Busy Busy Busy.............!

Even more so since typing this last night I somehow managed to delete the whole post. Anyways, let me fill you in since the last post.

The front windscreen trim strip is in. Yay . After the long long faff of fitting the tailgate trim strip ( 3 days of cursing and swearing then leaving the last 14" dangling free) I set too fitting the front one starting mid lower screen and working towards the drivers side ( Right hand side ).

But this time I fitted it the correct way up with the pointy edge down into the groove. These are the tools used. A careful note is don't go mad with the fairy liquid. I found it better to smear a small amount on the underside of the strip about 2 to 3 inches ahead of the fitting.

It took about 90 minutes to fit 10 inches. The angled ring spanner mentioned in earlier post was rubbish. 

I even made a trim insertion tool from a thick wire coathanger, this too was rubbish. But probably I was too impatient and wanted to crack on. I left it at that for the day as the palm of my hand was killing me from the pushing and finagling. The technique was to push the top edge ( the inside edge) in, hold it, then lever the lower outside edge into the thin flimsy lip.

The following day I had inspiration. I used a mole grip to hold the trim tool and changed technique. 

This time I fitted the lower outside delicate edge first and finagled and levered and pressed the middle domed part into the upper lip, levering as I went along. I got the bottom and RH vertical part in in about 60 minutes. I got the remainder done in about another 30 minutes, getting better as I went along.

So the question remains should I remove the rear trim strip and put it the corrwct way up ? Yes I will but not for a while though.

Next up was the front lights. All cleaned up and various nuts and adjusters and bulbs arrived from MGOC.

The wiring though ! That wiring, previous owner/s dodgy wiring and some illogical and puzzling switches. Firstly I had to make two good headlight bowls from two slightly corroded ones and a completely rotten one caked in 50 year old underseal.

What needed replacing was about two inches of outer rim on each plus the spring tabs at the bottom. 

So after some cutting, welding and filing job done.

As a side note I fitted the dash weeks earlier, mostly, but struggled to tighten one nut on the left side. Twas then I noticed I was stripping the threaded stud poking out from the scuttle. It was not the correct nut. So I did what I normally do when faced with a conundrum and a mountain of other work to do, I ignored it.

As another side note, the wifeys car failed its mot due to rear shocks and rust in sills front left and right rear. Job done in 3 days with much welding and only a minimum of filler. Saved £ 300 I/ we didn't have so alls well and wifey joyous.

Here is the finished Left headlight showing the chrome surround spring fabricated and fixed. It took hours to make. They are only pence to buy but that was not the point, I enjoyed the process and got to work in the new shed.

Now to make sence of the wiring in the grill aperture and switches at dashboard. F@&+ me what a mess !

I had to do a lit of continuity tests with lots of cleaning and puzzling just to understand it all. Then I had to  work out the switching. It might seem odd to say but I didn't really know how to turn the lights on and what were the sidelight switches. Anyway after a lot of staring at the wiring diagrams, staring at switches and the dash loom I eventually realised there was a headlight switch residing in the box reserved for the headlight refurb.

Sadly I didn't take any photos of the wiring before I commenced as I think I was too absorbed in sorting it out.

 Power was flowing to both headlights  then not, then to one sidelight but not the other, then not at all. The headlight switch is mounted to the steering column binnacle, in my case just dangling down into the footwell. For some reason there was an extra  8 inches of wiring going to the switch ending in a triangular type connector one end ( with just 3 wires, all red) to the dreaded terminal block the other. 

After lots and lots of staring at the WD and staring at the wiring loom switch I finally figured it out.

The switch was wired wrong. Anyways I noted how wrong it was ( just in case) and rewired correctly.

Hey ho !  Headlight main beam, sidelight both sides. Then not, then the other, pppppfffftttt!

It turns out that in the grillë recess, several single bullet connectors had no inside inside the hard rubber outer covering thing. They were just pushed in from each side and hope they were touching. A bit of soldering, spade terminal crimping and done. TFFT !!

But.................on testing for some reason the drivers headlight is not on under one condition ( position ) of either the switch itself or the right column stalk position. That's for another day though.

Next up was the rear lights. The wiring was easy to follow and all there except for a few extra wires relating to the heated rear window, plus extra ones not connected to anything, all black or white.

The rear light pods I have had for years and are the correct type for pre rubber bumper cars, a little pitted but otherwise good. Cleaned, bulbs in and foam gaskets purchased and special nuts found so ready to go.

