Back stronger !

First of all many apologies for not posting THIS YEAR  Time does fly !

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 Bodges  remedies.

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.

Gone but not forgotten

Another strange title. Let me explain. Imminently the men are coming to replace the soffits and fascias on the house, and need access to all three sides of the property. So the MG had to go. Go where I hear you ask. Alas not to a warm and dry Garage somewhere. She's moved 30 foot up the driveway onto the (sort of) garage base. I must admit its a good place as it gets lot more light. Plus it will/may motivate me to make a substantial concrete base/foundation for a real garage.This really shows up the grotty state of the original driveway and associated grime and oil from my beloved MG. A re-tarmac of the drive is a must..........eventually ( its only been 27 years of deliberating)

Anyways more of what I've been up to. I have a whole 10 days off work so, set too Sunday lunchtime to re-tackle the door alignment and window mechanism. What a fafffff. No matter what I tried the window sides always came adrift if their up/down runners. Not helped by the fact that when the window was out the channel below was well lubricated as was the pivot runners so it all moves like a well oiled whores knickers, in fact better . It slides back and forth lightly like a Fred and Ginger twostep. Not to over-egg  the story but I made two ( or maybe three) angulated brackets several year ago to replace the rusted and rotten ones at the base of the doors. I subsequently replaced the door skins but only now have started the door refit maybe 8 years later.  Anyways It turns out the bracket I had envisioned and made, was a figment of long lost obsirfucation, Imagination, superb memory, was all wrong. I had been thinking it was to be offered up and fastened one way ( even the Moss diagrams showed my clarity of thought) when in actual fact it was 90 degrees out.  I didn't realise this until I'd fitted the sidelight and screwed it tight, done some test up/downs and got an idea of the dimensions.

Yes I know its rusty as hell but I imagined fitting @ 90 degrees Clockwise. One thing I will add is  I tried using some of the miracle rust converter on it, only in GEL form. I've had it a few years. Now I know why. Its rubbish. several soaks and 2 hours later its no different. So back to the normal white  stuff that turns it bluey, a good coat of primer and paint in what ever I've got left over.

Speaking of which, since a birthday a few weeks ago I have about £100 to spend but for the life of me can't decide what to spend it on. Windscreen rubbers ? which means installing the vinyl dash top, dash + bulbs and heater pipes and controls + scary windscreen fitting !!!!

or Door rubbers and door locks. Fcku, me have you seen the cost of the door locks !!! My locks and keys are another story and complete mystery worthy of its own mini series.

I did spend near on £20 on nuts,bolts, and washers for the above brackets and it appears it was wasted as  I have all the parts, if a little rusty anyway. I now have a near on perfect derusting tool new to the stable courtesy of uncle Bri..............................Lo

Loud as Fcku and vibrates as well but damn good for making rusty nuts an stuff shiny. This as well as a liberal tin of Vaseline will help no end. Stop sniggering  there at the back !

Now for the tricky stuff !! 

No matter how I pull and push the passenger door the panel gaps are crap. Tight at the front and huge at the rear. I did fit a rear wing and door skin in the past. And yes I removed the door to fit the rear wing, and even the front wing so I guess its my own fault. But look, I did for several hours, wondering how to remedy it. The doors is adjusted as far back as it will go. The door glass is also right up to the rear edge.

The rear is about 3/4" gap, the front about 1/8" gap. The front wing can be sanded( to make the vertical seam wider) back along its vertical edge as their is a lot of filler there. But the back .........Pffffffftttt. I'm seriously thinking of adding a bent over strip of metal welded to the edge of the door and grinding near as and filling with filler.

Let me know what you think.............Please!.

Meanwhile here are some photos to show I am enjoying my playtime with the MG. Its a rarity.

No doubt more this week folks.

just a little one

Post that is !

My office for today .....with executive chair.

Since it was a lovely sunny day, I had the day (FFFFFFFFFriday !!) off and had some energy after a lie in I thought I'd uncover the MG. Normally at this time of year some water has managed to creep in and flood the boot ( trunk) area. So, I fully expected to spent most of the day drying tools mopping up wet/rusty areas and having a good tidy up and re-arrange of all the tools and car parts.

Not so. Very little water ingress. There is a lot, and I mean a lot of little /medium/ large boxes of stuff that keeps on growing. I have an internal memory bank of what these are, where they came from and what I'm going to do with them....................someday !

Its over ten years since I started the project and think that the memory banks are now showing signs of failure.

For example, today's job was to weld the wheel arch inner outer inner patch. But could I find the templates I'd made last summer. It took an hour of searching the shed, outhouse, conservatory, boxes in the car, boxes out of the car, dining room x 3. After a well deserved lunch I found them. They were in a box right opposite the kitchen door and I'd walked passed about fourteen times that morning after the initial tidy-up.

