The Mighty Mg Midget

So here is some fun with my new car. 1970 mg midget. 1275. 4-speed. Bright yellow.

I had to pass that damned State inspection and with a faulty rear drivers' side turn signal and and an e-brake that did nothing I figured it was time to get to getting dirty.

The bulb is easy, or should be easy assuming someone didnt strip the screw head... like they did. Once I ripped those out I found the After market Led light had actually fallen apart in there. Thank god, no Lucas wiring crash course for me. Swap the bulb to the standart 1157 (maybe 1156 I forget now) and perfect. She's back signaling again. In fact it looks brighter then the led bulb on the other side. Some things were just not meant to be on old cars. LEDs are one of them In my opinion.

Next. This brake situation. I have included some pics to clarify or confuse things.

I popped under the car with the car in first gear and the E brake down. What I found was the passenger side portion of the E brake was completely loose... off... just hanging there doing nothing... but hanging.

Upon closer inspection I found the the buckle (or whatever the two bolts screw into) had been stripped on one side making it impossible to screw the rod into it securely.

It looks fine here... but if you pull tightly it will pop right out... this makes some problems for applying the E-Brake. The post just flies right out when you pull the brake up. This photo was taken just to show how it should of been.

old broken buckle, looks like it works put pull hard enough and it pops loose.

I purchased a steel buckle from home depot since no auto parts store had one. it was slightly different but it worked perfectly. (not sure the size, I will post that when I grab the spare from my trunk).

I loosened the two bolts on the handbrake compensator unit located smack in the middle of the car right at the rear tires. Then tightened the bolts into the buckle until there was very little room left to screw. After that was tightened and secure with the bolt and cotter pin, I adjusted the handbrake compensator to the appropriate level. My hand brake now is fully engaged when it's 2/3's of the way up.

new buckle holding strong. 

I pulled it up, put it down, put the car in Neutral and rolled back... stopped it with the handbrake and then let off the handbrake to make sure it wasn't getting caught. all is good.

Thats about it. did this... and the little lady stops, signals and passed the state inspection.

Now I'm legal, which means I don't have to just put my hand out of the window and rest it over the inspection sticker... which I'm sure the police department loves.