But no................... look at that boot floor. It's typical one job leads to another.

When I purchased the car the boot floor was immaculate. It looked brand new. Alas years of rear window missing, tools and stuff constantly in and out, weather and general time has taken its toll. The car was originally white but thoroughly sprayed black early on in its life. 

So I decided to spruce it up before fitting the rear lights. A good Vac, clean with white spirit, areas treated with Ku-rust and applying seal sealer to inner wheel arches and a quick spray with Matt black 

Lo..............it looks good and much better. It needs another coat though, but I had run out of  spray.

Next up is to buy a new pair of front indicator units. I have a pair given to me when I bought the front chrome bumper. The guy gave me a box of misc lights and things, hence why I have 3 headlights, four  reversing light lens's, three headlight bowls. They were all a bit cruddy but at the time I already knew I was converting to CB so I gratefully accepted them and left them in the shed for about 8 years untouched.

Sadly one indicator body is beyond redemption and rusted throughout. The other is not much better. Strangely enough it's as expensive to buy just the body as the complete unit with wiring. 

That's next months purchase though so I might as well get on with the boot floor painting, rear corner boot/ wing inner area and continuity check the rear lights along with a myriad of other jobs.

My minds now made up to make it a rolling restoration and get it to a point to pass an mot. 

Either way some real progress has been make and I'm determined to crack on until winter so I can save up for the interior. 

More soon, I promise.

 

More rubber struggles despite the pain - 2

 So I left off last time explaining how an offset ring spanner was good for forcing the rubber apart and the trip strip in. No, its not easy. The trim strip twists and turns, pops out and back in again. Refuses to go into place and some places goes in rather easily. 

I must admit using washing up liquid did not help. Yes it helps things slide in easily, it also helps them slide out easier too.

So a week later I was ready to try the front screen, which I was dreading. Again this was in the loft so a very tentative lowering down of the aluminium ladder armed with glass was done ok, with a little helpm from wifey.

Spent a long time cleaning the glass and getting the old "glue" and silicone type stuff from the outside edge.

The fitting of the rubber around the steel lip of the windscreen was not so bad as the last effort on the rear. Ah, the bliss of experience. The same problem of too much rubber length in the middle of the screen top edge still presented but I expected this.

Lo

Also in view is the dash top Glued in position. I must admit before I glued it in place it looked presetable. Now after a week or so of housebricks weighing it down it does not look as good. Also one of thr vent slots has snirped rightb up. I know the steel vent frame will cover it but Im afraid the vinyl looks old. Hey ho, on with the master plan, dash in.

This was very tricky and took 2 whole days, each several days apart. Why I hear you ask ?

Well, attempting to adjust the handbrake cable on wifeys Fiat I slipped belly first off the seat and onto the sill, mighty crack in the left rib area and much pain. So rather annoyed, frustrated and pissed off I had a couple of days off work while the pain eased.

Then I did a very fufferfour thing, thought I could overcome the pain and get the glass in one bank holiday Saturday. It was about quarter way in at the left lower corner when I left it last and held secure with gorilla tape to stop it slipping off the car altogether.

Wifey did assist for a full 12 minutes before she got fed up and went off in a sulk muttering about more important things to do.

My fu@%&£~ word, what an epic struggle. Left lower corner sort of in, Right lower corner miles away. Lots of grunting, pushing, groaning and yelps of pain the right corner was much closer. 

Fu@%&£~ me, the left corner pops up and out. Repeat till your soul is ready for beelzebub and life appears meaningless x10.

All this time the sun was beating down on mi head, ribs hurt like f&%£ and the gorilla tape " handles" were starting to slide on the glass like Bambi on ice.

Progress was slow and very hard. But press on I did. After what seemed like eternity I had about half of the left and right vertical edges in the groove, just.

Then f%&£ me again, the top centre of the rubber trim had come off the edge of the ole. 

Words fail me at this point. However of all things that helped was two peices of dry garden cane. Twaz the only way to keep the rubber from popping off wedged on the dash top and the underside of the rubber edge.With a little lateral thinking and pushing the rubber up from inside onto the glass edge was some degree on sucess acheived. A little light pushing of the glass inwards and some pokey red rounded tool unfurling of rubber edges it was done. 

I can promise I will never attempt this again !

That night my rib was killing me and I had the worse nights sleep in a long time.

But it was done. I only have to put the  rubber trip strip in now...............eek ! 

