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  Feb. 2, 2009 9:49 p.m. David S. Wallens Editorial Director

  I think all of us involved will admit that this took waaaaaaaaaay longer than expected, but the Midget now has a real engine. And it makes good power, too.

  Linky: http://classicmotorsports.net/project-cars/1971-mg-midget/worth-wait/

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  Feb. 2, 2009 10:00 p.m. wlkelley3 HalfDork

  Looking forward to reading it. I'm getting ready to start a resto on a 63 Midget that I plan on updating a bit. Already have a 72 parts car that will donate the 1275 to the 63. And I plan on building the 1275 up a little to make it at least keep up with traffic.

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  Feb. 3, 2009 6:30 a.m. ddavidv SuperDork

  You guys are still working on that? I thought it was finished.

  I hate that car. It's made me want one. You need to fire Carl so I won't have to read any more of his excellent tech articles and can then drop my CM subscription.

  "Having fun is my revenge on mortality"--Dustin Hoffman

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  Feb. 3, 2009 8:11 a.m. Tim Baxter Online Editor

  It's been a LOONNGNGNNGNGGGGG wait.

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  Feb. 3, 2009 8:14 a.m. Carl Heideman

  Thanks for the kind words, David.

  After all the delays, I knew we had to get good numbers or they really would fire me! Anyway, we did get good numbers.

  If you know anything about A-series engines, you know that Dave Vizard literally wrote the book (actually several). Dave Anton was right there at his side while they did thousands of dyno pulls. So Anton was a great choice to spec and build the engine.

  Our goals were great power, great torque, and great drivability--pretty lofty. We made 108HP, 95 lbs/ft torque, and the engine still idles just below 1000 RPM. So I think we did pretty good. Dave's dyno is also very honest. We used a pull rate of 300RPM/second to keep it honest and only took data from consistently repeatable runs. Many dyno shops use little tricks to get one run's numbers nice and then publish just those exaggerated results.

  In addition to the story about building the engine and getting the power mentioned above, I've got fodder and data for a few more stories about parts comparisons (heads, carbs, ignitions, rocker arms, etc.).

  --Carl

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  Feb. 3, 2009 9:03 a.m. rconlon Reader

  Don't forget the story about "Restoration Reality" and how long and expensive they can sometimes take and then finding that the car has 1/3 the value you put into it.

  Cheers Ron

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  Feb. 3, 2009 7:32 p.m. Carson HalfDork

  Wow that's awesome! I bet that'll be a blast when it's in the car. That makes probably 10 hp more then my Miata is making at the crank.

  That engine does look slightly comical on that dyno!

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