there was a lot to be said for the 80's! woke was what you did in the morning...if you saw a rainbow , it was accompanied by bungle and zippy , not some androgynous freaks. you could speak your mind without everyone taking offence..... bring back the 80's...PLEEEEEASE!
Thought this was appropriate, 60 years old yesterday.
Makes me smile and sad in equal measures. Mum definitely did like it....she had the identical car , identical colour , usually driven like that too...FCV 300L.
Post by toomanyprojects on Oct 11, 2021 10:28:01 GMT
Apologies, there's been a bit of a hiatus of late on the 'B for one reason or another. Several weekends away haven't helped but I then got a nasty bite on the back of my neck which became infected and frankly rather disgusting - no rolling about on the workshop floor for me then! A course of antibiotics and some tlc from her ladyship seems to have done the trick so now starting to recover, it's not been good for the MG project progress however.
There's also been a couple of distractions in the form of the camper and Merc, both of which I could sort of deal with while standing up so hence why they got attention.
This weekend it was another distraction in the form of my cousins wedding, however being one to maximise an opportunity when it arises I decided to make the most of the situation and take the car trailer with me
Once I'd finished work on Friday, it was time to hitch up and hit the road again.
The prime objective was that as we were headed down south I could collect the last of the A35 shells from the in-laws (and keep the peace!). However there was a bit of a deviation from that plan in between as had to move this for the little bro:
Easier said than done with no clutch, a flat battery and two flat spotted tyres - there are times... Luckily we still made the wedding on time!
Jokes aside, it's a lovely little thing, just needs some tlc. I have a feeling it may be coming up to the workshop at some point so thread on that one in due course...
Once suitably recovered from the night before, it was on with the main event, a shell potentially too far gone for any hope of saving but it will yield some useful panels and act as a template in other areas.
Amazing the conversations these things start though, despite looking like it was on it's way to the crusher I got talking to a very lovely couple at the services on my way back who had one as their first car, lots of very happy memories judging by the sparkle in their eyes when they were telling me of their travels all over the UK.
I'd just made it home when I got a call about shifting some IBCs (Intermediate Bulk Containers for those not in the know), which I've been after for a while for rainwater collection from the barns. The catch? I had to collect there and then. So after pushing the car off the trailer I was on the road again to fetch.
Which in true 'here's one I made earlier' fashion, should eventually lead to something like this
Back to MG content next I promise, there is a bit of a plan brewing for the coming weekend
Hi, Be careful with free IBC's as they often come from sources which used them to produce certain party products of which the lethal ingredients do not wash out of them.. Thom
Hi, Be careful with free IBC's as they often come from sources which used them to produce certain party products of which the lethal ingredients do not wash out of them.. Thom
👍I picked these up straight from the factory where they were used so know exactly what was in them.
Post by grumpynorthener on Oct 18, 2021 21:03:45 GMT
So I delivered the GT shell back to Sam at the start of July once I had completed the structural works & repanelling of it - however it had a problem - the nearside fit of the quarter glass frame on the door along with the door glass were poor to say the least
We were both keen to progress the car so a decision was made that the bodyshell would go back to Sam and he would make a start on the dry build - In the interim I would investigate the not so nice fit of the door glass / quarter light and head over to Sam's at some stage to revisit the problem area - but it meant that the drivetrain could be fitted in the interim and we could look at any issues that came to light along the way
We have been comparing diaries for the last few months to see what would work - Sam is 160 + miles / 3 hours in a North East direction from me - we made this weekend work because I was halfway up the country in Leicester on Saturday at a Club AGM - it made sense if I continued the journey on to Sam's from here arriving early Saturday evening
Now long story short - Glass / quarter glass frame on the nearside is awful - turns out that the windscreen aperture is out of tolerance too and the benefit of the bodyshell being back with Sam is that he has another bodyshell (that requires a ton of work) but it does have a windscreen aperture that we can use for datums / measurements - The bodyshell was straight & true when it was first acquired - this was also the case when it was sent to a specialist in Birmingham for paint & rust removal then primer coating - only when it returned some deformity had occurred in the bodyshell - Its free of impact / accident damage - so what's happened then ? - Heat is used to remove paint / filler / underseal / sealer etc - the bodyshell & panels are put into a large oven - its a process known has 'Thermal Pyrolysis' - done correctly its not a problem - the shell / panels are heated through several stage cycles and this converts the paint etc to ash - the shell / panels should then be slowly cooled through several stage cycles prior to being pressure washed then treated to remove any rust prior to being neutralised then dried - once completed primer is applied and the process is complete. Short cut / rush any of the heating / cooling process on the bodyshell / panels or wash the ash before the bodyshell / panels have fully cooled and you will create distortion - and therein is our problem - a specialist that has dropped the ball and doesn't care - Lesson learnt - I stopped sending them work 18 months ago
So we set to in order to realign the damage with a hydraulic jacking system - these are built for the accident repair market (but can be used for many other applications / jobs) - they are commonly known has 'Porta -Powers'