That methinks my be just as tough too, maybe.

Next also on the agenda is the fitting of the dash and heater pipes, yay.

 I should have fitted all the lights this weekend but sadly the parts ordered from MGOC have not arrived, normally they get here after a couple of days. Boo Royal Mail. Still I had fun and pain, mostly, the kids came to visit and I fell in love with daughters Mercedes AMG , oooh very nice.

.

More Rubber struggles despite the pain

 So, for some reason the typing interface appears ok for now so no crazy layouts. 

The rear tailgate screen cleaned up nicely by using an old fashioned razorblade, green fuzzy pad and windowlene ( glass cleaner) The terminals for the heated rear window looked a bit iffy and the spade connectors for the wiring loom a bit cruddy but hey ho, they'll not be seen. Anyway its a long way off me testing the thing and will I ever use it, as well as the fact the switch on the dash disintegrated  years ago when it was removed. All part of the master plan of " get it ready to drive on the basics" plan. 

Here it is halfway in and yet another struggle. The main problem was the glass groove in the rubber is relatively small and finagleing it caused the dreaded rubber surround to dismount. Not just a little bit either, it came off the frame in great swathes. Plus the glass lip being so fine and delicate I was afraid of damaging it.

Here you see the red trim removal tools that proved so useful in getting the rubber to behave (sometimes)

You might also notice the unique way I had of moving the glass when faffing with alignment (gorilla tape, yet again !) It worked though,,,,,,,,,,,this time, more later.

Anyways in the glass went......undamaged and seated, or so I thought. 

Next was to fit the central groove trim sealing piece. 

For this is required a special tool. Me being a Yorkshireman and a bit skint I thought I'd improvise. The groove trim is not a round section that pops in. Its diamond shape, sort of, with a roundish portion on the underside but angled on the top face.

Its job is to push the outer trim outwards onto the frame and the inner rubber edge in, onto the glas as well as pushing the glass into its groove. Since the rear screen is relatively flat appears not too a difficult job, especially with the gorilla tape "handles" and judisious use of washing up liquid, smooth round trim tool.

How wrong I was. In my infinite wisdom I decided to  make the special "tool" from a stout wire coathanger. However, when testing the force required to expand thr groove I quickly regretted this action. A Yorkshireman is not defeated so easily, or a skint devisive and determined chap. So I used this

SEE BELOW

A 13mm offset angled ring spanner. It worked fairly well. Enough meat to spread the rubber and by pushing down pushing the trim ............ sort of.

Time is tight right now so must sign off. More on this later.

New Rubber. .........A trial of patience and frustration

So, its obvious I,ve not yet got to grips with the new ipad, new phone and the several Google accounts since we got rid of the "old Laptop". And the way the new Blogspot interface works.

Someventually I downloaded all of my MG photos to Google drive and at least that seems sorted, if not the crazy way the typing settings work. I promise I,ll eventually work out how to get rid of the underscore.So on with the story. New larger shed has not improved things ! In fact its made them worse , There is now more places to look when I try to get things done.However, I think i signed off last time with..............errr I forgot.I have spent the last few months making lists of parts required, many lists, lists of lists and rethinks.The strong decision was to get the MG somewhat watertight by re-installing the rear screen glass   ( tailgate) by buying a new rubber trim surround and insert. The guy at the MGOC said " it may appear that its too large but its not, there supposed to be like that".He was not wrong ! Every inch of he way it was a struggle to get the thing to stay on. It has a double lip on the outer edge and a double lip on the inner.Starting at the top middle and working outwards on both sides it just kept slipping off. I gave up and left it a few days. On re-commencing  I decided to use gorilla tape to hold it in place. After many hours of faffing and cursing I was eventually getting somewhere.That is until I got to the bottom edge. There was way too much rubber to fit. As in  about six inches too much !!!!!!SeeAfter even more faffing and frustration, sweating and cursing, shouting and walking away in a sulk I eventually managed to get it all in with lots of strips og gorilla tape to hold it there.

So I left it a week to settle and got on with cleaning the rear glass which was stored in the loft and Id not seen for at least 6 years or so and convinced Id break it on the way down the loft ladders. Below are some of the tools I used. Not shown is the set of trim removal tools bought from Wilkos for about a fiver. They were a godsend and the only way I could proceed.

I also bought a new quarterlight surround rubber which was a doddle by comparison to fit, 20 mins max.

More very soon peeps.

It aint half hot mum

 

First off, ashtray. Its taken three attempts to get a good finish on the top edges. First time the paper covering protecting the workmate wafted up up rested on it, the second time I rested  it too close to the green scouring pad. So, wet and dried yet again. I'm waiting to do the final coat till I can find the missing dash top vent.

I should explain that I'm currently shed-less waiting delivery sometime in August, so stuff is spread everywhere and some things have become invisible. However, I have seen things I've not seen in years.

The missing vent top is annoying since I saw one in the conservatory before the grand emptying of the shed and I,m sure its not the one I have "found". Time will tell when the shed arrives and its time to put all the stuff back in.

I have also sprayed the air intakes a lovely gloss black and the ashtray lid. 

The glovebox armrest has had a clean and polish as has the vynyl dash top......again. Nothing seems to get it matt black and clean looking despite trying all manner household products, acetone/cellulose thinners, Armorall "really works" restorer and good ole WD40.

I did have misgivings about the dash top I removed years ago. The hardboard backing was broken in 2 places and the vynyl was coming unstuck at the vent holes. So I pondered long and hard , bit the bullet and decided to remove the vynyl from the tatty hardboard, buy some new hardboard and re-glue.

           Judicious use of the heat gun, masking tape and clamps ( wifeys clothes pegs) and job done !

Here is the vynyl halfway glued on to the new hardboard. The old board was used as an accurate template. I did watch on you-tube some geezer doing same to his TR 6, which was helpful.  Contact adhesive is very unforgiving so I did it with some trepidation. The secret is to get it aligned well and start from the middle, even though I started from the RH vent holes it all went well and even the snurpy edges of the vent hole slots in the vynyl stuck down well. I did it in 5 sections.

Not perfect, but much better and its flat and rigid. Luckily I had the wisdom to test fit the hardboard onto the dash before glueing.

Whilst waiting for the glue to be tacky I set about cleaning the rear bumper, bought on E-bay about 11 years ago from some bloke down Wolverhampton way. Again these are not perfect, slight pitting all over but they will do till the car is finished. Much scrubbing with wire wool, Brasso and Peek autosol chrome cleaner did their bit but alas not enough to make it look new again.

The next big thing is the  WINDSCREEN GLASS !!!!   eeeeekkkkk!!!  next month will see me buy the rubber surround, retainer and some headlamp rubbers.

All with the aim of fitting the dash, console and electrics. But that must wait for the shed to be up and functioning.

Not yet completed is the drivers side hinge/door alignment, glass fitting and locks. Also the brakes need bleeding as well as the inner wing splash plate to fit and underseal. 

The brake hoses still remain an enigma with no word from MGOC other that the standard template of Covid times blah blah blah.  I will not use them in future, especially since I found during the tidy up/ re arranging  the perfect Automotive porn, a Moss full catalogue giving BL part numbers. A must for toilet reading.

Just to prove.................I do have a brain...............usually !   More soon folks.

P.S   some good YouTube sites to see for restoration -:

https://www.youtube.com/c/ChurchHouseClassicsLimited         Very Funny with Range Rovers

https://www.youtube.com/user/mgbvideosdotcom         Very good.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8MBWMaGHLbGwDrrzbddevA   Love this man even though its all Triumphs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRs-4AXb9_U         My Favourite. Lotus, R Rover and Jag. Classy production. Great Chap.

https://www.youtube.com/user/urchfab     Welder and Mech par excelance

Recycling old stuff and adding more parts

So, since I did things in reverse order MG wise on my week off due to the weather. What follows is the last bit of stuff I completed after the trauma of disposing of the shed. That warrants a mention since up until last week it housed most of the MG bits. After son No1 helped me dismantle it last Sunday
I had all week to chop up and take to the dumpit site. First trip on appointed "odd number day" and after waiting about half an hour to get to the front of a long queue, Geezer doing parking allocation say "wot yer gorrin there mate". Me replying it was a 7x5 shed chopped up into manageable  long lengths. " Sorry we can't accept sheds, its against the rules innit". Then a knowing wink from him he says " Looks like a fence to me, wot izzit again " A Sh................ fence my good man  I replies, " In ya go, park last on left, wood into bay 8. That's the spirit . Especially since I estimated another four trips.
Left the lovely Renault in a bit of a mess though and me knackered and tense from worrying how long it would be before it started pissing it down.

