The year started well till the second week of Jan when a bad Chest infection struck. Not that I'd be doing much on the MG anyway, but I did have spare cash to buy stuff.
My last effort was to get the passenger door aligned with A & B post equally each side. My last thought was to weld on a strip of £2.99 3mm round steel rod bought from Wickes, and yes they now have steel, aluminium and brass stock in all shapes and sizes. I sat on this steel all through the winter months debating if I should weld it on or explore other
So I did a very Fufferfour thing............nothing !
I faffed around with the winder mechanism, mounting brackets, quarterlight and lock mechanism. All seem to be working well-ish. What was not working was the key to the lock mechanism. I did have 2 spare doors ( scrap but that's another story, as I only have one now)
So in effect I have several keys. The Ignition key. Obvious which this one is. Then four others ? None of which appear to work FFS. A quick look at the MGOC website informs me a new one set (1 Pair ) is £60 ........ I guess I'll soldier on until I really need to lock the door then. However the lovely renovated door escutcheon ( sprayed metallic silver then clear lacquered, looks very pewter colour just like the factory finish) was missing a captive plate and screw. I seem to remember I had to drill it out moons ago. Anyways, some butchering of said spare door innards gave me a plate with the correct threaded hole and screw. The escutcheon has 2 captive plates, one large and one small.
So fitted it was and then promptly ignored due to above reasoning.
After perusing that Doyen of all things ..MG John Twist : Brilliant Brummie - Hammer and Spanner : and various BBS forums I had developed a plan for the doors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU77OVfWuys SOUP - my Fave youtube watch
https://mg-cars.org.uk/cgi-bin/or17?runprog=mgbbs BBS forums......a must
http://www.mgb-stuff.org.uk/hammertext.htm Hammer & Spanner , Its got it all-Invaluable
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCFB510794339861C The Daddy of them all
This was only 3 weeks ago.
I bought a new tool !!! and a set of new Door hanger screws. An impact driver ( Manual only, as I already had a big lump hammer). It was nigh on impossible to undo or re-tighten the door hanger Posidrives as they were mangled, mostly.
The plan was to place shims behind the A post door hinges to allow the door to be slid further back.
Viola ! Before and after.
Oh thing of great beauty. I love it when a plan works. It took some graft though. I made the spacers from the winder mech innard of the scrap door, 4 per hinge, galvanised and lined up perfectly. It transpires that I had put the rear wing on, many moons ago, maybe 2 mm further back and bent the B post rearwards slightly as well as the new doorskin being slightly forward. HeyHo, done now. The door sits nicely, flat even with only an outward kink of 1/2mm at the bottom rear. Twist the door I hear you say !!....No, I tried this and suceded in unwelding the door top skin under the quarterlight.
I have several parts to fit too. Namely Front wing splash plates with screws, Complete passenger door rubber and chrome clamping strip, Quarterlight sponge washer strip and new rubber brake hoses.
I did have to remove one brake pad months ago to allow me to push the MG fwd/back on the drive as it was binding and impossible to move so I have plenty more to finish off with this burst of post covid spring sunshine.
Also a neighbour donated a very nice and new car cover. This is a real help as previously I had to remove about four large and very tatty polythene covers rescued from the woodyards skip after a delivery of vaccuum packed soft wood in 30 foot lengths.
A rant is coming in the next post, after I've calmed down a bit and got the work on-calls out of the way. I also have just found the small captive plates for the door escutcheon whilst I was searching for an odd grubscrew to repair the spare bedroom door. Happy days.
