KMidgets Are Here!

KMIDGETS Are Here

What MG created, we mortals may still improve … (UPDATE 2004)

Fancy a machine that does 0-60 in <6 secs, yet still looks like a 60s (ish) classic standard MG? Then you'll be wanting to make yourself a Kseries Midget (you do, trust me!). It took me around 4 weeks, doing the mechanical installation with a mate over 4 days, and then towing the car home to plumb, wire, and the 1001 other jobs at weekends before it started. A picture speaks 1K words, apparently, so here are several Kwords on Kmidgets to be going on with; you should also visit JamesM's KMidget Blog and Russ Morgan's site too! NEW!! Check out half an article in the MGCC Magasine, Safety Fast! (other half never posted on web).

It's a simple recipe: take one of the UK's finest sports car of the 60s and 70s, aka an MG Midget (or even a Sprite), and add one of these (best fitted after prising out the rusty iron lump under the bonnet):

as just bought... big & shiney compared with the Aseries...

For keen observers, you will have spotted it's a late 2001 MGF engine with around 4K miles under its cams. This is the next bit - nailing the engine in under the bonnet; that's me mate's (Paul's) arm; I'm taking the pic:

People say the engine looks made for the car; it was the other way round, of course; check out the shortened heater tray and re-positioned battery box (not that I've seen trapezoidal batteries at Halfords, yet):

The engine wiring loom looks daunting at first - the trick is to strip back to just the necessary wires for the sensors, injectors, and ignition packs and so on - the items we will use; I had to re-wire a connector for the MEMS compatible Emerald; nearly finished here. But before it's completely finished, I just have to set fire to it...

Owner/driver/mechanic/fire-starter aged 25 years in a mere 4 weeks; lost almost all my hair, but not as a result of the engine bay fire (you can see the stain it caused on the drive, however). This is after the first real drive (about 3 miles); lack of radiator shroud caused the engine to run hot over about 50mph.

And here's the little thing in action at Prescott (class winner!):

… and with 2 friends at Silverstone. Should mention that's Tam's (160/170 bhp) KMidget on the left, and Russ' mighty 210 bhp Kmonster on the right (aka as the destroyer of diffs). The current diff score in fact is:

Russ - 4!!! Ant - 1 Tam - 0 (you're just not trying hard enough, Tam!)

But the trophies on display in the loft very nearly make all the hard work, expense and aggravation worthwhile (spot the Prescott Class Win in the green box!!):

Mind you, this one is still on display around the house; its a class win (Road-going specials <2l) at Curborough Aug 02. She who will tidy hasn't spotted it yet:

Epilogue:
The car has done around 5K miles (8K Jul 04) since the Konversion, including several season's competition, driving to/from events, commuting to work in the centre of Birmingham, and supermarket shopping. Here's a low-res short video of the car on the road:

mgshort.avi

BRB in flight

Here's a recent pic of the installation:

Here are the major items (top middle, clockwise): 1500 heater (modified to allow the air-filter to be fitted), washer motor, solenoid (original), trapezoidal battery, remote oil filter, washer bottle, radiator (original, mounted with the top canted towards the car front), clutch cable mount, Emerald ECU (silver box with connector to laptop), expansion tank (from 214i), and K&N air-filter on the end of plenum. The engine is the lump in the middle, in case you were wondering. I'm sure I'll do some further tidying (sometime).

There are still some jobs to do, which I will list in a mo, but first, some useful links:

What a great engine

- the brilliant KSeries (I have enormous respect for the Rover engineers):

I use an Emerald M3DK to run the engine (controls ignition and fuelling). It's a very easy unit to wire, understand and optimise engine performance. The maps are stored as ascii files; a number are supplied with the system; you can easily share data etc with friends. I can't

speak highly enough of Emerald and their after sales service (e.g. email questions have been returned in <30 mins, from the guy who programs the system!). Find them at Emerald main page

This is a top site to read about what you can do with the great MG-Rover

K series engine

I purchased all my Midget-specific Konversion items from Tim at

Frontline Spridget

Find a great source of spares, service items and general advice for the Midget at

www.magicmidget.co.uk

James Mather

and tell him to go the 'K' route(!)

Jobs to Do:

Swirl Pot - fuel injection systems are very intolerant of fuel starvation caused by surge in the tank (there is no equivalent of a float chamber as seen in carb'd engines); if the tank is <1/3 full, then vigorous cornering (esp. uphill and right) causes the engine to stutter for 2-3 secs. This is a nuisance on the road, and ?^%&! aggravating in competition. The solution is to fit a swirl pot - a small secondary fuel tank kept topped up from the main tank. Until I get round to it, here's a pic of Tam's swirlpot assembly, incl. fuel pump and filter, created by Doug-the-Tam-KMidget-maker:

Find a solution for the diff: options appear to be nailing a banjo B diff into the Midget casing (Russ is having a go at this); or tack on a Sierra diff and fabricate an independent set up

(e.g. make up wishbones, diff cage, mod uprights - quite an exercise).
Update 2008: I seem to have acquried a Sieera diff, so it looks like it's going to be an IRS after all...

Drop in a couple of competition cams and a bigger throttle body; it makes sense, doesn't it!