Just the minor matter of building a retaining wall below the neighbours fence where the shed will but up to it. Bags of Cement, Breeze blocks, sand and gravel bought and transported to old garden bottom shed base.
Loads of brownie points earned so onto next phase of MG doings, front splash panel fitting.
I've had both panels a few weeks with fitting kit, but alas no rubber seal for outer inner edges.
So I had a bright Idea, use the old door seal. I'd just fitted a new one to the passenger door frame a few weeks ago finishing off the door mechanism and hinges.

It worked a treat. I even undersealed the deep dark orifice before fitting the splash panels, look

The nuts were a real bugger to get in and squash the windscreen rubber enough as its fairly tough stuff. I had to  grind the first few threads off to get them located but after I did that bingo.

I even got carried away with the undersealing too................look at the castle rails. It must have been 10 years since I welded them on but only Red-leaded them at the time. 

Since most of the MG bits are now in the Conservatory outhouse they are much more accessible, so next job will be refurbing a few more plastic bits like crash pad, vynyl dash top and lower instrument binnacle.

The only problem now is that with so much stiff spread in and around the house, including the MG It makes doing anything a very long winded process. Ah well back to work Monday, however the pubs were open Saturday night so I treated myself. Well worth waiting for.

P.S  still not heard from MGOC regarding brake pipe lengths ( Bar standard format reply  bla bla bla)

Another major part ready to be fitted.

Yes, after many a long year stood on its end in the airing cupboard, the complete dash is ready to fit   

( minus four switches).

Spent the day dis-assembling the dash, cleaning, checking bulbs, polishing and refitting.
Yo....look see.

 It took best part of three hours, with lots of photos so I could remember where all the wires went.  Many many moons ago ( 12 years to be exact) when I removed the dash I remember the four switches falling apart when being unplugged. I remember looking at the prices at the time......nay bother I thought  roughly £5/8 each. 

Now one is £22 FFS, another £18 and the others similar. 

Using my Lostsock cunning and a little common sense the coloured  Bentley wiring diagram says they are :  Hazard warning switch, Heated rear window switch, 2 pos Fan switch + one other I can't identify as it just says "courtesy light/ door light " ?

There is only one bulb not working on the whole dash believe it or not. I bought one locally for £1...bargain. 

I actually bought two hoping one would fit the "unknown" lampholder . However I've wasted a whole pound as it did not

So, my resolution is " Do not replace if it works, Only buy whats needed to pass the M.O.T test.

I only did the above after a blitz of removing the 5"x7" shed which housed most of the MG parts along with tons and tons of other stuff.

Shed Gone !

Most of the stuff is hived away in about 5 other locations till the new shed arrives ( Late August/Early Sept),  Still, a little bit of Concreting  and floor levelling to do first.

I've got/had all week off so plenty of time.
I should have been fitting the splash panels and undersealing the inner front wings, fitting splash panels and re-aligning driver door but its been raining most of the week, bloody typical !

The pubs are opening on Saturday though .........Whooopeeee !

More soon.

Faffing before the onslaught.

Another day of faffing.......all's well that ends well.

No photos today sorry ! ( see later)

The plan was as I had a 3 day weekend to get the RH brake pads back in with the new rubber hose (even though I think the hose is too short)

Well problem 1/. was that the nut to undo the hose at the caliper end is 19/32" ???!!!. Whateever,  it spins rounding off the edges nicely. sawing through the  crimped end broke the junior hacksaw blade less than one third of the way through. Could I find the packet of hacksaw blades...........could I f***.
I definitely have some but where they are anyone knows. Hacked off using a pair of nippers.

In the end I removed the caliper as a whole and sliced most of the sticking out end with the scary thin wheel grinder thing..eek.,  even then the nut would not budge. After a lot of faffing with various sockets, chisels, screwdrivers and drills, yey-ho.........off it came TFFT !.

Problem No 2/.
How to get the pistons back in the caliper enough to allow the pads to fit.Sounds simple enough, " using a screwdriver prize them back with a little leverage". No, no, no. They were not moving. Fair enough it must have been five years since I fitted new pistons, seals and so on. And they've not moved one milimeter since, ( they've had no need to).
So I fitted the hose and pumped like mad, success, small movement, more pumpimg and more movement. Maybe too much.  The pistons had quite a bit of surface rust and some pitting. However now is not the time for another rebuild. How the F*** was I going to get the pistons back in to fit the pads ?  After a liberal clean with 3000 grit emery, WD40 and a good wipe to the piston outers a combination of a long thin chisel, wood scraps and  a big adjustable wrench...in they went ! Twas a big faff though. All the time from 10.30 am onwards it looked like it might rain so best thing is get head down and crack on with plan.

