Mg Midget

December 1, 2020 mgmidgetDIY
2007-04-28-1

Classic cars have been a passion for most of my life. I was obsessed with cars from very young. When I was 9 years old I would go to the local newsagent and spend my pocket money on classic and custom car magazines and I could strip down and rebuild an A-Series engine in my head long before I ever had a car.

I have owned OUM 678L since I was in university. It was not my first classic project but it has certainly been my longest!! OUM was my daily driver whilst at university and for the first couple of years afterwards. Although OUM ran fantastically the body was starting to show some real signs of wear with rust in the sills, floor pans and lots of cosmetic issues. So it felt like a good idea to fix him up and bring him screaming into the modern age.

There are many people who believe that Classic Cars should remain original and for many cars that is really important, but I do believe there is space for considered enhancements that modernise the car, making it safer and more reliable whilst keeping to the style and spirit of the original, making them more practical and enjoyable and keeping them on the road.

So I set out to rebuild OUM with this philosophy in mind. OUM went from rust bucket to classic flier that can give any modern hot hatch a run for its money!!

And it only took a couple of little enhancements !!

  • Uprated disk brakes at the front
  • Uprated suspension at the front
  • New springs at the rear with pan hard rod
  • 5-Speed Gearbox
  • K-Series 16v 1.6l engine out of a Rover 216
  • Enhanced exhaust system
  • Enhanced fuel system
  • Emerald Programmable ECU
  • Changed the knock-off spokes for mini light alloys
  • Spray job
  • hood
  • carpets
  • seats
  • and a lot of metalwork.

It was a hell of a project that ended up taking a lot longer than anticipated, but OUM was finally finished in time for my wedding in Ireland.

The following year my daughter arrived and suddenly a 2 seater classic car ceases to be the priority and so OUM ended up back in storage for nearly 10 years. But times have change and 2021 might be the year to get OUM back on the read.

From this

before

To this

after

Full Build Log

A full album of all the pictures of the build can be found here