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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Shell cracks

Hi

Anyone encountered fatigue stress cracks in their Spridget shell? Australian poster Pirate Pete on the MkII Sprite & MkI midget Facebook Group posted this pic, and others, of cracks he has come across. Hope he does not mind me posting this here for BBS comment.

Cheers
Mike


M Wood

I guess given the cars are over 60 years old the metal gets a bit tired. They will have all gone through the old banger stage at some point when maintenance may have been minimal but probably still driven quite enthusiastically by the respective owner. Add potentially worn/seized suspension components, dodgy or oversize tyres and the odd trip through a hedge and something has to give. I had a race spridget that suffered stress cracks in similar locations. The metal simply cried enough. I ended up replacing the front rails and the triangles.
Bob Beaumont

Yes, my Sprite had cracks in similar positions to PP’s when I rebuilt it about 10 years ago. The one on the steering rack crossmember was almost exactly the same and 3 out of 4 of the wishbone mounts had long cracks. The car had just spent the last 5 years bouncing off curbs etc at hillclimbs and sprints so that probably didn’t help but I think they are fairly common in any Spridget. I just welded them all up and they appear to be fine even after another 10 years of similar rough treatment. I do check those areas regularly though!
John Payne

Front wishbone cracks, just inboard of the outer fulcrum pin are pretty common.
GuyW

Sounds like we all have probably got cracks in various places, but if we haven't stripped the shell back we don't know. Well I guess we do now. 😄😄.

Some of those cracks may have emerged many years/miles ago, and not caused any trouble. I've never found any wishbone cracks, and only found rust in my shell, but no doubt my Sprite does have shell cracks. I'm not about to go sesrching for them though.

anamnesis

I saw that post and commented it might be due to driving on un-surfaced roads which I expect are far more common in 'stralia where Pirate Pete lives.
Rob
MG Moneypit

You probably won't believe this Rob but some of our roads here are sealed now---honest---
My midget racer used to crack the triangles often and the lower wishbone mounts on the rails were an issue as well----and of course the front swaybar mounts--and the gussets from the firewall to the upper rails--and the transmission tunnel out from the gearlever hole and where it joins the rear bulkhead--and-
but just a part of regular checks
Surprises me though that I never ever cracked a front suspension arm, couldn't have been trying hard enough i guess---lol

willy

William Revit

This thread was discussed between 30/12/2022 and 02/01/2023

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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