A little more of all life's joys and irritations

Not much has happened so far. MG wise I've pratted around doing nothing spectacular.

Well that's not exactly true.

I did set to to fit the inner wheelarch a few weeks ago. If you remember it was a panel I needed and was one of several bought as a birthday prezzie from MGB hive.

Anyways, I did all the correct things and lined it up, marked it + 1/2 inch and cut to the desired shape. Cut away the rusty wheelarch inboard of the 1/2 line.

I then set to attaching the wing, all well and good.

I spent the next few days(nay weeks) trying to get the inner wheelarch to fit the shape of the wheel arch and align front and back.

Impossible, so I left it for a further few days.

Then one bright and sunny Saturday I attacked it with renewed vigour and enthusiasm.

Gawd............................I know why it don't fit......................its the wrong side!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I had actually been given a RH side when I needed a left. No wonder in didn't fit.

I've not told wifey yet........No need really since I can use the panel for the RH side , but all in good time.

What I have done is welded the wing around the B post seam/door and sill area.

See Below..............................

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.

One job leads to........fivethousand others !

So, the wing fits great with a regular gap around the door.

How to weld it on though.

This I must admit had scared me for months and months, In fact since I bought the car.

According to all the readings I've done it is really tricky with access very restricted or nigh on impossible. Even the wonder kid Mark Evans resorted to "Glueing" his on.

But since I now have the wing, its easy. Access is good to the door surround, the top front edge can be welded on the outside as a whacking great chrome strip covers it.

Access to the rear top edge ( Which is supposed to be Impossible) is easy.

Easy for a midget with nine foot arms. Not exactly.

By looking down the hole for the rear light all the internal seam is there to be seen and a welding torch fits in nicely. Will I still be saying that when I've actually welded it !

Spent most of the last few weekends offering up the rear wing, grinding shiney mating edges,

offering up and pondering, even more pondering and offering up.

Especially last weekend when it was all systems go for wing welding.

Bloody weather............wind, wet, dark........and that's only me.

Rain on and off every 5 minutes and gusts of wind between. So frustrating. Hence the offering up bit and pondering.

The rear inner outer wing (wheel arch) needs repair so I cut away the rust, and more rust and even more.

The boot corner where it fits to the inner and outer wheel arch has gone at its fitting point.

I'll need to fabricate a repair panel for this and rely on the wonderful Hammerite rust killer at the very rear behind the rear valance/wing join.

Look...........No rust its all gone

Next post should see the wing welded on and maybe the inner outer wing edge welded on.
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 !!

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............!!!

I've got a Fan

Yes folks, hard to believe but I got it myself after a lot of hard work.






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

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.

So, a few days later ( actually Easter Saturday 2007) I set to fitting the skin.

I must admit this worried me as I did not want to make a balls of it as a new door would be over £100 quid. After reading the fantastic Mr Porters book on how to, I did as he said.

Tapped the edge all way round a few degrees in, taking it slowly and steady. After about eight circuits of the door it was ready for the edges to be bashed down firmly using a short block of wood and keeping the doorskin side supported underneath.

Hey presto here's the result..............................

My biggest concern was how the door bottom would line up with the sill I fitted. I expected to have the same gap as the old door which was around 10mm ( 3/8")

But NO it looks good. with some taps and bangs on the hinges I'm sure Ill get a good fit.

The waist swage line is a little high according to the wing but what the hell. The wing needs extensive repair and won't fit or go back on as it came off for some reason.

Below is a shot of the wing I've moved on to repairing. The bottom half will be replaced with a new panel but the inside double wall strengtheners and mounting nuts need attention.

Also the front headlight orifice needs a new inner piece ( available for £4.40)

The rusty double wall panels have been treated with kurust already.

More soon folks ! I'm off to scoff the kids easter eggs.

Never in the field of human indifference has so much...

Well...........I did do something that lifeless Saturday afternoon.After lunch I summoned much steely resolve to keep going and get the project going.
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) !

When enthusiasm flies........part II

Yes its true, I'm almost becoming one of the fabled "unfinished Project for sale" mob.
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.

