Front suspension - not looking forward to this as it's notoriously difficult and the Midget very rusty.
I built a dolly cart to sit the front of the car on and hopefully I'll be able to use it on the FW when I replace the differential.
After lots of plusgas, angle grinder and hammering I eventual freed the key parts needed as donor -steering arms, hub and upright. The upright will got to the MGOC as an exchange items. I managed to get the top bush off but cut off the lower wishbone as I couldn't get the cotter pin out. The lower wishbone had already got a braze repair/modification so couldn't be sold on - I'm now going for a bit of a scorched earth policy on the midget.
On Friday I stopped off at Moss in Bristol and they couldn't have been more helpful. I now have everyone of the components required to rebuild the handbrake assembly/rear axle.
And after another morning both front uprights are off the car and the bits I'm keeping have been wire brushed and have been given a few coats of Hammerite satin black. Donor parts now stripped and cleaned are: Engine Mounts, Steering Arms, Rack, Steering, mounts and Column, Front Wheel Hubs and Hand Brake.
The Engine and Gearbox are also split with the Engine ready to go off for strip and rebuild.
We've been away for the weekend so not much garage time, I managed to get out for an hour last night to paint the steering rack and mounts and then for a couple of hours this morning and got the engine, gearbox and steering column removed.
The steering rack mounts are steel/pressed/welded not alloy in the build manual and the steering column is collapsible so doesn't appear to have the UJ spline that needs to be cut and welded to the lower column spline that mounts to the steering rack - emailed Mark Walker to confirm the way ahead.
The Midget has arrived, meets the minimum requirement for a donor as it has the items that aren't available either new or reconditioned from the normal Midget/MG suppliers plus it has a V5C.
The strip down has started, steering rack and mounts removed and refurbished with a re-grease and new bellow boots. I have new ball joints but these need cutting down as does the steering rack. These have now had the steel sections primed and will be painted matt black.
Next part is the hand brake lever, the chrome is very good, just needs a polish but the mounting bracket needs welding. Lots of new parts have started to arrive, luckily Tricia wasn't here when today's batch were delivered. So far I have boxes containing:
Front Bearings/seals
Rear Bearing/seals
Rear Brake overhaul & drums
Front Brake calliper & disc upgrade kit
Gauge refurbishment kit
