Spridget Tech Talk (MG Midget & Austin-Healey Sprite)
So, while i wait for my Haynes manual, can anyone tell me how the hood hinges can be removed? and how do I access the nuts, or bolts that hold them on? Also, how do I remove the entire windshield? All I can find is the bolt, on either side, above the door hinges..... Is that all there is to it?
Bit confused on the first part, dont know if you mean the bonnet or the top. As for the windscreen, should be two bolts on either side of the care up above the door hinges. There should also be two bolts dead centre of the metal dash up behind the instrument panel. Those who know more should be along shortly.
Adam
I have taken the hood off the hinges already.... now would like to take the hinges off the body.. bc they are bent.
Jeff,
Have you been able to figure out how to remove the hood hinges from the car? I need to do the same and I'm not sure how either.
Diet
Yeah, if you had the year of your cars on your avatar it would help.:thumbsup:
Guys,
I'm assuming these are older cars on which the hinges actually hinge out of the firewall. Later cars had a different hinge attached with four bolts to a flat firewall. Simply mark the position of the hinge ( you will regret not doing so before removal, when it comes to re-aligning your hood ) and remove the four bolts.
Early hinges I'm not as familiar with, but from the factory workshop manual that I have, it would appear there is a single long bolt that goes through the car end of the hinge ( forming the "hinge pin") and the sides of the "box" in the firewall that the hinge retracts into when the hood is closed. The bolt and nut are accessed from under the dash and might be a bear to get at on the drivers side particularly. The later hinges are much easier to remove, as you can see, but the earlier ones do not present quite as many re-allignment issues on installation.
Jeff,
Again in assumption mode, you must have an early roll up window car as the windscreen attachment screws are in plain sight at the base of the windscreen pillars on sidescreen cars. On roll up window cars, the pillars extend down through the cowl and are secured by two bolts on either side of the car.( above the door hinges ) One bolt screws through from the interior of the car into the coarse threaded hole in the windscreen pillar, the other is a fine thread nut and bolt which passes through the car's bodywork and the windscreen pillar, usually with the nut toward the exterior of the car. There should be a number of shims between the body and the pillar which you need to take note of as you remove them. It's a good idea to identify them with a number and which side of the car they came from.
( ie 1 of 2 L, 2 of 2L etc ) You may need a different number of shims when re-installing the screen, but at least you will have a starting point.
Good luck guys. Hope this helps.
Thanks Andy.
Mine is a 67
The windscreen is only the two bolts on each side right??? ive hear rumors that there may be two more toward the center or the dash. I cant find anything ... so Im assuming just 2 on each side.
As far as the hinges go..... marking the location on the hood will do me no good... as my hinges are bent something fierce..... (if the hood doesnt correctly...you just keep slamming until it latches right???) another special "thankyou" goes out to the previous owner. im going to dive into the hinges tomorrow... so i'll let ya know how i make out...
The two bolts at the center are the ones at the end of the rod that runs from the top frame piece to the bottom frame piece. At that point there should be a bracket which secures to the cowl panel. There should be a fairly thick pad between the base of that bracket and the cowl. On your car it is possible the rear view mirror attaches to that rod. I'm not sure when BMC quit doing that. Later cars like mine have the "safety" breakaway mirror mounted to the top rail, though the screen retains that "tensioning" rod between top and bottom rails.
Sorry I forgot to mention those in my earlier post.
My '68 had a top mounted mirror but it's not the same as the one on my '73. The mirror itself (I still have it and the windscreen itself) is much wider...has a screw thru the center of the mount. I personally use a low mounted early style mirror on the post so I can look over the top of the mirror; the high mounted mirror blocks my line of sight.
On my '66 Sprite, it is a long bolt that forms the hinge pin. The nut is brazed on one side of the hinge box so the bolt can be wrenched without needing a backup wrench on the nut. Don't know if you can get to these without dropping the dash, but the picture will show you what it looks like.
My new (used) hinges arrived today....just need a quick bead blasting and prime and paint. At least these are straight. Thank you for the picture Colin! that's a great picture! I really didn't want to have to remove the dash if i didnt have to .... I guess this gives me an excuse to remove the dash now.
Colin, the silver firewall liner in that picture.... is that strictly for heat shielding? or is that sound deadening material also? Im going to have to remove the felt-like material that is under the carpet to dip or sandblast the car... and i need replacement material, will this work? and if so..... is this something that i can buy pre-cut or molded to fit? Thanks Again!
As far as my avatar goes... I cant complete the profile until i get the chassis number, body number and engine number. but I will update it ASAP.
Thanks from me, too, Colin! Didn't really want to add the dash to the list of things to remove, but I guess I'll have to anyway...
Andy, I'll add my car info now. Thanks. =)
Seth
The silver insulation material is from here: EX Cool
It comes in a roll and must be cut to fit. I wanted some insulation more for thermal purposes than noise reduction. As I remember, the footwell in these cars can get pretty warm and I live in Phoenix. Noise reduction is nice too, but it's a ragtop, so that's kind of an oxymoron. I chose this stuff because it's inexpensive and is impervious to moisture/mold/mildew that's a problem with the felt type materials.
