MGB GT Restoration

More updates!

Finished off the nearside sill repairs, added the outer sill, cross member, jacking point and floor.

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A cold and frosty start to Sunday

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Cut the drivers side back to good metal and finished some welding on the N/S

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I also bought two new fibreglass doors, yet to try them.
 
That's even more rotten than I'd thought it'd be :D Good work, nice to see it being saved regardless of it being a rubber bumper.
 
Not much to report here, lots of grind/weld/grind/weld going on as the rust is slowly removed and good steel welded back in place.

Both sills are complete
A post bottoms are complete and N/S is pretty much complete up to the end of the footwell.
N/S rear wing is replaced and complete.

That leaves some welding to the N/S at the front to complete and the windscreen surround. and the rest of the O/S to complete.

My "Mk1 Golf" arches arrived so I did a quick mock up with some clamps to get a feel for the look, as can be seen below.

A few photos of work and progress;

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I'm not sure what to with regards wheels but I'm going to need them fairly soon so I can adjust the inner arches etc. Probably going to go with 7Jx15 for the rims, any suggestions or experience?
 
Wow, that looks pretty crusty. Good supply of replacement panels though - very impressive compared to what you can get for Anglias.
 
Haven't updated in a while because the usual slog of welding isn't that interesting, rot-removal is now complete!

I also took advantage of the MOSS discount last month and ordered;

anti-tramp kit
spax damper kit
poly bushes
V8 conversion diff
axle rebuild parts
brake rebuild parts

I found a seller on ebay flogging MGB GT wings in GRP for cheaper than the usual suspects, so figured it was worth a try as they were based in Nottingham meaning I could collect on my way home from work and avoid delivery or fuel costs.

The pickup location was a proper old-school factory-in-shed affair and I was a little dubious of how good the wings would be. I offered them up for a trial fit on Friday night and they should fit with a little work, probably worth the saving for my requirements.

Next job is to grind all the welds back where required and strip the old paint off, degrease and rough up the engine bay and clean the insides out ready for some primer.

A few photos;

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Janesy, you must have opened the thread as soon as I posted it, I messed the image tags up but fixed the original post, cheers for the correction though :)
 
I've been spending my time trial fitting the new body panels recently.

For those that asked the bare GRP doors weigh a smidge over 4kg undressed.

Here's a side view with the door and wing on the O/S in the final location, I've had to cut the inner mounts for the wing front and rear and re-attach them once the wing was in the right location.

The door on the O/S needs some work too to smooth it in with the wing. The N/S door is much better and I wonder if it's my car not the wing/door that's a little wrong.

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I'd been pondering how to mount the doors on the hinges, the normal doors have a "box" on the inside with a threaded plate behind. I ended up doing as follows;

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Marked up and cleaned out the entrance point for the hinges and used a hold cutter to make the bolt holes. Once mounted the door seemed a little flimsy on just the GRP so some added some strengthening.

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Cut and folded some internal braces

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Cut a top plate, I had to pad underneath the lower hinge mount with some cut-fiber-filler

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The plates had the A-post door face drilled and some more fiber filler was put on before they were bolted through the top plate and held in place, a further bolt was put through the A-post face to ensure they don't flex.

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Placed the door back on but only using repair washers, I will make a plate for this purpose, I need to weld the nuts to the back of the hinges too.
 
Dr Who said:
Likewise
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I'm probably not going Sebring arches with this car just yet, but will be sebring front/rear valances.

Janesy B said:
What's the reason for going with GRP doors?
Click to expand...

Price and longevity, the normal doors seem to rot very quickly when used in all weathers, they also weigh less but that wasn't a primary factor :)

A reproduction door from MOSS/Heritage is around £340, the GRP door was £130. Same story with the front wings, the cost saving on these panels will pay for the exhaust and some suspension upgrades.

I need to start thinking of a colour soon, I'm thinking something bright, any suggestions?
 
Looking good there boss! What is the final colour going to be? :cool:

I treated mine to a new water pump, the old one had a load of play and was spinning like an orbital sander. It was bashing the insides of the block! :eek:
 
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Massive thumbs up from me! :D

Amazing how bad the shell looked and how solid its starting to look now.

GRP doors, something ive never seen on these cars, wings yes but not doors. Will have to google and have a good read up.

:)
 
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