| THE MG |
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 | |  | February 5, 2011 - The right front flare has been bothering me.
It's at a slightly different angle than the left side. Now, asymmetry isn't a big deal. But the other one works better! So I decided to try to fix it. I cut out my extension piece that molds the flare into the fender, reshaped the flare and cut a new one. After quite a bit of careful positioning, trimming, hammering and prying...it somehow shifted back into the original shape. Well, not exactly. But not quite what I wanted.
Argh. I can use filler to shape it the same as the other side, but it would be about 1/4" thick in the deepest point. I'll see what I can do with yet more steel.
entry 550 - tags: flares, body | | |  | February 5, 2011 - After the frustration of the flare not following orders, I decided to work on something that I know I can do.
The MG interior is made of the biggest collection of little weird bits and pieces, with carpet chunks screwed into bodywork and various vinyl-covered panels all over the place. Of course, the vinyl panels are simply a piece of cardboard underneath, and when they get wet they warp badly. That's an untouched one in the upper right of the photo.
We have a bunch of replacement panels from the UK. But I don't think it includes these kick panels, down in the footwell. More importantly, I've modified both footwells so even pristine pieces would need to be modified.
They're obviously not original because they're biscuit color, and the GT didn't come in biscuit as far as I can tell. They're not spray painted either, thank goodness.
I peeled the vinyl and some decomposing black foam off the backing board. I then modified the original board to make sure it fit properly. Once that was sorted out, I squashed it as flat as I could and traced it on to a piece of MDF. I cut that out (it's at the bottom left) then used some spray adhesive to glue the vinyl on to the board.
entry 551 - tags: interior, vinyl | | |  | February 5, 2011 - Here's the end result, just ahead of the door panel.
It's not perfect, but for a little bit of work it's an enormous improvement. You can see how wobbly the door card is by comparison.
entry 552 - tags: interior, vinyl | | |  | February 5, 2011 - I also spent some time on a passenger footrest.
The engine computer is at the end of the footwell and it really is the best place to rest your feet. Well, not the best place, but the easiest. So I built this panel to cover it up.
It's a royal pain to install, with one bracket that needs to be bolted to both the footrest and the floor. But it's pretty solid and it'll do the job. Now I just have to cut a piece of carpet to fit it.
entry 553 - tags: interior, footrest | | |  | February 6, 2011 - So, how hard would it be to reshape that front fender flare?
Well, here's what the patch would look like. Can I meld that in smoothly? I don't know. I'll give it a shot. But first, I need to buy some more steel!
entry 554 - tags: body, flares, fender | | | February 13, 2011 - We have a full complement of gauges!
It took a few tries to get the correct length of line for the oil pressure gauge, but it's in. I haven't run it up to full temperature yet but there were no leaks upon initial startup.
The car's been kept in the garage for the last couple of weeks due to cold weather, snow and race tires. The temperature's supposed to be nice this week, so it might come out for some extra exercise.
The Miata is coming along. I'm into the bodywork now. I cannot wait to shoot paint, it's so much more rewarding!
entry 555 - tags: gauges | | |  | February 15, 2011 - The Big List keeps getting shorter!
Unfortunately, the coolant gauge has to go back on it. It reads way to high, settling right on the H at normal operating temperature. I'll try the other one, and if that doesn't work I'll add a parallel resistor to the GM sensor. Easy enough to sort out.
I had the car out today in some unseasonably warm temperatures. Man, this is a fun little critter.
entry 556 - tags: gauges | | | February 20, 2011 - The other coolant sender is better, but not right.
It reads right between N and H during normal operating temperatures. I'll deal with that soon. Right now, I'm spending most of my time doing the body prep on the Miata. It'll get painted next week, then I'll start on the bodywork for the MG.
entry 557 - tags: body, gauges | | |  | March 13, 2011 - The Miata is painted, so it's time to turn to the black beast.
I learned a lot doing that car. The experience from it will definitely help with the MG.
So this means it's time for bodywork. I started with the left flares, mostly because they're most easily accessible with the MG in its current parking space. This is going to take a while to get the shape just right, that's for sure. But it's kind of relaxing work.
