Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 1757 Location: South Cheshire
Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 10:22 am Post subject: An MGA uncovered!
This MGA is actually the first classic I ever bought! It was imported from the States in a dismantled state with many bits missing, although it looks very rough in the pics, it need no welding what so ever, I did paint the chassis some years ago and have been collecting bits for it ever since . Unfortunately for the last couple of years its had to live outside, albeit wrapped up in multiple layers.
Now that I have some more storage space it can live indoors, so last week end aided by Buzzy we shifted it.
This has been the MGA’s home for the last couple of years, far from ideal.
Covers removed, things we not as bad as I had feared, surface rust and some things that I had cleaned up will need re-cleaning,and blast of air in the tyres, which fortunaly all still held air!
Small obstical had to be negotiated, the patio which was build recently!
Although the car has the engine it it was quiet easy to move and we got it loaded without much fuss.
So its now sharing a home with a couple of other vehicles that you will probably recognise coincidedenly both of which were once owned by Rick
I'm thinking about getting the body down to Specialist Coatings, to be acid dipped and primed, to give it a bit more protection.
Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 1766 Location: Lancashire
Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 10:44 am Post subject:
Hi
Rick wrote:
ah it sees the light of day eh!!! be nice to see that all back together, and tickety-boo how did you get it over that low wall? ramps?
R
At a rough guess looking at the 3rd photo, up the first steps on a slight angle, turn right, up the rear steps on an angle to the left and then through the gap between the house and the end of the wall, where you can see the gas bottles.
Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 12000 Location: S. Cheshire
Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 3:23 pm Post subject:
Penman wrote:
Hi
Rick wrote:
ah it sees the light of day eh!!! be nice to see that all back together, and tickety-boo how did you get it over that low wall? ramps?
R
At a rough guess looking at the 3rd photo, up the first steps on a slight angle, turn right, up the rear steps on an angle to the left and then through the gap between the house and the end of the wall, where you can see the gas bottles.
thats true the gap does look big enough!!
R _________________ Rick (Admin. oldclassiccar.co.uk)
Various 1930s-1960s relics - Austin, Morris, Bedford, Dodge etc.
Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 1757 Location: South Cheshire
Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:20 am Post subject:
Penman wrote:
Hi
Rick wrote:
ah it sees the light of day eh!!! be nice to see that all back together, and tickety-boo how did you get it over that low wall? ramps?
R
At a rough guess looking at the 3rd photo, up the first steps on a slight angle, turn right, up the rear steps on an angle to the left and then through the gap between the house and the end of the wall, where you can see the gas bottles.
Just seen your replies! it wasn't meant to be a test Penman is spot on, the reason that there is a rope over the wall is the at we used the trailer winch to pull it up the 1st set of steps, then just pushed it up the wide set of steps.
Getting it off the other end was comparitivly boring!
Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 1757 Location: South Cheshire
Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 4:57 pm Post subject:
Picked the MGA body up from its "acid bath" back to solid steel, both pleased and relived as there were only a couple of small new holes that I didn't know about!
So its a case of some minor welding repairs, fettling the panels up and then it can be painted.
The Stag earned its keep, its actually a very good car to use for towing.
Hopefully both the MGA and the Morris 8 will be painted in the next couple of months.
Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 12000 Location: S. Cheshire
Posted: Thu Feb 10, 2011 7:47 pm Post subject:
Interesting to see the "after" photos, was it a horrific expense or reasonable? given how much elbow grease would have been required to strip it manually, the latter being much less effective too I guess. You can PM me if you'd rather not admit to the £ on air
Good to see the Stag in action too!
RJ _________________ Rick (Admin. oldclassiccar.co.uk)
Various 1930s-1960s relics - Austin, Morris, Bedford, Dodge etc.
Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 1757 Location: South Cheshire
Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:45 pm Post subject:
Roger, that’s eagle eyed of you to spot the inner wing pressings !!
Mine is not the twin cam, apparently the body was altered to accommodate the twin cam engine, but then same body was used for all variants moving forward….
Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 1757 Location: South Cheshire
Posted: Fri May 13, 2011 6:34 pm Post subject:
Thought I’d post an update on the MGA, I had the body stripped and the plan a couple of months ago was to sub the body repairs, panel fettling and painting out. To cut a long story down, I couldn’t find a firm who either gave me confidence or could complete in a reasonable time. So decided to do it myself.
It’s difficult to get good panel fit on an MGA; its said that when the panels arrived in the factory they were measured and categorised in to “Small, standard & Large” sizes, on the production line the fitters would select wings and doors to fit the car they were assembling to ensure a rough fit and then fettle door hinges and wing positions.
All of the wings required repair patches on bottom edge’s that was quite straight forward , I fitted the door and wings on the near side of the car and managed to get a good fit and gaps without too much bother.
The off side was a different matter; I fitted the door and then the front wing first and the wing was hard up against the door, no problem I thought, as I had a load off door hinge shims, took the door off added about 4mm of shims, front wing to door gap was now ok, but where the top of the door met the body scuttle panel, I now had a massive gap. On both sides of the car there was body solder on this panel, I suspect was how the factory would have got that gap right, so I wasn’t to concerned as this could be rectified. I then fitted the rear wing and guess what, it now butted up against the door! There just wasn’t enough space!
After contemplating the options I ended up cutting a ¼” off the door edge, I actually ground it off as it was quicker and neater.
Finally I brazed the cut edges of the door, brazing would mean putting less heat into the wing and braze tends to flow more than welding would have.
The rear end had obviously had a shunt at some stage, and had literally had an inch of filler over quite a large area, you can see where someone has drilled holes for the filler to key in too. The metal was quite badly stretched, after heat shrinking it, I got it back to something like original.
The rest of the body is not in too bad shape, but there are loads of small dents in most panels, my aim is to get all the panels as straight as possible, certainly to within 1mm, so that I will only need the thinnest skim of filler prior to painting.
I'm hoping it will be a couple of weekends doing the final fetteling and then I can paint it.
Dave
Last edited by ukdave2002 on Wed Dec 26, 2012 3:06 pm; edited 1 time in total
Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 12000 Location: S. Cheshire
Posted: Fri May 13, 2011 7:42 pm Post subject:
ukdave2002 wrote:
Thought I’d post an update on the MGA, I had the body stripped and the plan a couple of months ago was to sub the body repairs, panel fettling and painting out. To cut a long story down, I couldn’t find a firm who either gave me confidence or could complete in a reasonable time. So decided to do it myself.
...
It's looking good Dave! I agree, finding someone suitable to entrust one's P&J to can be a real headache...
RJ _________________ Rick (Admin. oldclassiccar.co.uk)
Various 1930s-1960s relics - Austin, Morris, Bedford, Dodge etc.
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coincidedenly both of which were once owned by Rick 
how did you get it over that low wall? ramps?
