This is a view looking forward at the A Post top. Worrying and scary.
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 .
Friday, August 03, 2007
If only I'd waited........or been a little less impatient
This is a view looking forward at the A Post top. Worrying and scary.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Go here, It's the funniest thing I've read in a long time
Its right up my street as its toilet humour( Laxatives actually) at its best.
Stick with it and read all the posts by Blu-Tone.
Its actually from a Mountain Bike message board.
One day 'Ill tell my funny story of a hospital visit. I'd have to embellish it somewhat but it would not be a patch on how Blu-Tone tells his !!!!
Link = http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/read.php?f=2&i=3145351&t=3141618#reply_3145351
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Tool trouble then rapid progress
It involved bending a section of the curved rear valance ( above the square hole) then welding in place and having a 5/10mm lip to place the flat plate onto.
The large vertical weld is where the rear valance and wing end did not meet exactly.
I placed a strip of steel approx 1" wide to the rear, bent to fit the curve and welded inplace.
I managed to fill most of the non meeting edges with weld.
The flat plate that rests in the base of the pointy thing and upto/on the rear boot corner was quite tricky. I got through lots of cardboard making the right shape template.
Still, it all went very well with no probs...............the secret to welding is grind all the things nearby shiny, get a good earth and listen to the weld..............like rapidly cooking bacon.
The only Blot on the landscape was the angle grinder dying.
Ma in Law bought it for me last x-mas from screwfix. Not a top make ( NOTE..always buy Bosch if your serious) but its been the most used tool and definitely a requirement.
However, one day it just did not switch on.
Checked the fuse....ok
Checked the kitchen socket....ok
Unpluged and removed the disc and guard...........scary stuff as this tool scares the life out of me.
Then I noticed two protrusions each side of the main body with a large screwdriver slot in the end. Removed these and the commutators sprang forth with a tiny blob of an excuse for a carbon block.......................Disaster, should I persue the probably frustrating and longwinded course of new parts through Screwfix, or should I source locally.
Anyway, since the rains was still with us I decided on local. B&Q ect, shed no light or idea on tool spares.
In fact I dont think any of the staff even knew what a motor commutator was.
Now, may I get on my high horse here. B&Q ect may be cheap, convenient and always open but there not a patch on" proper" hardware places. We have two in my town.
One just like"open all hours" for hardware only. Its amazing. Ask one of the elderly staff for a lock and they will have it all, and explain about 2,3 and 5 lever mortices, ease of installation and price and insurance complications and reliability. Same goes for aluminium ladders, parrafin,
Chicken wire, hinges, wheelbarrows, hammers, bolts and screws + trillions of other stuff.
All served by people friendly and happy and willing to talk and dressed in regulation stores issue Brown smock. Thats just one place.
The other place is for things electrical/electronic.These guys know it all, have it all, but are on a slightly different planet. It scares me a little.
So in I waltz with one mangled commutator. Have you got one of these ?
No, but we have on similar that you can "modify"
Well, for £2.30 why not.
Thats when the probs started. The carbon block was too large so I filed it with my swiss file, on the worktop in the kitchen.......................Big mistake, the dust is immoveable and gets everywhere. Wifey not happy.
Moved outside to workmate and rushing due to fact that imminent heavy storm due.
Still difficult to insert and remove carbon block. Then cover screw would not screw in totally.
Snipped spring shorter. Still no joy. Bent copper ends from carbon block/copper wire in several shapes, still no joy. However, shaking said grinder did momentarily show some life.
Anyways, to cut a long story short I buggered one and re-used the old one which was OK and fiddled the other eventually after lots of shaking and "gentle taps on the plastic retaining screw".
It now works...................thank **ck for that. It was almost touch and go between throwing it away and being electricuted in the rain outside.
Now we've had some respite in the rain the progress above has been made and not a small amount of filling and sanding.
Look......................................rapid progress.
Hours of sanding the rear lower valance applied by the previous owner left no nasty horror sories. Only a 50p sized hole in the very centre of the R/H crossmember end. Easily remedied by some fancy shaping of a 1mm thick steel and good welding/ filling skills.
Even after a good coat of primer some low spots were evident, so another round of filling and sanding. I must say this is very ffffrustrating. The different grades a sandpaper, sanding block, dust, mess, armache and annoyance that a pristine shape don't emerge.
So I moved onto removing the complete exhaust. Easy enough on the length of the car.
Easy enough on five of the six nuts under the manifold although three were a bit fiddly.
The six'th (NOT SIKTH, which is how annoying people pronounce it) however seems impossible to get to. The shaft of the ratchet extension is too thick, the engine base/sump flange won't allow the the socket to sit on fully since the extension is not perfectly vertical.
So a point to ponder on whilst the wifey tries to fill my head with DIY projects and things to do of a summer day in the garden.
More soon folks......................oh by the way visit Ricks site.........He's got more money and tools than me and is making a real good job of it.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
A different corner
Since the car is being converted to chrome bumpers I have to add the RH side pointy thing at the base of the lights. This is another item I purchased NEW from MGB Hive a few months ago on a rare spending spree. I actually comes complete, so I just chopped off half.
I have to add a couple of patches to base of rear valance where its welded to inner boot tray .
The fiddly bit is the horizontal section inside the pointy thing and up to the valance.
Mine has completely rusted away under the gauze and deep body filler that was there.
Still, I'm becoming quite accomplished at cutting cardboard templates, jigsawing sheet steel, grinding and welding. Thats for the coming weekend if we have no rain or something that resembles summer.
Must stop complaining though,as last year when it was red hot ( ah.. a distant memory) I couldn't be bothered to make a start on cutting, welding and grinding.
Just to keep it interesting here's another photo of the rear end. Note the lower valance, completely covered in filler by the previous owner. Had a little poke around and spotted rust at the bumper mounting holes. So, maybe I need to sand all this off before starting the above. If its bad news though that means a complete rear lower valance at £80 quid, ouch !
That reminds me. Since I,m over 18 months into the project I decided to have a review of the most useful tools to date. This is prompted by the fact that when I started I had absolutely no tools. In fact it never occurred to me that I would need Imperial sockets and spanners
Well it did really occur, since I'd worn out at least one toilet seat reading all things MG.
So here's the list, in order of usefulness for restoring old BL cars on a budget :-
1/. Trim tool remover.
Its a cross between a narrow paint scraper and a wide screwdriver. I got it for free as a print sample during a customer visit. I use it all the time for a/. Poking rusty holes, b/. separating spot welds, c/. smoothing bubbly paintwork, d/. removing underseal and rubberised gooey stuff, e/. prising panels and stuck down trim bits, f/. Phillips and standard screw removal. g/.wrapping J cloth round to clean inside light lenses and various parts.
2/. Penetrating Oil
As a matter of habit and long standing ritual I spray every nut and bolt I can see regardless of when I'm working on them or not. This is done at least every 2 weeks.
3/. Trolley jack
The cars been up/down so many times in so many places this has proven invaluable together with the axle stands. Remember I have no garage to work in so positioning the car for long periods is important.
4/. Electric 4-1/2" Hand Grinder
Scary tool to use. Very noisy. Needs love and attention and several types of discs. The Flappey layered one has been good but also the thin slicing disc is just as valuable. Good for heavy steel removal, light polishing of steel, de-rusting and shaping steel.
5/. Hammerite Ku-Rust
When panels are inaccessible and too awkward to remove/replace or just covered in surface rust, just paint it on and it does its stuff. I use it loads.
6/. Heavy Aluminium faced hammer. Nuff said.
7/. Quality Imperial socket set.
See earlier posts for my folly at cheap and cheerful
8/. The wonderful Mr Porter and his MG restoration guide, closely followed by the DVD of the wonderful Mr Mark Evans "Is born" series of MG restoration.
9/. E-bay My main source of tools and parts, especially the MIG welder.
10/. Time and money.....................unfortunately I have very little of either.
More next week folks,
Sunday, July 08, 2007
How good it is to see it looking like a car again........Its given me a real sense of achievement.
Next session should see the door hung, sort of, maybe finally or time to reconsider the phillips screws again, maybe leave them.
Wing fixed with all new shiney screws and bolts.
Sill finished ( still some slight filler spots to add to get nice even gaps) and to wing too, suffering collateral damage from being removed and trial fitted too may times.
Then weld rear wing and turn attention to rear of car..........Yes a new chapter, hopefully.
Friday, July 06, 2007
Its a little damp outside dear
The last two weekends, nay weeks, has seen torrents of rain fall, all day,all night and in between. During last Mondays deluge a quick glance at the MG and its forlorn flapping blue poly cover saw lots of rain get inside. Mid-day off to B&Q to get a new Poly cover( in the pouring rain) .
My present cover has a hole where the roof section has an ariel base protuding.
Despite having the clever idea of wedging an old tennis ball on it, the constant removing and tie-ing down has made it as firm as a vicars handshake. Not to mention the elastic bungee cords frayed to within an inch of their life. In fact on Sunday the poor old MG spent the evening till Mon Morn with the cover hiding between the fence and the driveway gate.
Fortunately I got the last blue Poly sheet at B&Q and cheap it was too (£ 3.99) .
The trouble was thought.................................Its Huge !!!!
3 metres x 4 metres. Seemed OK when I bought it. But try covering a car with it in the pouring rain, using frayed and limp bungee cords and a howling wind.
I ended up using about 70 metres of string, over, under, around, between, up and round the MG. It looked like a drunkard had tried to wrap up a Holly bush there was so much Blue poly cover. However, it made it water proof ready for the onslaught or rain we had, er........still having actually.
Prior to thison Saturday, I did remove the front wing several times to try and get a good fit between the curvy scuttle base and wing top edge............ Impossible............!!!!
In desperation I fixed the front wing with the 5/16th UNF bolt nearest the said position.
Then added filler to the join and bead ( I previously welded the bead to the wing)
So my thinking was if the join was rubbish( uneven with gaps) bolt them together, add filler, let dry, remove wing , sand to perfection and re-fit wing nicely.
WRONG
On removing wing all the filler broke off, some filler stuck to inside of wing beading and some filler was well just ..........crap.
ABANDONED...................................time for a re-think.
It needs all its bolts and holes in wing ready and clean so it can be clamped tightly, then re assess.
So, on a trip to the far SE corner of our wind and rain swept counrty I diverted via Cambridgeshire to the MGOC.
I actually bought some new ( YES NEW ) stuff, a wing fitting kit containing all the correct screws , washers and bolts. Nice and shiney.............Lovely, and only £ 6.25 !
Also got the 5/15th UNF Nut which I had to gring off the wing when refurbing it and another nut 1/4 UNF which has a sheared bolt in it on the wing.
Whilst there I also bought the headlight re-enforcing panel. This part took the best part of a whole day to remove from the wing as it was rusty and deep inside the wing.
So...............................My plan is simple.
Fit both new nuts by mig welding them in place.
How to remove the existing nuts with broken bolts in is another story.
Then fit the wing with all the bolts and nuts. To assist matters I even bought a 5/16 UNF tap.
Please dont faint, its not new. It was £1.99 + 99p p&P on..........yes you've guessed good old E-bay.
So when the rain and wind stops I'll get busy. Oh and do the sanding of the B post too.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
A little more of all life's joys and irritations
I know the gap between the sill and b post base is a little large, but, well there really is no answer. When taking off the old sill the gap was even larger, I remember distinctly seeing all the lead loading ( Yes Lead Loading) running away as I ground through it. So It must have been made that way at good old Abingdon ( Swindon actually is where the bodies were assembled)
The front wing gap at the same spot is also same size.............WE really did know how to build cars, eh !
The gap is now full of the dreaded filler ( No I,m not going to spend several months learning how to lead load) and its waiting to dry as I write this.
I did go a bit mad with the filler and covered several spot weld and the rear wing top beading seam. So next post will be all about sanding filler........maybe.
Monday, May 21, 2007
One job leads to........fivethousand others !
The title e.g five thousand other jobs refers to the chopping down of the whole inner outer wheel arch panel purchased. The cutting/ shaping of above wheel arch edge, removing boot tray rust and having to remove a small portion of the inner wheel arch. All this means extra work fabricating, cutting, bending, shaping, clamping and welding. The remnants of the new outer wheel arch ( about 70%) will do for the inner arch repair ( I hope)
Not much fun and frolics away from the MG. Works been very busy with me visiting strange places like Hampshire, Kent and Guildford as well as Teeside, Borders Reigon and Hull.
France and Switzerland are also in there too, as well as too many nights away from loved ones.
Maybe next post will be on the problems of having teenage twins, since they, but one in particular is morphing into Harry Enfields "Kevin" before my very eyes. Cheeky bugger even says I'm turning into Harry Enfields dad !
An neither will help with the car !!...........................Wifey's up to her armpits in Plaster for her final Piece for Arts College......I've been plastered about four times, Ma in law at least three, sister in law twice........all in a good cause.
I must explain. She's taking moulds of our hands and arms. I've also had my face done and it has to be done again this weekend...It cracked, how funny ...............Hope it rains !!
Monday, May 07, 2007
It's not so bad after all
Another fruitful session on the MG after a rather frustrating 3 weeks of staring, pondering and musing. The weather has been great but alas not the finances or work. I've been travelling the length and breadth of our fair Isle with a very busy and demanding work schedule plus no cash to impart onto the project. Added to which the demands of family life and their finances have taken priority, all on Ideal sunny days on which to work on said project, but c'est la vie, as the French say.
Happy birthday Fufferfour...............I'm now 50...yes five ohhh. Still feel like a 29 year old though perhaps with 21 years of experience. Some would argue with that and I'm not one to cause an argument........least yet whilst I know where my bread is buttered !!
The MG has had some giant strides of late ( only the last two days actually)
On my birthday I took the day off and sallied forth with wifey to the MGB Hive to buy new panels...................Oh joy of joys. A proper garage/business who it is apparent are very dedicated to ensuring your pride and joy is catered for. All with a free cuppa and friendly service too. Even rounded down the sum total of new rear wing, new inner outer wing, 1 mtr of wing beading, front wing repair section and rear light bump Plus a free beaker !!!! Fitted repair section to front wing easy peasy. The MGB Hive even let me "joggle" the panel whilst waiting so that made it much easier.
Depression only set in when I came to cut the rusty section from my front wing with the scary grinder with cutting disc inserted. All went well for two thirds of the way from front to near the back, then clouds of white dust billowed forth .
Yes you've guessed it, the rear portion of the wing was full of filler. How much filler though ?
Bloody lots........and lots ...........and lots. There must have been one eight of an inch covering up one hell of a depression. Funny that it was not visible from the inside though.
So welded on new bottom half repair panel leaving only slight kink in shape of curve of wing near door gap. Remedied this with expertly applied filler.
God................aint sandin filler borin ( best Yorkshire dialect.....I am from Sheffield !!)
Anyways, after what seemed like an eternity it looked good and fitted a treat with good gaps etc. Even ventured into bowels of shed to find wing retaining bolts.......this took approx 70 mins as most of the contents had to be removed then replaced to much sweat and cursing.
The net result is the wing fits almost perfect, the door has the quarter light fixed, sort off to aid alignment and some gentle persuasion of the bolts for the wing should see it all tickety boo.
Here it is in all its glory. The rear wing has been added for show as a giant ego boost fro me.
The car was bought with it missing so to see one propped up there is a major boost, even though its only duck tape keeping it attached . It looks wonderful and a real sign of progress.
I'm really looking forward to attaching the rear wing and inner /outer wing.
Please take note though...........when welding be sure that the panels are perfectly aligned.
Otherwise adding and sanding filler is messy, dirty and very very boring.
More soon............!!!
Friday, April 20, 2007
I've got a Fan
The fan is actually the heater fan removed from the MG with no little effort, lots of sweat and pondering and probably even more swearing.
For once I didn't read the the MG bible by Mr Porter. I read another publication I bought on E-Bay for a fiver. It's very good, don't get me wrong. But removing the heater is a dirty job so I popped indoors and got said book because its a little grimy ( For our colonial cousins read dirty)
Read instructions and away I went. Some inventive blows with the hammer onto the large screwdriver in turn resting on Phillips screws very rusty, managed to free them without loss or damage. Removed two hoses connected to front of heater, easy peasy.
Should be free to be lifted up and forward, perhaps with some gentle persuasion.
Grrr......
puff.......
pant......
ouch !..( screwdriver slipped)
wrestle...
rock........
Time for a re-think. The bloody little thing would not budge.
Looked under dashboard to see if any pipes are connected......No, not much is actually connected dash-wise anyway after its removal and a few heater pipes last year.
Pokes around into where base of heater feeds to....nothing.
Back to wrestling then, but re-positioned to LH side of car.
Slowly some movement but then static and unmovable.
Grrrrr
Reads book again
Wrestles again.............more Grrr
Looks at mess under dashboard again.
Re-reads book......................................Ooooops "REMEMBER TO DISCONNECT THE HEATER CONTROL WIRE AT THE DASHBOARD CONTROL LEVER"
Yes it said it there right in the first paragraph. How can you not understand that !!! doh!!
So here is a picture to prove it.
There on the transmission top was a rather rusty and forlorn device dangling like an ignored heater control lever. Two small nuts undone and away it came from the brake cable type wire and sheath. Round to the heater box, a few wiggles and plop. Out it came.
Well bugger me, it was the wire holding it in all the time. Don't let that fool you though.
Apparently they are quite difficult to remove, and even harder to put back with nice new fat and not very spongy foam seals. The heater don't look too bad. It would never have worked though. The large flap at the base of the fan, which directs air down to the four internal pipes/vents was rusted shut and stuck with manky foam. The bracket that the wire attaches to on the flap had also parted company with the flap so not all was in vain. The rest of the heater looks in good nick. It just needs a good clean and new seals/foams. The wonderful MGOC offers uprated heater matrix and larger fan as the heater on the MG is not the best. In fact our American friends think its the heater from hell. Hey-ho, you have global warming now.
I'm tough though and can stand a little cool air in winter. ...................Ha. Not true. I cant afford or won't spend the money, on what I see as a pretty pointless mod.
Here is a view of the base of the heater box.
Great Innit !
Next few week should see some major strides in bodywork additions. Wifeys allowing me loadsOmoney to spend as a birthday prezzie. New L front wing base repair section, new L rear wing complete, repair panels for inner outer wing. Hope it don't rain then as we've not seen any for a few weeks..yippeeeee.
Sods law though. I've got no money so not much work has been done.
I'll be 50 next post.................almost one of Wogans T.O.G's
see you all soon
Sunday, April 08, 2007
things went to plan......about bloody time !
Well look left, some progress to show and it ain't half bad.
The doorskin bought on E-bay looks great and was fitted by me, myself all alone and with no help, no disasters or dodgy happenings. Twin No 1 did hold the door whilst I hammered down the curvy bits near the top, however he got bored after approx 15 seconds so spent at least 3 minutes arguing with recalcitrant teenager on father/son bonding issues.
However, back to the progress, this is how it happened.......all according to plan, almost.
Once said doorskin had been purchased I set to work removing old doorskin by grinding the edges on three sides ( Most of the top is open to accommodate the window)
I had done this before last summer remember when practicing on a scrap door ( again bought on E-bay, this time I was conned somewhat as it was beyond repair, under the filler was new panels welded directly on top of the old rusty ones)
The old skin came away fairly easily since there was rust around all three sides. The front corner was probably the worse with nothing their at all.
