Got a good 1 1/2 days of work in the garage this long weekend. I had to
spend Saturday planning the RoadRally for July, and then I had the obligatory
Memorial Day picnic, but the Midget is coming along.
I am deep into the interior, so I can have a friendly place to spend my time
driving the little beast. We had torn out the carpet and painted with
Corroless, and now most of the new carpet is installed. I used Frank
Clarici's method of cheap carpet replacement. (Found at:
http://members.tripod.com/PDLJMPR/techin.htm. Thanks, Frank. We tight,
too!) I took some carpet and the old transmission cover to an auto
upholstery shop and had them make a new cover. It cost about $50, but it
looks great, and it is the most obvious piece of carpet. The whole carpet
job will cost about $90.00 including spray adhesive.
I couldn't easily get the roll bar out, the bolts are pretty well covered
with **** underneath, so I just cut the carpet around the bars and covered
the mounting plates. I took some time to pop-rivet metal plates over three
small rust holes that I found so water doesn't soak the carpet from behind.
The body work that was done on the car before is pretty good, but not
concours. No structural problems other than one door hinge and weakening
floor pans, which I will replace when they get real bad. I also ran wiring
for the speakers and the antenna cable under the carpets. I repainted the
ash tray and horn push, cleaned up the seat belts, removed the last remaining
shreds of the old hood, and washed most of the interior with Simple Green.
It's starting to look very inviting.
The way I figure it, if I can get some visible stuff done, it will keep my
interest up so I can crawl under the car and finish replacing the brake
lines!! It is much more difficult than I thought it would be to find time to
spend on the Midget. Graduation for my son is coming up, and one more
camping trip with the Scouts, plus, I would like to get to another Solo II,
and I am working at the Mini Grand Prix this coming weekend. (I wish I
didn't have to work during the week!)
Allen Hefner #51
Philly Region SCCA Rally Steward
'77 Midget
'92 Mitsubishi Expo LRV Sport
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