My name is Paul.
Recentlv retired Radiographer in the NHS, former toolmaker, draughtsman & Sales engineer.
This is a blog of my pastime . I have no garage In which to build my dreams, yet. So follows is my journal of the restoration of a 33 year old MGB-GT .
hi there i have been reading your blog and its impressive. im a bit like a lost sock myself at the minute, as i have never done much with cars before. i have a 1979 mgb gt and i have stripped it down, all nterior is out the bumpers and front wings are off, full wiring harness is out and fuel tank and exhaust are off. i am after some advice on how to go restoring it in the best way. do i need to take the rear wings off?? how do i repair the A and C frames? how do i start the engine just to make sure it turns over ok? can you help me? thank you very much.
Hello Cooper, thanks for the input. To answer your questions, in order :- 1/. It depends how bad the inner rear wings are ? It is possible to repair the inners without touching the outers. I'd be surprised if yours didn't have any corrosion at the rear inner and at the top of the wing where the rear side window is. The problem here is rust is also on the inboard edge that the wing fastens to. If you can MIG weld replace the rear wing and outer half of inner wing. 2/. The A/. frame needs some careful welding but can be done as its structurally important. Just be careful removing the rust and get too carrried away. Ku-Rust from Hammerite is excellent stuff. I'm not surprised the C frame need attention as mine was awful. Thankfully most of the rust should be on the inside which is not visible. Just cut and bend metal to fit. Like doing a jigsaw where you make your owns pieces. It just needs time. 3/. As the Irish saying goes " if you want to get to there I wouldn't have started from here" Why did you remove the wiring loom ????? Unless your an expert auto electrician then your screwed a bit as nothing will work. Use a big Nut on the front of the crankshaft pulley to turn the engine over ( remove spark plugs first) If its going to be a big engine refurb whats the point knowing now ? But my guess is its better doing it since you made the vital mistake of noting any oil pressures/rough running/tappet noise before stripdown. Buy a Lindsay Porter or Haynes manual from goob ole E-bay to point you in the right direction. Its not some thing that can be done in any old order. 1/. All bodywork starting with Sills (Rockers)ONE SIDE AT A TIME 2/. Rear wings/ suspension mounts 3/. Front wings/suspension mounts 4/. Rest of body 5/. Dont get despondent, its a long haul for the bodywork 6/. Engine/ancillaries 7/. Brakes/Fuel lines 8/. Body panel alignment 9/. Interior .................simples p.s I'm on my 5th year and just finished the bodywork. 10/. Enjoy what your doing... its not rocket science or a prison sentence !
yeah sounds simple enough. haha i took the wiring harness out because it had a electrical fault on the car, and you could see that the harness had been tampered with. im an electriciain and the old mans a mechanic so im not worried about putting it back in.
how do the rear wings come off? im busy dismantling under the bonnet, i have take the master cylinder off as the metal needs repairing and the pipes are leaking.
is it worth taking the engine out completely whilst retoring the body of the car?
Hi Cooper According to the purists the engine should stay in whilst the bodywork is done. This is so the weight distribution is correct when body panels are fitted/aligned. Its a monocoque and MG's first + rust, so I would leave it in. The rear wings need to be cut below the rear seam (leaving seam in)and around B post carefully as the wing overlaps and underlaps the B post in areas. Drill out all the spotwelds around the rear light ( its very weak/delicate)same for the seam where you've revealed by cutting wing horizontally and down b post. Look back to my earlier posts and you'll see photos of all 3. So your an auto electrician..... you love Lucas electrics then ???????????HaaaaaHaaaaa. Regards Lostsock
im a proper electrician mate. easy this stuff. haha cant say im a big fan of them but havent used them yet either. so not too much work in taking them off then?
im gonna give it ago and see if i can repair the panels instead of buyin all new ones.
5 comments:
hi there i have been reading your blog and its impressive. im a bit like a lost sock myself at the minute, as i have never done much with cars before. i have a 1979 mgb gt and i have stripped it down, all nterior is out the bumpers and front wings are off, full wiring harness is out and fuel tank and exhaust are off. i am after some advice on how to go restoring it in the best way. do i need to take the rear wings off?? how do i repair the A and C frames? how do i start the engine just to make sure it turns over ok? can you help me? thank you very much.
Hello Cooper, thanks for the input.
To answer your questions, in order :-
1/. It depends how bad the inner rear wings are ?
It is possible to repair the inners without touching the outers.
I'd be surprised if yours didn't have any corrosion at the rear inner and at the top of the wing where the rear side window is.
The problem here is rust is also on the inboard edge that the wing fastens to. If you can MIG weld replace the rear wing and outer half of inner wing.
2/. The A/. frame needs some careful welding but can be done as its structurally important. Just be careful removing the rust and get too carrried away. Ku-Rust from Hammerite is excellent stuff.
I'm not surprised the C frame need attention as mine was awful. Thankfully most of the rust should be on the inside which is not visible. Just cut and bend metal to fit. Like doing a jigsaw where you make your owns pieces. It just needs time.
3/. As the Irish saying goes " if you want to get to there I wouldn't have started from here"
Why did you remove the wiring loom ????? Unless your an expert auto electrician then your screwed a bit as nothing will work. Use a big Nut on the front of the crankshaft pulley to turn the engine over ( remove spark plugs first) If its going to be a big engine refurb whats the point knowing now ? But my guess is its better doing it since you made the vital mistake of noting any oil pressures/rough running/tappet noise before stripdown.
Buy a Lindsay Porter or Haynes manual from goob ole E-bay to point you in the right direction.
Its not some thing that can be done in any old order.
1/. All bodywork starting with Sills (Rockers)ONE SIDE AT A TIME
2/. Rear wings/ suspension mounts
3/. Front wings/suspension mounts
4/. Rest of body
5/. Dont get despondent, its a long haul for the bodywork
6/. Engine/ancillaries
7/. Brakes/Fuel lines
8/. Body panel alignment
9/. Interior
.................simples
p.s I'm on my 5th year and just finished the bodywork.
10/. Enjoy what your doing... its not rocket science or a prison sentence !
hey thanks for getting back to me.
yeah sounds simple enough. haha
i took the wiring harness out because it had a electrical fault on the car, and you could see that the harness had been tampered with. im an electriciain and the old mans a mechanic so im not worried about putting it back in.
how do the rear wings come off? im busy dismantling under the bonnet, i have take the master cylinder off as the metal needs repairing and the pipes are leaking.
is it worth taking the engine out completely whilst retoring the body of the car?
the engine has not ran whilst we have had it.
thanks again
Hi Cooper
According to the purists the engine should stay in whilst the bodywork is done. This is so the weight distribution is correct when body panels are fitted/aligned. Its a monocoque and MG's first + rust, so I would leave it in.
The rear wings need to be cut below the rear seam (leaving seam in)and around B post carefully as the wing overlaps and underlaps the B post in areas. Drill out all the spotwelds around the rear light ( its very weak/delicate)same for the seam where you've revealed by cutting wing horizontally and down b post. Look back to my earlier posts and you'll see photos of all 3.
So your an auto electrician..... you love Lucas electrics then ???????????HaaaaaHaaaaa.
Regards Lostsock
im a proper electrician mate. easy this stuff. haha cant say im a big fan of them but havent used them yet either. so not too much work in taking them off then?
im gonna give it ago and see if i can repair the panels instead of buyin all new ones.
cheers keep you posted on how i get on.
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