So, some skill, logic and experience came to the fore. Most of the lips of the door, but not all, were rusty so needed replacing. Thus at strategic points I left parts of the lip in tact and welded on new lips. This was tricky in itself as I kept blowing holes when welding next to the remaining lips as it was so rusty. But with time and patience I managed to get a full ( almost) lip with only about 3 cm total ( 1" for non metricated) missing in two places. Used a excellent product called "Kurust" from Hammerite on the remainder of the lip and inside door bottom.
This stuff looks like milk but dries quickly to a dark Blue/Black and stops rust dead.
I think I'll need a lot of this. I literally poured it into the windscreen pillar base and on the rear window surrounds till I get chance to repair them.
Anyway, after it has dried a liberal coat of red-lead ( another Hammerite product) all over lips, inside door frame, outside door frame and inside of doorskin, we were ready to fit the skin.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Never in the field of human indifference has so much...
That's despite feeling tired and a little snuffly.
So, out with the mig and rest of tackle from MG bootspace.
Cutting cardboard templates, jigsaw buzzing, grinder scary grinding, clamps, drilling holes and finally welding. Hey,....it looks OK. My weldings getting better.
The end part of the sill needed closing in the rear wheel arch looking forward.
I've been putting it off for ages but now with mammoth effort and not a little skill..its DONE.
So just to prove it and the attempt at the rear wing attaching edge from last time
See below.............................
The left hand photo shows the cover plate welded over the sill end plate. Just like the perfect Mr Evans showed us. Even "puddle welded" onto the correct vertical flaps too.
The right hand photo probably looks worse that it actually is since I took the photo in the dark.
I think I said a few posts ago I'm resorting to using .................body filler......sin of sins
A few ( bugger, the formatting won't remove...please excuse the font and colour)
deft whacks with the planishing hammer and It'll be perfik.
I did suffer later on in the day a it was apparent I was suffering from a stonking cold so I laid low for a few hours. Addendum. lying alert. I did have the Mon and Tues off work due to sneezing and severe "man Flu".
Did manage to purchase a brand new door skin on good ole E-bay though, and quite near by.
Collected it last night and its loverly.......little things and all that smirks the wifey.
Had a good look at the sellers MG and its spurred me on a little. Thanks Andy.
Please don't laugh too much when you see my repairs......yours looks perfect .
So, since wifey's away again this weekend and if the weathers OK looks like I'll be repairing the door and fitting the door skin.............maybe.
Oh for the wings,........the wings of a ( MGB GT 1977 Passenger side rear) !
Saturday, March 24, 2007
When enthusiasm flies........part II
The sad delusional mid life crisis type of bloke who thinks ***k it ! ,I don't need this aggro in my time of life.
After a long hard week on the road and more than one hotel I went to bed Friday night full of anticipation for the day ahead. Wifey was going out early off to London with her arty farty college chums, both kids had plans away from the house most of the day, so no ferrying around to do.
So, up early Saturday morning. Lovely cooked b'fast of cheesey beans, bacon and eggs and toast. Tidy up kitchen, fetch papers and chivvy kids into action.
It was only then I noticed the weather. Not raining for once, not even howling a gale windy so outside I went to remove the cover.
Brrrrrrrrrr its a little colder than it looks and with several icy gusts.
Looked at the rear sill/ inner/outer wheel arch that needs a finishing plate welding on to make the job complete.
Then It hit me............I just can't be bothered. Jigsaw cutting, hole drilling, grinding, fettling and welding....................................Its not quite mid-day so as a diversion I wrote this post in a fit of indifference. I guess I'm feeling rather tired from the travelling all week. Cambridge, Brighton, Havant, Portsmouth, Slough, Mansfield. Plus college piles on homework in a last ditch attempt to make sure they have been teaching us the correct topics at the correct level all year.
Not even a full Saturday of footy since England are playing Israel in the Euro qualifier.
So my moods rather depressed today.
Never mind, I'll do what I always do in a situation like this, .............nothing.
OK maybe I'll edit all the typos on the other posts then.
Hope the weather improves for tomorrow though.