Winter work on paint prep

In the dim past, this car was modified to widen the wheel arches and to repair front end accident damage. In additon the fender seams were closed with welding and liberal use of plastic filler. My intent is to as cheaply as possible make this car go again and to look all right at the same time.  I have two or three potential little british car recruits who don't want to drive a stick, hence my switch to an auto tranny.  I also confess that I don't mind a nice auto transmission for most daily driving.  I am planning to do at least the paint prep and possibly the actual painting.

The current plastic filler has various cracks that must be dealt with, primarily on the rear wheel arches and on the rear fender seams.  I intend to sand and grind out as much filler as I can to end up with a minimal skim coat only.  I will keep the rear lights "frenched" with commonly available LED light combinations, seen often on tractor trailers. The front turn signal/park lights will be restored to stock lights from Moss Motors.

I am sure some decisions, weighing practicality versus originality concerns, will arise.  The wheel arches will have to be resolved somehow.

Harbor Freight temporary shelter for sanding outside my garage.  

On the right the filler/metal crack is at the upper edge, where
the filler joins the original fender.

Rear fender seams ground out.

Crack in filler at junction with metal wheel arch edge,
on the left. The metal edge here seems to be a piece of pipe added
by the custom craftsman.

Some more summer work pictures.

My son-in-law and I worked hard in June and July for several days. We got the body off, frame and motor mounts redone and the body back on. Since then travel, duck and goose hunting and the need to finish up a prior commitment to an MG ZB Magnette have limited progress to some preliminary paint prep work.  I hope to get that done and the car painted by Spring.  Hopefully back on the road by June, we'll see.  

Two coats of rust bullet on the frame, first silver and then black.

Floor boards calked and painted:

Engine in frame, and then with body on:

The Iris Blue was a test coating, I am going to use a darker
blue in the end. 

Welding the motor mounts.

Miata seats, they looked good at first but
seem too high with the body on.

This bent throttle rod was par for the course with the carb
rebuild guy I selected.  SU Carbs is a fraud. 

The '58 ZB came along pretty well, I need to have some trim re-chromed
and then she should be done, as done as they ever are anyway.

Frame painted

 We test fitted the 1800 MGB five main with its Borg Warner 35 auto tranny to allow us to re make the motor mounts (removed by the V6 butchers) and footwell supports. The tranny is fairly wide compared to the stock four speed, so will narrow the foot room a bit.

We used grinder flaps and wire wheels to clean the frame.  We then painted with roller and brush-on  Rust Bullet, first in silver and the a black top coat.  It looks pretty good:

Getting serious- frame off

The car had some welding to be done, and my son-in-law the welder is here for three weeks.  We had to remove the motor mounts for the V6 and add back something like the stock mounts for the 1800 cc 18V MGB motor I acquired from a 1972 Auston Marina, with its BW 35 auto tranny.  There were some frame glitches relating to previous repairs, and some of the floor panels needed strengthening too.

Body rolls nicely on ATV dollies.

Stripping the car and beginning repairs

I had a month to start to dismantle the MGA before it had to be pushed aside for a ZB Magnette project.  The pictures will show some of the rust and condition behind the splash panels. The rocker on the left was replaced with 3M Fusor.

Behind left front splash panel, surface rust.

Behind the right rear panel was a pile of dirt
and rust through the rocker. 

Eastwood clamps and vise grips.  Silver coating is Rust Bullet. 

Orphan cars

Sometimes a car is orphaned by benign neglect, sometimes it is after suffering abuse.  My MGA coupe was purchased from a well-meaning owner who rescued the car from complete neglect but who realized the car was too far gone for him to resurrect.

I probably should have realized that too.  Now, however, we are involved in a lot of work to bring the car back to a semblance of originality, knowing from the start that what I wanted, and could do practically, would result in only a partial recovery, this happens with orphans.

This coupe lived in Oregon and Washington state for many years, that means rain which can lead to rust.  The rocker panels and left sill had been replaced sometime in the past.  A front end collision necessitated a change to a Cobra-type fish mouth.  Wait until you see the front frame extension.

A long-gone unknown make V6 conversion butchered the inside fenders, motor mounts and lower firewall. The fender seams were filled in and the wheel wells widened.  An MGB rear-end, front king pins, and discs were installed.   Hopefully with some skill.

Fortunately, the frame has no rust except along the drivers footwell where the floor supports join the frame. I have the windshield and rear glass.  And a beautiful headliner.

Arrival pictures: