806 replies to this topic

[scimitar]

Hello

I am new to the forum and saw your Midas project. I also work for some time on a Midas Mk2?? (1981) which I got as a used basket case. As I live in Switzerland it is very difficult to get information about Midases; there are none here. 

Mabe you could give me some advise for two questions:

Which fuel pump do you have and where did you place it in the engine room?

I could get two brandnew exterior mirrors for a Renault 14 from France. But I do not know how to fix them properly. There are 2 fixing screws for the Midas-baseplate. But when I put the mirror on, one of them is hidden and I cannot mount the baseplate properly. How did you do it?

Thanks for any advise.

scimitar

[MrBounce]

I decided not to put it off any longer - it was time to (re) do the headlining and the under hatch cover. I could have pushed the Midas out of the garage, but it was still hotter than Satan's curry in there, so I did the sensible thing and rolled out the material in the lounge. I also had the fan on, so keeping cool was a lot easier. I firstly made sure that both the headliner and the under hatch cover would easily fit on the material, then marked out where I was going to cut. I used a wonderful steel straight-edge than my Dad had. It's 5 foot long and pretty heavy. I do not know where it came from (possibly his Dad, who was an engineer?); it's just something he always had. When my brother and I were sorting out the house, we did a deal between us where if there was anything either wanted, we'd ask the other first before taking it. This worked fine because our tastes are so very different. The only thing we both wanted was Dad's watch, which I let him have as I didn't like the strap! I digress; that straight-edge is wonderful and proved perfect for the job in hand. 

 

The new headlining material is smoother, and more of an ivory colour, rather than the furry white I had before. It has also proved to be MUCH nicer to work with. I ended up covering both pieces outside - more space, more ventilation, and less chance of covering the contents of the garage in glue. I did the headlining in 2 stages - firstly I glued the material to the headlining having laid it over the top and carefully ensured that there were no "naked" bits, before flipping it over 24 hours later and clamping the underside. I still have the windscreen pillar covers to do, but that won't take long. Also, once the glue has had 24 hours to properly dry, I need to make the holes for the various screws, bolts etc. I shall be using a proper set of sharp hole punches for this.

 

Material laid out in the lounge

 

 

Headlining and under hatch cover in place to measure up

 

 

Amazing straight edge

 

 

Close-up of the new material

 

 

Under hatch cover covered, and clamped in place

 

 

First part of the headlining positioned and glued in place

 

 

And all clamped up underneath.

 

[MrBounce]

Just in case you thought I have done nothing for a bit, I have got it ready to go in, and it looks a LOT nicer than before!

 

[MrBounce]

Shaun came over yesterday and he helped me put the headlining into place. It is not the easiest of jobs on your own, so an extra pair of hands is far more useful. All was going smartly until we tried to screw it into place. Of course, the original was held in place by self-tappers, and putting screws back into the same holes just made them fall out again. A different approach was needed. I still had a few jack nuts left over from mounting the sun visors, so I out those to good use. Out came the drill and they were fixed in place with the Rivnut tool. I had to make a slight modification, as the shank of the bolt was not long enough to reach the threaded part. It all worked fine though - I just replaced the top screw-in part of the tool with a piece of flat steel with a hole in it - this gave me a very useful extra 5mm. With the jack nuts securely in place, the headlining was first of all fastened in place by the mounts for the rear hatch struts, before lifting it up for the new 5mm bolts at the front. 3 of them went in perfectly, but number 4 simply didn't play ball. It wouldn't go in at all. After a bowl of my amazing Texas Red Chili, and some contemplation, it became obvious: the bolt was too short. A different bolt was put to use and works perfectly. Success! Daisy of course will claim that this was because of her supervision.

 

Next up was the hatch courtesy light switch. The one I had wasn't engaging properly now the headlining was back in, so I changed it for the extendable one I had bought. This works perfectly with a bit of re-wiring. I need to have a think about how I am going to run the wires though - they look a bit messy at the moment. However, I have tested all the courtesy pins and they work brilliantly, so that is something I can cross off my list. 

 

Finally, I fitted some different hatch struts. The ones I had were for a Renault Megane Scenic; they worked but were simply too strong for the hatch glass. Instead I bought some from the good ol' bay of e, which were 100N of force, as guided by a post on the Facebook Midas page. These were a simple click in replacement, and work SO much better. I don't feel that I having to push down on the hatch with my full weight to get it shut now!

 

I am now off to the Mini Spares website to make a purchase. It will be the third most expensive purchase for this car... 

 

Headlining loosely in place

 

 

And all bolted in place

 

 

Daisy, supervising.

 

 

Different courtesy pin. Wiring position is temporary, and will be sorted in a neater fashion.

 

 

New hatch struts!

 

 

And fitted, doing a much nicer job than the Renault ones.

 

Edited by MrBounce, 27 July 2025 - 04:04 PM.

[MrBounce]

I'll just leave this here...

 

[MrBounce]

Oh, go on then. Refurbished Cosmic Five-Os clothed in Yokohama A539s? They NEED to be on the car!

 

 

 

[sonscar]

Looking like a real car,can't be far off now?Steve..

[MrBounce]

Let's talk rear ends and mountings. 

 

Back in the day, when I built up the rear axle, including the radius arms, brakes and associated piping, I made 2 mistakes. The first was the hard lines from the rear cylinders. I'd put them on without any consideration to where the handbrake gubbins would attach to. So when I added the rear handbrake cables, I had to remove the incorrectly bent brake lines. More on that later. The other problem was perhaps more serious: after some investigation, I realised that the brake cylinders were the wrong bore. From a safety point of view, I figured it'd be a very good idea to replace them with the correct ones.

 

So, on Friday evening Tink came over and we set to. Of course, this was far from a simple situation, because one of the drums refused to come off. This was confusing. The drum itself was loose as the brakes were completely slackened off, but it was NOT releasing. After some "persuasion" with large hammers, it was still not playing nicely, so we took the hub off. Turns out there was some paint on the wheel studs, and this was preventing the drum from coming off. Little things can make such a difference! After some gentle paint removal, Tink went drum brake crazy and rebuilt the 2 drums with the correct cylinders, refusing any help other than being passed tools and the occasional brownie bite. Top guy. I was very pleased with this as drum brakes are not my favourite thing! 

 

I mentioned to him about my idea for the front handbrake "cable". The standard Mini cable was way too long, and although it probably could be shortened by a company, I felt that something else could be done. When I bought the car, although the handbrake lever was broken, there wasn't a front cable, but instead a bar. So I have decided to use the same idea, but improved. The bar I had was about 5 inches too short to be used, so I have extended it by the correct amount using a bit of extra bar and a bolt, so I didn't have to run a die down it to create a thread. I've yet to fit it but it looks good, and just needs a bit of paint. 

 

Whilst under the car, Tink pointed out that my rear exhaust mount (a bobbin) was knackered and cracking. I have replaced this with a rubber strap. This took some doing as the mounting fits to the bodywork in the cavity under the boot floor. There is an access hole, but it's a proper pain to reach. All I can say is thank you previous me for obtaining a tiny 1/4" ratchet which was perfect for the job! 

 

Whilst sorting this, I also decided to make a further adjustment to the exhaust and changed the centre mount. I have never been particularly happy with the one I cobbled together, so armed with the details from what a guy had done on the Midas FB page, I made a carboard template, then recreated it in the fattest bit of steel bar I had. I discovered that my drill bits are actually quite blunt, so new ones, or possibly a decent sharpener, are now on the shopping list. I fitted this with an oversized heavy duty bobbin. It's MUCH better.

Moving back to the rear brake I spent more than I probably needed fitting and bending the new brake pipes to fit. Trying to fit the connections when they are oh-so-slightly cross-threaded is a pain. After much swearing, they are now in place, and can bleeping well stay there!

 

Finally, I unearthed the final bit of suspension replacement parts that I have: a set of fully adjustable bottom arms, which will replace the fixed 1.5 degree negative camber arms currently on the car. These will be fitted in due course.

 

Tink being my drum brake hero

 

 

The handbrake bar, just before I ground down the welds

 

 

And what it looks like now, with the attachment for the handbrake lever. Needs paint!

 

 

Exhaust now has a rubber strap at the back. LOVE this photo - looks purposeful.

 

 

The reason why I changed the mount

 

 

New bracket made for centre mount. It won't break in a hurry...

 

 

And all mounted up

 

 

Brake pipe in place

 

 

And tasty new suspension parts! Ooooh!

 

 

And a moody shot of the Midas at night.

 

[MrBounce]

As I had a couple of hours, I figured I would make an attempt at making the handbrake work. The first issue I encountered was that things were out of kilter. I had foolishly mounted the handbrake by eye from one side of the car and mounted it without checking from the other side. It was not a good idea. When I pushed the handbrake bar through from under the car, the handbrake was off-centre by what looked like 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch. Not so much of an issue for a flexible cable, but the rather solid bar is more...immovable. I jumped under the car and undid the four bolts which held the handbrake lever plate in place. This would normally be a simple job, but of course one of the bolts wasn't playing ball - there was a problem with the end of the thread, and the nut would not release. Eventually, with the use of a pair of locking pliers and a power tool, they were off. Both went in the bin. 

 

I shifted the lever over to meet up with the bar, and screwed everything together. Once in place, I checked three more times, before drilling four fresh holes. Once bolted up, it was time to adjust the bar - this goes through the rear handbrake cable bracket, and is held in place by 2 locking nuts and a washer at the front of the bracket, with a second locking nut at the back. Once fitted up, I tested the handbrake. No luck. Some idiot had forgotten to take into account the slack of the cables... I re-adjusted this, and tightened everything up for a second time. After trying to move the rear wheels, I now appear to have a handbrake that works! It probably needs a little more adjustment, but I ran out of time. 

 

Finally, after some consultation with the Midas Club members, I have established which wipers I needed for the car, as it came with none when I bought it. Standard Mini "hook" arms, which can then take a 14" blade. Given that I work at a car parts place, sourcing some blades should prove no issues at all! 

One of these parts does not line up with the other...

 

 

Unbolted and lined up, before drilling new holes

 

 

All bolted up

 

 

And working!

 

 

Correct wiper arms - these can wait until the screen is in.

 

Edited by MrBounce, 21 September 2025 - 07:51 PM.

[MrBounce]

As Imgur have royally screwed over numerous threads by sticking 2 fingers up at the UK's website security rules, and not everyone uses VPNs (myself included), this thread will no longer be updated here. It's a huge shame, but I have twice been bitten by image hosting sites.

 

I much prefer to have control over my own photos; I will now be updating this thread on the Retro Rides forum only, as they allow you to upload your own photographs without going through a third party. I do not have the time to start up another image hosting site as well as update this thread. 

 

I am currently working my way through the pictures on the RR thread - I am mainly working backwards, although I have updated the first post as well. It's a massive process, as there are 30 pages to do, aplus an enormous amount of editing, cutting/pasting as well as establishing that the correct pictures are being used.

 

The link to it is here: 1981 Midas Coupe - Project Zippy. | Retro Rides

Edited by MrBounce, 26 October 2025 - 05:14 PM.

[timmy850]

Can you copy the Retro Rides image codes onto the this forum too?

[Avtovaz]

retro rides is good, my brother is a moderator there, darrenw ;)