Rust......a show and tell story

The above shows a close up of the rear quarter. Mine has no rear wing attached at all. It was
cut off for some reason by the P.O ( Previous owner)
So you can clearly see the rust and flimsy edge at which the/a ( I ain't got a new wing yet) wing should be welded/glued/magically attracted/brazed/blu-tacked/gaffer taped/screwed/nuclear fusion.
I say this because I've taken council on how to fit the wing. One source says weld the part hidden by the chrome window surround from the outside, then weld the rear very difficult bit by trial and error.
Another source say send it to us and we'll do it for about £1000 per side, its very tricky you know and we are the **OC, we know best, we are smug and we'll charge you a fortune you skint and clueless little oik!
The absolute god and Mr wonderful, the saintly and sanguine Mark Evans ( and the bloke from Stoke) says glue them on and use the odd few tack welds at easy places.
Anyway........its still fairly irrelevant as I have no date or timescale to fix the wing on because..................................I don't have one !!!!!

In anticipation of this though I did set to work repairing this rusty edge. I have cut out three sections with trusty angle grinder. Made up one tricky repair section from flat sheet and welded another small part onto that. Please bear in mind I have now elected to use body filler to "shall we say".... enhance.... the appearance of the repairs.
I must stress that in no way is the structural integrity being compromised, only my delusional ideas of being a master M.I.G welder.

Next post will show my repairs of said area. Really, I did do it all myself. I must have, 'cause who else would own up to it ?

Bit short on witticisms this week. No one's fault really. I've been busy with work and college.
Kids same. Wifey also. Wintry weather and all that.

Back to Normal.....vehicle wise that is

I forgot on the last post.


The Ford Ka has gone and I have my trusty old ( brand new )Avensis back.
I was just beginning to settle for the gross inconvenience of 2 doors, no remote locking, no hands free kit, no power on hills, no CD player, no satnav.
So Thursday I made it to the repairers late on. Waited say 10 mins for the said charriot to turn up. Lo and behold up it comes all shiney and newly resaprayed and valeted.
3 mins to load up with a salesman's lot and then get in and drive home.
Bliss......sheer bliss. How large the inside is. How quiet the engine, how powerful.
How clean and nice smelling. How comfortable. Music I can hear, a heater fan I can't.
It feels good. I'm not one for knocking cars especially my fave company car was a Ford but the Ford Ka is ( for high mileage driving ) ..................Pants.

All's well that ends well.......if it ever ends !

Not much has happened lately MG wise. To be honest the weather has been rubbish and my work life has been a bit up and down to say the least.
My sales area has increased to cover at least half of the UK, the half being the eastern half including London (inner and outer) and a strange place I've never heard of called Kent.
So it looks as thought my future is secure at least for the next six months even if it means more nights away from home.
The photo shows the repairs to the base of the windscreen and A post top. This is a very complex area to repair made even more difficult by the fact that I had no idea how it should look. The side was a big hole before I started and the other door/side is even worse.
How lucky for me its covered up by the wing and windscreen rubber........ eventually.
Solved the issue of the laptop.........I've got a new one !!!!. well another one at least which was a colleagues who has now left ( Bye Keef with the lovely teef ) I have also inherited half of his sales area too. Cor blimey, talk about vultures hoverin'.
The camera issue with the faulty cable has also been solved. Wife'y and I went to the local Jessops where we bought the Nikon Camera. However neither of us could remember the Model. No problem said the smooth as silk salesman, what you want is a card reader, its the same price and has the advantage of....... blah blah blah. Sold to the clueless couple for £14.99.
But, it works and its great. Now we can organise all the things we've lost digitally somewhere.
Still desperately short of funds for the project, short of good weather at weekends,
short of patience with teenage son no 1, short of ideas, short of skill panel beating, short on love and affection..............phew!! nearly burst into emotional outpouring there.
Get back to reality man.
So, almost finished one side of the car, except door and rear wing ( which I think is on the birthday prezzie list to wifey ( She's asked where they are bought from, so lookin' good )
My time has been take up by MG dreaming. What colour should I have it resprayed.
I'm thinking maybe Carmine Red with Black interior. Or Black as is now. Trouble is Black shows up any and every imperfection. For sure I'll fit an Club spoiler. I'm even thinking of lowering the suspension ( remember its a rubber bumper model which rides 1 - 1/2" higher) and converting it to a chrome bumper model ( extra £400 quid or so )
Answers on a post card please.

