Yeah, I'd not be in a hurry to fabricate one from scratch again

Never had to do a rear cross member yet (Just a question of time! ). I did a 300 TDi rear body crossmember a few years ago, it was a massive ball-ache. I posted a thread about it on the beige forum. IIRC it took over 100 hours and 24 different pieces of metal to grind off all the rot & replicat...

It isn't a failure as far as I'm concerned... you reminded me to empty the washing machine

fried onions wrote: ↑Thu Jul 11, 2019 1:32 pm WHY DID YOU DO A COMPRESSION TEST AND MENTION VALVE STEM SEALS?

Probably because he was misinformed by somebody, and doesn't yet have the experience to know better?

One way or the other, it doesn't really matter.

If the car wasn't expensive I'd just run it until the engine fails, then lob another (compression-tested) engine from a breakers into it. As has already been said, they are cheap & plentiful as rust usually kills MX-5s. I certainly wouldn't bother tearing the engine down to re-lap a valve or two...

Yep. Valve heads / seats are likely to be the main culprits. Possibly also piston rings, but they usually just give you reduced power at high revs rather than a noticeable drop in compression.

Oh what this also means, along with extra car storage, I'm getting really itchy feet on what to buy next. Got to be: a) working and usable (ideally MOT'd) b) British c) pre-90s, but ideally pre-80s d) under 3k Thinking Spitfire/Midget/Dolly (ideally Sprint)... I'd love Italian but I could never mee...

Fucking hell Max, have you got yet another borked autobox?

You might have to start using your left leg.

Perhaps you have a brick in the tyre?

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Completed sales on ebay would suggest around £1250 for a non-restoration project, e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MG-Midget-1500-MOT-and-TAX-exempt-/323836616667?hash=item4b662a9fdb%3Ag%3AWB0AAOSwJgpdB2Fh&nma=true&si=ubEPSEE8jyqEdowCHvw8JFsRBc4%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=n...