document it here.  

That looks good!

I vote yes.

That makes me feel funny. Kind of like when I used to climb the rope in gym class.

don't mine me, and my annimated zhaifs...

that's probably a transformation too far.

maybe more like something Dusterdb13 said

F-yes. It will be loud as hell inside but it will look great. I was about to say- damn- the windshield is pretty vertical for that eh? Forgetting the 911 windshield is pretty tall as well. It's a good look. 
 

(Walks to the garage and speculates on his own ability to build similar)

I ruined it! 

Which makes it better. 

MG time is now.  The biggest part of making the car more streetable is the seating position.  When I built it originally I installed the seats very upright.   This was due to the position of the roll bar as well as thinking I needed more leg room.  The result was seats that are very upright.  It was fine for short use and on track where you are moving around but on 20 mile drives it became tiresome and uncomfortable quickly.   So step one was to tuck the seat in behind the roll bar and get it close to see if it was more comfortable.   

There is a bracket on the back of the seat that held the seat up off the floor about an inch, but the seating position was much more comfortable.  Which means it was time for step two..  cutting out part of the rollbar, which will eventually result in removing it.  Which is a big decision.   

I also cut the bracket off the seat allow the seat to sit on the floor.  Man it's so much more comfortable.  Also your head and shoulders is about 3" lower and you are no longer looking at the top of the windshield.  

I will have to extend the steering wheel a little because your knees are a little higher but overall it is great.  

Some cage redesign will be needed, but happy that you finally got a seating position you like.

Also, EVERY seat pic should come with a turbo in the background.

Encouraged by the results of removing the entirely replaceable harness bar I have committed violence with the sawzall.  

And wow visually the car looks shockingly different.   The roll bar kinda dominated the car because it was so tall to ensure it absolutely passed the broomstick test.  The seats where so upright that the car seemed very "vertical"

Not anymore now it just looks so WIDE

The cockpit seems so much bigger 

I have to say- I have always liked the look without a bar, but with the violence you can unleash with a smidgen more power than stock, it's a must.... right?

In reply to Teh E36 M3 :

Yeah it will wind up with a small lower bar just because it seems like the right thing to do given the performance capability.  I'm probably going to cut the headrest of the seats and then mount some small pads to the bar.  With the seats reclined the headrests are in the wrong place anyway.  

Our Datsun roadster/speedeter looked the biz without a roll bar. Is it the style, or the knowledge that it could easily kill you, that makes it so sexy?

It looks way way better with no roll bar. Lower wider and meaner

It looks gorgeous. 

With the seats leaned back, a lower roll bar would still clear - and since it will be further back it will also help with the proportions.

You might have to run the rear bars through the body work.

So, so glad you decided to revisit the MG, I know it has been on your mind for a while.

I sooooooo love this car!

Question: are side windows gonna happen, or stay open?

I've been through a lot of this in my mind, and one problem is the transition from MG windscreen to roof. Pretty abrupt. I had considered maybe a mini windshield. Just thinking out loud here. I'm sure there are awesome ideas swimming around in your head. Watching intently.

I dunno what,s up with that ^ , but some inspiration

I was supposed to clean the garage yesterday.  But I got distracted and failed.  

I took the MG on a little drive with the unmounted seat in the new position.  It is so much more comfortable to drive.  That was going to be all I did with it.  Just a little drive.   Then clean.  ..  but I thought I'd get out the old softop and see how the header rail fits.  

Then the conduit and builders board started talking to me. 

I honestly was just going to leave it at that.  The mockup of the visual lines was enough to say "this looks good".  But I still had about an hour and a half before an obligation..

Once again I am very pleased with what can be achieved for filling space with builders board and a glue gun.  

Overall I'm very pleased with how it looks.  It is worth doing for real.  There are some changes I would make for a real version but the idea and lines work with the body.  It's kind Porsche 911 meets 240Z and I'm okay with that.   

There is a pretty big gap between it and the car because it actually is a fully removable top that has pretty decent structure with the conduit.  I probably could just fiberglass over the board and have a decent result.  

People had asked what I was doing at the windshield top.  I'm just going to use the soft top header.  As cool as it would be to make a full coupe conversion with a new windshield frame that would be a much future project.  This is very much going to be a removable hardtop so it makes sense to live with the clamp on header rail.  I'll trim it some to make it overhang a little less. 

Now I have to decide if I'm cutting out the door bars so I could actually use a hardtop or if that will wait until I want to pull the body off.  I'm hesitant to pull the body right now because it just opens a huge can of worms of while I'm in there stuff.   So I will likely just mount seats and get turn signals in and use it as a roadster this fall then see about the hardtop over winter.  

But man it looks good.  

I just realized this has plates... and is... street legal!

😳

I would hinge the hardtop at the back and climb in over the door pulling the roof down after me. No worse than a Lambo-door.

This looks magnificent. AND it seems there is ample space for a roll bar that would have both decent distance from your head and still be contained inside the hardtop.

Did I say how good this looks? Before I feel I need to repeat it about a gazillion times.

That looks so good!

Dude!   That is sick!!

In reply to NOHOME :

This isn't a bad idea.  I have to have access to the trunk for fuel.  I had considered like a 4 bar linkage that lifts the whole top up and back.  I could also do a small trunk that hinges at the base of the rear window and then the top could hinge up from there also.

I'm also considering the simpler solution of a hinged/removeable Targa section.  Basically make the back half of the top fixed sort of like a Miata RF.  Good decisions to keep my mind busy.

I think long term I will be happiest doing the work to remove the doorbars and do something different for side impact "safety".