Weld a go go.......and stop stop

Look folks progress..............i think
The view shows the rotten windscreen surround in the corner. The corner is a polite way ( a British Leyland polite way) of understating the rust problem and location . Its several panels, all nicely curved and spot welded in strict order rendering them virtually un-restorable.
However, not to be put off ( well I had actually for the last six months at least ) I tackled it with the usual how the hell do i do that and where do I start ?
Well after about 3 hours looking and generally doing lots of butch posturing and tidying up I made a start. It is tough. I spent all day welding in tiny bits and grinding them down.
The last job of the day was to fill in a tiny pinhole left in the outer frame where I inserted a tiny patch. So thus the stop-stop. The welding just blew holes bigger and bigger till I had to insert another patch the size of a dinner plate ( exaggeration alert.....50p size really)
Still wazzed me off though last job of the day, getting dark and cold. Cut many pieces and welded/ground down/re-welded/ground/ last little weld to fill pinhole/re-patch, mark out,cut,grind,fit/weld grind.
So in the real world the twins continue to hate each other with a vengeance. Wifey's still head down into three art assignments each weekend and day light hour midweek.
I'm confused as ever with the political and financial manoeuvring at head office in Paris and Slough. Hee Hee......how I think its funny to mention these two cities in the same sentence.
Can I remind any one who reads this who is a sales man/woman who uses the motorway frequently,don't buy or hire/lease a ford Ka
Since my Toyota Avensis is in for re-shaping the courtesy car is absolutely PANTS.
Roll on mid Feb when work things get back to almost normal.
ADDENDUM..Wifey did not buy or get a new cable for the family camera. I used my company Agfa ( which is again PANTS) but at least its USB cable works, hence the rubbish photo.
Next job is to finish off repair with yet more tiny pieces welded in and yes.......................sin of all sins I'm going to use body filler to make it all smooth.
Then move to rear of car to tackle the outer of the inner wing, then the outer wing itself.
Then believe it or not the whole of one side is complete ( Body work wise that is) except for the door and front wing which need new skin and replacement lower patch respectively.
More soon.

And Boy did it bite my arse

Greetings peeps................Have to sound cheery as I'm as pi***d off as hell.
The last post really did bite me on the a**e.
I nearly died a very flat squashy death. More of that later.
How's that for fate, Karma, bad vibes , ying yang, blasphemy or just plain tough titty.
There must be someone/thing/external joke player up/out/about playing some rather cruel and unfunny tricks with my life.
How I wish I'd not made the last post.............07 stinks.
I'm trying the same trick as the last post, irony and and a sense of belief in my own fate !!
Nothing much has happened MG wise.
Welded hole in floor near rear spring hanger.
Bought 2 tins of Grey etch primer.
Even collected MG roof section from Langley and deposited it at factory in Slough.
Its actually resting in a very rusty old garage out back of the toolroom, surrounded by
years of accumulated scrap machinery and 200 year old compressor.
The boss don't know its there yet. I'm have to tell him soon. Maybe he will guess when I sneak out of the next sales meeting at lunchtime and proceed to wield the grinder.
................................Oh whilst I remember......I was very nearly crushed to death by a HGV in the winds the other Thursday it's that 07 thing again !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes it was really that close. Here's how it happened.
As I was wendling my way from Scotland I stopped at Castleford services to re-route my way home. The winds were getting very strong and good old Sally Traffic was giving out a list as long as yer arm of roads and motorways closed. Most of them between me and home.
Off onto the A19 from the A1 south of said services and I met a long queue of stationary traffic.
The A19 at this point is actually a minor B road, but very long and straight and very exposed in flat countryside. After 30 minutes wait in long queue orange lights appeared from the distance. Two recovery trucks were attending to a HGV that had toppled over, about 300 yards ahead on my side of the road. So, to cut a long story short. they recovered the HGV ( well I say HGV, it was actually a big removals type van transporting mattresses )
The recovery truck with HGV in tow sped towards us at about 60 mph.
Then Sh***********************t It started to fall over about 10 yards in front of me.
Its back end hit the transit van in front of me, it kept falling and I ducked down and sideways.
Smash, boom, thud, thwack. It hit me on the windscreen pillar, windscreen, roof, door front & back and bootlid.
It then went on to hit the transit van behind me ( On the roof only) and came to a standstill at 45 degrees to the HGV behind that van.
Bear in mind we were all stationary waiting for the go-ahead from somewhere down the road.
I think if I'd not been between two transit vans ( hi line ones at that) 07 would have been a very very bad year for at least three more people.
I dare not tempt fate again...so I'll sign off with a note of pessimism tha......

