Now the weather is better I can do some more work on the Midas. It fits in the garage but there isn’t enough room to do work on it due to the other stuff I have stored in there. Yesterday I decided to sort the dashboard out, it is currently retained by M6 nuts on the various M6 socket head bolts around the dash. I decided to replace these with captive rivnuts as getting my hands in through the radio hole was awkward to say the least and I now need some new skin to replace all the scrapes that I got. One of the nuts was an absolute pig to get at so I drilled the head off it. Like all things on a kit car nothing is easy and I ended up having to remove more than I thought. With the instruments out I decided to get rid of the battery isolation switch whilst I was at it so the bonnet came off too. I got it nearly all back together this afternoon, about another hour tomorrow and then a hoover and a wash and polish ready to use in the nice upcoming weather.

Steve at the Sleaford Mini Centre couldn’t fit the Midas in until today to look at the brakes. I took it round at 9.30 when he opened and left it with him along with the replacement servo and master cylinder. He fitted the servo and took it for a test drive and was happy with it so at 11.30 he rang me to say come and collect it and try it out. Collected it after lunch and took it for a long test drive, the brake pedal has a lot more feel to it now and even better there was no locking of the brakes. So very happy result. Off to the Newark Kit Car Show this Sunday morning and to Heckington Auto Club meeting on Sunday afternoon if the weather is reasonable (hope the forecast is wrong or the Midas will be staying in the garage).

The nice Evri lady delivered a parcel this morning containing the servo complete with master cylinder that I got from Dave at M & M Mini and Metro Spares in Warrington. It was a bit rusty and the paint was chipped in places so I treated it to a clean up with a wire brush and some emery paper and then a couple of coats of black gloss spray paint. All ready now to take to Steve on Monday.

I have managed to track down a second-hand servo and master cylinder for £60 including p&p so now waiting for them to arrive. I have the Midas booked in with Steve for Monday 17th July to fit the servo as the advice we have received is that the problem is caused by a faulty servo. If that doesn’t work we will then try the master cylinder but that will require re-making some of the brake lines as the replacement master cylinder is only 2 output rather than the 3 output that is currently on my Midas. So hopefully I will be back on the road next week in time for the Newark Show and my local car club meeting.

I took the Midas round to visit a friend in my village today and on my way back home the brakes started to lock on. I managed to get it back to Steve at the local Mini Centre. He had it for a couple of hours and found that the grommet securing the flexible vacuum pipe to the servo was split and so he replaced it and adjusted the mixture as it was now running rich. He took the master cylinder off and checked the actuating rod from the servo to ensure that was adjusted properly and he found there was no adjustment on it as there should have been. He could find nothing else wrong and so I collected it back from him. Took it for a longer test drive, again only round my village and found again that the brakes locked on. I cracked the brake lines to reduce the pressure and took it home. Steve and I are now trying to track down a new master cylinder but as mine is a 3 output one, not the more normal 2 output one, it is proving impossible to find one.

I gave Steve at the Sleaford Mini Centre a list of things to do to the Midas for me:

Today John Noble was round at 8.30am to load up the Midas and take it to Steve at Sleaford Mini Centre to sort out the head gasket, sticking brakes and other minor problems and to get it MOT’d for me. With luck I should get it back by next weekend. I also ordered a hydrolastic suspension pump from eBay as the front needs pumping up as it is too low at the moment.

Today I started to do some work on the Midas before it goes to the garage at the end of the week.

First job was to remove the towing stickers which came off without issue just leaving a little sticky residue behind. Some alcohol removed the residue. Then it was onto the number stickers. In case the paint had faded beneath the sticker I decided to remove the one from the boot lid first, reasoning that I will have to have this resprayed when I fill the holes after removing the spoiler. The sticker peeled off easily but did leave residue so it was out with the alcohol again. The same with the number stickers on the doors and the bonnet, all needed some alcohol to remove the sticky residue. I then cleaned the remainder of the residue off  with some T-Cut and then gave it a quick wax in those areas, the whole car will get a wash and wax once the work is finished.

I removed the rear spoiler and have temporarily put some black bolts in the holes. I will get some rubber grommets for now and over the winter will get them properly filled and the whole boot lid painted.

I gave the inside a quick vacuum clean and stuck some loose carpet down in the boot.

Today 24th June 2023 I collected the Midas convertible from Michael Green and had it delivered on a breakdown truck as it currently has issues which make it unsuitable for road use. Hopefully they will be sorted in the next couple of weeks and I will be able to enjoy using it in the current warm weather.

I found this original article on the building of the Midas in an old copy of WhichKit. It was a different colour with different wheels and different coloured window frames then. I don’t know when they were changed over the years. The associated article makes interesting reading as it seems that this was one of the first shells that was produced by Pastiche Cars and the build was not without issues.