This took several attempts has there is an element of spring / memory in the metal - You have to go carefully beyond the point of where you want to be before releasing the pressure - measurements across the diagonals were taken at every stage to ensure that we were heading in the right direction
Care is also required to ensure that you don't damage the area that you jack against too
Working methodically the results stated to appear
Still some critical elements to achieve yet
But certainly heading in the right direction
The other direct consequence of the distortion that had occurred is that this dent had appeared in the roof
It wasn't too deep but deeper than I would have liked prior to skimming hence I spent some time dressing this back out
The majority of the roof skin centre is going to be removed in the respect that a period style Webasto fold back sunroof is being fitted to the car
Pretty happy at this stage that we have comparable quarter glass / door glass fits on both sides of the car
There's room for further improvement on the rear of the top edge but we are well happy with the way its going
The real acid test has to be if the windscreen fits
And it does
There is a locking strip which is then covered by an alloy trim to finish the screen fitment but for the sake of the screen fitting the aperture exercise these needn't be fitted until the car is painted
Windscreen back out
We swapped the quarter glass frame over for the later stainless steel type which are slightly narrower than the older type chrome frames
Which again improved the fit of the door glass further
A worthwhile few days sorting accomplished then
Still some further items on the list for Sam to sort on the drive train but its looking dangerously close to coming apart again and on to the next stage of preparation for profiling & paint
Post by toomanyprojects on Oct 18, 2021 21:36:44 GMT
As Chris has already mentioned, the last couple of days have seen some considerable progress and the resolution of something that had the potential to be a bit of a nightmare.
Thankfully with a bit of expert know-how and adopting the slowly, slowly approach, that monkey was soon caught and put back in its box.
Albeit helped with an impressive armoury of tools, number 1 of which was the tape measure...
In addition to what Chris has covered there was also a bit of dressing
Sanding with a block to highlight the low spots
and lastly some welding and a bit of ingenuity in order to repair one of the quarterlight frames to achieve a better fit which resulted in these
Fiddly but effective to replace some broken originals.
After Chris had left to do battle with the M25, I decided to carry on with a few minor bits as the weather put pay to any ideas of hedge cutting.
As the new wings aren't pre-drilled I decided to fit the headlight bowls which required drilling to fix in place.
Those with a keen eye will also have spotted the trial fitting of the other of the grill options. Both of which require some drilling for bracketry.
Lastly I decided to drop the car down to check clearance on the exhaust and rear axle
I think it'll work just fine 😉
Many thanks again Chris, feels like a big corner has been turned.
Thats great progress, and GN got you all sorted and straightened out which must be a relief knowing the screen and door will actually fit come final prep.
Just thinking out loud here now....but with the amount of grunts thats going to be trying to twist that shell up like a wet rag , are you sure you want to cut a big hole in the roof? It wont be like a bog standard bgtv8 with sod all horsepowerage!!:
Just thinking out loud here now....but with the amount of grunts thats going to be trying to twist that shell up like a wet rag , are you sure you want to cut a big hole in the roof? It wont be like a bog standard bgtv8 with sod all horsepowerage!!:
Not an issue - All the strength remains in the roof by retaining all the original factory roof rails - the centre area of the roof skin itself is non load bearing and just keeps the water off your head - add to this the fact that the new sunroof is fully supported by a rigid frame that sits around the aperture and the fact that the inner & outer sills / floor pans were structurally strengthened with additional welds when they were done - all new rear suspension & mounting points that doesn't induce the flex into the chassis that the leaf spring suspension cars do - Good to growl in my book
It does and is my preference of the two options I have. SWMBO of course disagrees but then she would - perhaps I sort both and interchange them as required .
However I fear, and Chris may say the same, that this iteration requires just too much work, plans are therefore afoot on sourcing an alternative that I can then revisit the cooling 'tweaks' on.
Just thinking out loud here now....but with the amount of grunts thats going to be trying to twist that shell up like a wet rag , are you sure you want to cut a big hole in the roof? It wont be like a bog standard bgtv8 with sod all horsepowerage!!:
In addition to the ash frame Chris has mentioned in the roof there are some additional measures in place on the underside of the car, the 5 link suspension arms will help to a degree and the heel board will have/requires additional strengthening to aid the mounting points. I've also decided to go full belt and braces and add a torque reaction kit
As you can see this should help spread the load through to the centre cross members which may also receive some additional stitching.
Have sourced another original ally bonnet to try, you can buy them new still but they're not cheap (£1,300+) and the fit isn't seemingly that good. Asides that I've a few little bits to order up and trial fit prior to the next stage but we're getting there.
The wheels were another little reveal I was keeping in the wings (see what I've done there 🙄😆), 15" Morgan spec wires. Standard-ish looking but not really 😉. They finish the look I'm going for nicely I think.
I may need to do some minor flaring and fettling to the lips on the rear but hoping I'll get away with not too much as the tyres aren't too silly.