Ok, so why an A series?

[Westfield 129]

125 HP is very nice. You can run 155 rear tires. Add an LSD and the longer dampers and you will be able to achieve pefection.

While the notion of a flat head Ford with a blower sounds intersting, all I can see are blown head gaskets, much more expensive pistons, bent rods, more engine weight and complexity with tuning problems than a good 1380 wih some compression, alloy hea, cam and a Weber. Costs will probably be in favor of the A series. So will the power After all it is 1170 against 1380...

Power adders are cool, but can lead to lots of tuning problems. Sometimes, all you want to do is to enjoy the car, and not have to consistently fiddle with the engine to get some reliability.

Funny, but after all these years, the A series still looks like the ticket, or an XFlow (or an original FWB, but then that would double the cost of the total car). There's lots of good tuning information, lots of tried and true combinations to get to 100 or more HP.

[erictharg]

I'm enjoying the Toyota 4AGE in mine. Old enough that it doesn't look out of place. Compact and light. Durable and tune able. A little over 160HP at 7000 rpm. But perhaps a little too much for the road as I was reminded when taking it for its MoT yesterday. You do have to keep your wits about you when you squeeze that right hand pedal!

[biggles]

Scrapped my mk1 Mr2 due rust about 6 years ago? I loved that car and the engine still pulled like a train even at 110,000 miles. Just had nowhere to store any bits then....

I'll revisit your thread as a 125bhp standard motor would be sweet as a nut, but I don't want to spend more than a grand ideally for engine and box and the box is the issue, although rusty mr2s are still available for 500 or so...

Btw if you are selling off any bits, please feel free to post them up here

[alleggerita]

I can confirm from first hand experience yesterday that Eric's Toyota engine is very nicely pulling through the revs, including all the correct sounds and noises.

[erictharg]

I was fortunate that the parts I bought included a bellhousing to take a Ford gearbox. Otherwise you'd want to look out for a Toyota T50 'box, but they are very scarce now.

[biggles]

So after some deliberation, I bought.....a midget! Fell over a complete non runner locally with rather a good shell, so I should be able to sell some bits to offset the cost. Won't be my main donor though, just for some bits and spares....

[jonclancy]

Pics... we want pics!

I've got a soft spot for Midgets. Always seeing the potential in them. And Morris Minors, too!

[biggles]

Hope to at least sell a few panels off this shell, as it is too good to break, really....

[beng4]

Seems a shame to break if shell good. Midgets are nice cars in own right, surely money to be made getting running and moving on?

[Westfield 129]

Take the engine, rear axle and the front spindles. If the shell is good, it (along with the other left over bits), it will bring more than the cost of whole car. The idea is to build a Westfield 11, not restore another Midget. I am sure that there is some owner who needs a new body, as he has the engine, suspension and trans attached to a chassis corroded beyond replacement.

I sold a rusty midget body, the seat frames, instruments and the gearbox for about twice what I paid for the whole donor car. Restorers came by with their own Sawzalls to cut off the bits of the body that were not rusted, and there was even a guy to purchase what was left of the unit body. I didn't have to take anything to the breakers or spend a penny in getting rid of the remaining hull. It couldn't have worked out better.