Needless to say halfway through 2/. problem, wifey came back from Morrisons to say " they have a nice container for your tools, its a patio container but big enough for some of your  crap stuff". After a quick think off I went. It was a welcome diversion from the problems of 2/.

Anyways after the haitus of thinking and scrambling round  container #1,  boot of MG and doorwell, eventually found 2 split pins and spring clamps.
Its funny how you mind retains some things and not others. I knew exactly where they were after maybe 2 or 3 years, but where are the  steering column bolts ( F*** knows, never come across them ever !!!).

I sent a friendly e-mail to the MGOC last week regarding the rubber hose being short. Not had a reply yet ( 7 days). Funny though they called me next day when I wanted to order something saying by e-mail I could'nt get through.

So whats next ?..................I dunno. Having Box .#2 has helped a lot. I've emptied the car inside ...almost. So all the useful tools are in box #2. box #1 contains all MG misc bits, lots and lots plus some aerosols and liquids and tubes n stuff.

Through sheer logic the drivers side door alignment must come next, but you know me.......lets mix it up a bit and get the interior ( dash and crash pad) fitted. Yeah baby !

Well lets see, lock-down and a 3 day weekend can do that to you, plus the exitement of a new bottom of the garden shed ( 10x6) a big improvement on the rotten 7x5. That's another story as that's currently where most of the expensive bits of the MG are.

Only emptying, demolition and disposal said shed  plus new concrete base to make...........not much then !

Oh the life of Fufferfour.  ...........................wow. the blog now connects with mi phone without asking, so go on just to keep it interesting.

More soon !

Lockdown plays its part or Not ?

So, as mentioned in previous thread, I have bought a few parts to Fit to the MG.

Namely LH door rubber surround,  Under quarter-light sealing rubber ( cheap foam), a bag of shiny 1/4" nuts, screws and washers ( methinks for window winder mech inside door- never used as yet, made do with rusty oddments as found there), Both inner wing splash panels + nuts/washers ( no sealing rubber for over their edges as they are all out of stock) and and and new rubber front brake hoses. This is the saga I mentioned in the previous post.

When I ordered the hoses only one arrived, even though I was charged for two. No bother I thought a quick phone call and its sorted. NO !  about 23 calls to eventually speak to someone, then easily resolved, TFFT.                         NO !  come the day of fitting the bloody things they are too short. The hose is almost stretched at 90 deg when on full lock. Deffo  not right, the hose at the caliper end is really squashed. So after a bit of spilt brake fluid and fitting the wheel to check if the suspension was out of kilter      NO ! The hose was wrong !

Look see

So, after another attempted 23 calls to MGOC trying to speak to a person, I get the happy chappy (not) who informs me " its 14 inches long innit ?  ", "Nah...all MG are 14" long mate". Despite me  informing him the overall length is relatively unimportant, its the distance between the upper and lower nuts that determine the working parameters...........and its shorter than the one I have removed !!!!!

So what shall I do ?   I don't think the "new" replacement is safe. For now I've fitted it and sat quietly fuming. Maybe I should send said photos to them which I feel demonstrates the problem. I'm getting quite pissed off with the MGOC as nearly always,  either the wrong thing turns up or not enough  quantity as ordered or what turns up is sub-standard but shiny and new.  Maybe I should sue them when I crash in a ball of flames !...            ...              ...           Rant over.

So at the end of the last sunny day all I had to do was resolve above and fit splash panels. I did decide to underseal the inner part of the wing hidden behind the panel. This has sort of been under-sealed and red-leaded, and as we speak I can't find the underseal and I have a full tin I've not seen for a year or two. Since its been decided by the family accountant we are having a new shed ( 10x6 ) better than the rotted 7x5 that holds most of the MG and a whole plethora of misc stuff ( including mice that have nibbled the sponge pads on the bike rack into utter nothingness) I found said under-seal and other parts MG wise that's not seen the light of day for years.

I did have a great idea after the half- hearted attempt at emptying the shed, why not use the "old" door seal instead of the out of stock splash pane rubber seal.......to be tried yet though as every day since has seen it pissing down with rain and a little wind.

I'll let you know how I get on with both little conundrums.....promise.

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.