More progress on the stripping front, the original 1275cc engine is very nearly ready to come out. All that is left is the throttle cable on the engine and the rest of the gearbox stuff like the prop shaft, gear lever and clutch linkage.

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I’ve finally started work on the Midget after what seems like ages! I started by removing the bonnet followed by the headlights and surrounding chrome so I can remove the wings. I’ve also removed some of the inner panels and found that the inner wings have a replacement panel on there which doesn’t look too bad. Here’s a pic of the car without headlights and bonnet:

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Here’s a brilliant Type 9 article that I found a couple of years ago, I can’t seem to find the original link so I hope its OK to put this on here. It looks like the article is originally from Retro Cars Magazine and it covers the Ford Type 9 gearbox in detail from identifying different versions, to overhauling it. I found it very informative. Click the image below to download the article in PDF format.

Here’s a few useful manuals that I’ve come across during my K midget research. The first is a Rover manual for overhauling the K-series which also includes the VVC engine and could prove to be very useful. The second is a manual for the Rover 200 Cooling System which covers the 8v and 16v Kseries installations. It shows the different parts and the flow of the water in the system. Click the images below to download the articles in PDF format.

I thought I’d post these scans from Practical Performance Car, May 2005 edition. The article is called ‘Modified Midgets: Faster than an Evo 0-60 in 4.6 sec’ and covers the K conversion in detail. It also has information on tuning the rest of the car to match its new found power. Click the images below to get the full scale images, and then right click and choose ‘Save Image As’ or ‘Save Picture As’ to save them to zoom in fully.

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I thought I’d post a bit about the donor car we’re using, its a 98 Rover 200 Vi. It has the 1.8 litre VVC engine that produces 143bhp as standard. At some point the bonnet had flipped up, dented the roof and smashed the windscreen! We drove it back like this from Oxford and it didn’t skip a beat. We were quite surprised by it’s performance too, needless to say my dad had a big grin on his face.

The engine is in good condition, having had 2 cambelt changes according to the history. Its done 97k which is high but should be OK. Being a VI it has the CAT2 immobiliser, and lots of other goodies which most 200s don’t have. We’re pinching the half leather seats to put in my Rover 220 Di (daily driver) and probably the leather steering wheel and vented brakes too.

Once we get all the parts from it we’ll be breaking the Vi, so if you need anything get in touch! We’re close to Peterborough if you want to collect any big items.