The during welding the sparks start playing up as the nozzle was getting hot/damaged. Could I find spare nozzles ..............no, not , nyet, never. I do have some but could not be found in all the usual places ( conservatory desk drawer). Neither could I find the small needle files to open up the 0.6mm nozzle hole. 

So the upshot was the welding was rubbish. Not at all how i saw it in my head or envisioned how easy it looked.

Lo......crap welding,but my welding and its done !  Its never gonna be seen as it will be under sound proofing and carpet. Beneath will be treated to a good coating of under seal too.

 I am worried about the parts still in boxes though. For example, one box contains a front RH side brake disc,pin and spring plate, another lock mechanisms with window sliders and brackets (no screws) another fuel overflow pipes and wing screws and it goes on and on. Must crack on and get bolting things on. One source of frustration is all the screws and nuts and washers. So many different sizes and types.

Anyway, I finished the rear LH light aperture and filed the hole to allow the light base to fit

And here it is fitted. Well balanced in position anyway. Next up door glass and sliders, but that's for another day soon

Has it been that long ?

In a word yes..........9 months of not very much MG wise.

So let me fill you in a little on the last 12 months.
Both twins have left home properly, one to the environs of Birmingham to live with girlfriend but work in Coventry. The other to the northerly climes of Newcastle to live with her boyfriend and work Three, YES THREE jobs. Now her boyfriend has a Radiology post in the area they are looking at houses to buy.

I also have a new job. 20 yards down the corridor in Interventional Radiology. It has different hours . Four long days of 10 hours with a random midweek day off as well as weekends. And we  have to cover on-calls, roughly 2 days per month for 12 hours ( 24 hours at weekends). Not so bad.

Theirin lies the tale though. I've been so shattered midweek that I'm often in bed for 9pm, since my day starts at 6am. I love the job though and work with a great team, its complex but less stressful with less pain to the knees.  Even though I wear mi lead tabard most of the day, have a jcloth on mi head with green jimjams its fun. These hours were only changed weeks after I started so I'll have to see how it pans out for summer weekdays working on the car.

Some time before last Christmas uncle Bri visited and left me with more tools. A fantastic bench grinder with wire brush, Bosch grinder and a jigsaw with laser guide, wow. Just need a sander now.

For now, residing in the back of the car, together with all the other stuff that won't fit in the shed.

The future plans for the  Fufferfour household are new soffits and fascias, failed window glazing replaced, house re-wire, re-decoration and if any any dosh is left, a new shed.......whahoo.

 All due to the fact the mortgage is finished soon, as is my student loan and a salary increase come April.  

Wifey even admitted she would like me to have a big shed or garage. Methinks I will build my own garage after the aforementioned stuff is done. A new Larger shed will fit at the bottom of the garden where the existing 7x5, fit to bursting, resides. A nice 8 x 10 will do nicely. I might even re-locate the 7x5 near the house temporarily till it is no longer safe or weatherproof or in the way of a garage build.

This is the current state of the MG restoration. One last welding job to do ( never say never eh ?) on the rear LH inner wheel arch. I've cut the templates using CAD ( cardboard aided design) and was going to weld  up today but am just too tired after cutting the lawns and repotting a bush for wifey. Besides, it was too windy !

Normal view of my workshop

Additional storage box which has been very handy and only cost £30 from B&Q. Wish I got two.

So what next then ? This time of year ( traditionally spring Bank Hol in a few weeks time) sees me re-organise the conservatory outhouse mess, shed mess and car mess. Basically a 2 day job of re-arranging stuff and throwing away very little after swearing this year I'll be ruthless ( I could be if Wifey wasn't hovering by my shoulder all the time inspection everything).

I'm not that far off completion........really. Now I've decided that a vinyl wrap ( £600) may be the way to go instead of a full respray ( £2500) and a full interior is not required for the m.o.t.

So after the welding to the rear arch I'll fit the window mechanisms, winders and locks. I don't know why but I have 3 locks and 2  keys, neither work. F**k me, the locks are expensive , and here's me thinking I'd fit remote central locking easy peasy, and cheap second hand. I bet the mechanisms are going to be fiddly and the window channels even worse, let alone the door and seal alignments.

Next up will be the headlights, bulbs and rear lights, the the dash and windscreens/seals which is a part I'm dreading. So if I can get all that done this year I'll be a happy Fufferfour.

I must add the impetus for the resurgence is down to me watching a lot of YouTube videos. Namely The lovely George at "SOUP" whose restoring a Range Rover ( like me outside) and a fantastic Lotus Esprit. The quality of the production and editing is brilliant. Also a mention must go to Elin Yakovs "Rusty Beauties" who restored  a Triumph GT6 and TR6. Funny guy and a wizzard.

  TREASON ALERT..........I think I want a TR6 next !!!!!!!!      ooooooooooh Matron.

Now I can get photos from my phone onto this account and now know......and more importantly wrote down, the account name and password I should be able to do this more often....hopefully !

New beardyface Fufferfour enjoying Christmas with the kids

 


More soon