Hold on did...... I get my sums wrong? is it odds that are bad for me ? maybe evens then ?
or are they good. Maybe at the autumnal equinox it changes expotentially ?
There job done Not called "Captain chaos" for nothing.
I'll keep hangin in there, at least till the jobs done anyway. ( go away italics....please)
I do promise to post more often though...and if said female gets her finger out even post pictures.

See yer soon............p.s keep the messages coming I need cheering up !

Happy New Year....................Its an odd one

Happy new year to all my fans and avid followers of nothing in particular.
The odd bit refers to the year number 07.
Traditionally for us ( me actually) odd number years seem to treat me better than even ones.

Before I get into this too deep.

Congratulations Hayley and Matt...........A lovely new little girl Daisy

So the year dawns bright and new, if not a little windy and wet.
Christmas was good, the house full of food and booze, family and friends, mess and arguments, indigestion and late rising, shopping and spending.
So fairly normal then.
I did get several invites to parties over the festivities which were all very good. So good in fact that i even turned one down, very near home and on a Saturday night. Wifey and daughter went though and enjoyed it immensely.
One sad note was that the rear wing never appeared as a Christmas present though.
However, a fantastic Red MG Keyfob did appear ( thanks Han) and a rather expensive looking travel bag with subtle embroidered MG logo on the side.
The MG has been rather neglected of late since the fitting of the sill section.
As you may be aware of the sill fit is not actually perfect. I think the gap is too large.
I've spent a lot of time thinking about this as a precursor to know what to do next.
Now I'm of the opinion that the door needs better alignment. Its been on and off many times and is a swine to tighten up.
The sill gap is probably 8-10 mm when it should be 3-5mm. The problem is twofold -:
The sill will not move up any higher as the A post prevents this, it and has to be welded together to give some rigidity.
The door catch at the B post seems very high as the door has to be lifted to be closed.
Not having the rear wing in position to give the B post some strength don't help.

So the upshot is I will reposition the door by dropping whole door down approx 5mm.
Re align the door catch on the B post, hopefully it will drop down enough.

This is all better done once I have a new rear wing welded in position ( Hope wifey's reading)
Before this though, the inner/outer wheel arch must be completed.
I have started this and welded the inner strengthener plate onto the end of the open ended sills. The wheel arch sections are welded on top of this to align with the outer wing wheel arch.
So, cash needed for the inner wheel arch section/s. Luckily repair panels and not the whole arch can be purchased from MGBhive/MGOC. The rear wing bit is about £57 and not £350 as first thought. .......................... I told you 07 is lucky for me.

As I started to say for me and the family odd numbered years seem to be very good. Or is it that the even number years have always been bad.
I broke my leg in 04........................................Bad
Born in 57..........................................................Good
Heart attack in 96.............................................Bad
Married in 89.....................................................Good...........( brains with tact)
Redundant in 2002............................................Bad
6 month holiday/work in USA in 2001..........Good
Twins born in 96..................................................Good at first, but 13 years later maybe bad!!

Anyway, you get the picture. 2007 good year. Hope this statement don't come back to bite me on the ar**.

Back to the resto. Yesterday I welded a small repair patch in the front wing/ bonnet gutter.
Re-welded the sill in places. Sprayed primer on all the other sill areas that were showing surface rust from welding.
Noticed the windscreen bottom/rubber gutter rust hole that's going to be a dogs d*** to cut out and repair. Looked into hole in passenger rear floor. Stood around lots and pondered.

Other breaking news is I still have to collect the roof section from a nice chap in Slough.
I turned up 3 weeks ago and for some strange reason thought it might fit into the rep mobile.
Not a hope. Not even into an estate car. So I have to borrow estate car with roof bars to transport it to works in Slough for storage/chopping up. This will be done next sales meeting early Jan. Promise Chris. Thanks for your patience.

Must concentrate on removing and storing engine/ancillary parts till cash flows.
See you all soon. P.S Wifey's not yet replaced camera cable so no pictures as yet.