MG Car Repair: MG Midget M III 1968 engine no GSE1106 120872 (AD)- what type ?, triumph engines, triumph spitfire

Question
I’m the proud owner of an 1968 MG Midget M III - i have a challenge identifying the engine specifications for my rebuild, the engine number stated is: gse1106e 120872 (an "AD" has been added after the number on the plate) i would be very happy if someone could tell me more about my Midget engine - thanks from Denmark.

Answer
According to my info the 68 Midget MK III should have a "12CD" prefix on the engine number and is a 1275cc Austin engine. All of the Austin engines in the Midgets from the first to the 74 had the size of the engine as the prefix for example 9CG for the 948cc eng. and 10CG & 10CC for the 1098cc eng (Called the "1100") and 12CC, CD,
CE, CJ, V for the 1275cc eng. 75 on used the 1500 Triumph Spitfire engine. All of the Triumph engines in the Spitfires had a prefix of "F".

I have found no reference to any Austin engine with a prefix of "GSE". You need to find a local MG midget or Austin car and look at the engine. They pretty much all looked alike. If your engine looks like theirs, then maybe a engine rebuilder put his own engine number tag on the engine. If it does not look like a typical Austin engine then someone may have done an engine swap with some other brand car.

If you are going to rebuild it, you need to tear it down first to order any parts anyway so then you can give me the specs and maybe I can ID it by bore, mains and rods. Also look on the side of the block for cast in names.

Howard