Well, another skill in my new bag of tricks. I was able to begin the process of “blasting” off the crude and rust from the inner rocker panels in preparation for repair and replacement. Even with this nifty hood thing this stuff gets “everywhere”, and I mean “everywhere”…
However, it works like a champ and really gets right down to the nice clean steel.
Before and After
Next up, Welding 101…
One of the items that I needed to check before pulling the “tub” off the chassis was the sills under the rocker covers along each side of the car. These basically hold the front of the car to the rear. Everyone online was indicating that I needed to check this even if the silts looked good on each end. I was skeptical since the ends looked great and to do this I needed to drill out all the spot welds. Since the rocker covers needed replacing anyway I decided that caution was the better part of valor and I *really* didn't want to end up with a MG sandwich when I wend to lift off the body. Once I had all the spot welds drilled out I was shocked at what I found…
On the outside
On the inside…
So its full stop on lifting the body until I get these sills replaced…
Time to learn some welding skills…
The disassembly project is moving right along. I am just a few steps away from lifting the body off the frame and pulling the engine out for rehab. This will expose the underside and require the next phase of disassembly, the suspension, drive train, and front end elements. So far so good. It looks like a mess but the whole thing will soon be sandblasted down to shiny steel and a fresh coat of primer will be applied.
Fender panels ready for sand blasting…
Engine lift outside the shed ready for use… BIG thanks to my friend Ken for helping me drag it home and to Pete for letting me borrow it for a bit…
Dragged the old trailer out yesterday to get ready to transport the body section and the engine…
The folks at the Las Vegas Crime Lab would be proud. Everything is bagged and tagged.! This is probably another reason engineers don't take apart cars….
Hi Everyone
Well, it has begun. I have decided to take the car all the way down to the frame and restore it from the bottom up. This decision was not arrived at lightly as I may end up with a whole pile of parts and nothing to show for it. The internet is littered with “project cars” for sale. However, I do have the memory of how fun it was to drive around in this fall driving me forward. I would *love* to have it back on the road come spring but I don’t know if that is a pipe dream or not. There is some body work to do and of course the painting….
So far the “garage in a box” is holding up well. I have a small heater out there and after about 15 min it takes the bit off. Now, it hasn't been “really” cold yet so the jury is still out on how this will work in a few months time. I do have the basement for smaller rebuild projects so I have that to fall back on as well.
These pictures are from about two weeks ago. Last weekend I removed left from panel, the bonnet, windshield, and most of the stuff from the heater shelf. Then I tackled the dash and all the instruments. I was able to get all that stuff removed in pretty short order. This weekend I hope to finish off the front and start moving backwards… More pictures to follow.
With fall arriving I have decided that last weekend was going to be my last in the MG for a bit. Its getting rather cold and we enjoyed a nice long drive around town… We both agree it wouldn't have been half as fun if we thought that this would be our last drive for the year. It was just one of those perfect fall days and we drove the back roads amongst the ongoing cranberry harvest.
Above is the new home for the MG for the winter. Its not a proper garage but you can beat this with a stick for a couple hundred bucks. We put it together in just one weekend and its quite cozy. Also above you will see the nice, shiny, new grill that I just recently put on, and now will pull off. Also note in the lower left corner a proper inspection sticker!
So no now it begins. I have been taking the MG around for some input on body work and paint. I have learned a lot, mostly that I have much to learn.
So I have decided to pull the body off the frame and do a proper restoration. This will fix the odd spots I have in the body panel alignment as well as allow me to some of the parts underneath easier. The plan will be to sand and prime the body sections down and get them ready for the paint booth.
Since I have a few months before I will want to drive it again I should be well motivated to get her back together before spring.
First job is to get some HD shelves to hold all the stuff as I take it apart. They say this is where most projects come off the rails so I am pretty nervous about it. My thinking it to get the bumpers off and start taking apart the engine components that connect to the shell.
It just so disappointing because she it running so nicely right now… Oh well, here we go.
OK, I am officially hooked. I joined the Cape Code British Car Club and have attending two meetings so far. I love it!
Everyone has been very friendly and we attended their British Legends Weekend car show down in Falmouth last weekend. We saw some fantastic looking MGA’s and it got us even more motivated to start the body work on ours.
I want to give a special shout out to my new friend Paul Hinchcliffe and his 1960 MGA. Paul manages the website for the club and was kind enough to stop by the house and take a look at my MG. He drove over in his A, “MacBeth”, and it was the first one I had seen all put back together in person and it looks awesome.
So… now all we need is a name…
Hi Everyone
Well life has been quite busy lately… But all is well on the MGA front. I will post more on my recent success but the MGA is up and running and even has a proper inspection sticker!