Why did the hood turn green? Because the black one didn't fit right at the front corners. I was actually afraid the nose of the car had sagged when it was all cut up. But just to be sure before I started taking extreme measures to fix it, I pulled the hood off the green parts car. Problem solved. And laying the black hood on the parts car showed the same fitment problem. So it's not the car. The weird thing is that, looking at old pictures of the car, the hood used to fit perfectly. I'm wondering if it got bent when there were a couple of protruding bolts on the new grille. I wouldn't have forced it hard enough for that, but it's the only explanation I can come up with. Still, I have a good replacement so there's no concern.
entry 558 - tags: hood, bodywork | | |  | March 15, 2011 - The car getting a lot uglier in a hurry.
Since I don't know for sure yet if I'll use the Special Tuning airdam - the nose does look a little unbalanced right now - I'm going to paint both it and the lower section together. And of course, all the lights and chrome has to come off. Poor thing.
I also removed the headers so they could be milled flat. I figure the car won't be going anywhere for a while, and the flanges are a bit warped from the welding heat. I can remove them without even lifting the car! Try that on a Camaro. Or a Miata or stock MG, for that matter. I got lucky.
entry 559 - tags: header, bodywork | | |  | March 23, 2011 - Sanding, sanding, sanding.
I've stripped all of the badges, bumpers, lights and handles off the outside of the car. I may still see if I can get the trim off the windows etc, but the car's looking pretty barren right now. And I'm sanding.
It's pretty relaxing work. The flares are blending well into the body but I know the upcoming shiny black paint is going to highlight even the smallest imperfection. I'm also finding the body's not quite flat at the moment, so I'm trying to sort that out as much as I can. Apply filler, sand filler. Apply filler, sand filler. There is much sanding in my future.
entry 560 - tags: sanding, body | | |  | April 5, 2011 - The sanding work continues.
I'm learning quickly and I think the final result will be good. The left front corner is almost perfect, and the left rear is also good. With how the car is parked, it's harder to get to the right side so it's lagging behind! I have picked up a couple of air-powered sanders that should accelerate progress somewhat - they've proven themselves to be very effective while cleaning up the burned paint on the roof.
One thing I learned from painting the Miata is that errors that appear catastrophic when the car is fresh out of the paint booth and sitting under the fluorescent lights disappear when the car starts to get used. But I'm still going for a good job.
entry 561 - tags: paint | | |  | April 5, 2011 - I played around with shaping the right front fender flare using body filler, but I just couldn't get a good shape without resorting to 1/4" or more of the stuff.
And that's too much. So I cut it up again and added a new metal patch. This is my third attempt on this side to get a shape I want, and I think this one's going to be the right one. Even without any fine-tuning, it's just about bang-on and should blend in nicely.
entry 562 - tags: flares, body | | |  | April 5, 2011 - After the welds were ground down, I put a skim coat of filler over that troublesome right front.
Much better. The profile of the flare is nice and smooth, without a halfway "step" that I had before. This coat is a little on the thick side but it's easier to sand down than build it up again later. Most of the filler will go away and I expect to see big patches of bare metal when I'm done. I feel good about this.
entry 563 - tags: flares, body | | | May 10, 2011 - Another rest for the MG.
I took a trip to visit family, then trucked a couple of thousand miles to Road Atlanta for the vintage races. Meanwhile, the poor car waited. Until tonight! I used my new air powered D/A sander to quickly put the final shape on those front fenders. Not only was it a lot faster, I got a nicer finish than when I'd been doing it by hand. I feel like I'm actually making progress now. I'll do the rears in the next day or two, then shoot the car with a layer of primer in preparation for more exciting sanding!
entry 564 - tags: paint | | |  | May 14, 2011 - Let's hear it for power tools!
My air-powered sanders have made a big difference, and the car is looking particularly disreputable but feeling much smoother now. The flares are almost complete and I'm just working on other small spots of the car now. Progress!
entry 565 - tags: Bodywork | | |  | May 14, 2011 - You can see how much paint is on this poor car.
The original aqua is obvious here, as is the skim coat of filler that covers the whole car under the black. Someone put some real effort into that black paint job, I have to admit.
In this shot, I'm feathering the edges of the paint to get it as smooth as I can and fix some small shaping problems. Sorry about the quality of the pictures, I left my good camera at work so I decided to set the website up to take uploads from an iPad or iPhone. The camera on the former is nothing to get excited about, but it beats no picture at all.
entry 566 - tags: bodywork | | |  | June 13, 2011 - Sanding sanding sanding.
I'm pretty much done with sanding, I'm happy to report. Although I have discovered some truly spectacular amounts of Bondo on some parts of this car. Not bent parts, but it appears the person who painted the car black put a thick skim coat over the whole car and then shaped it. Luckily, almost all of it is in good shape other than this crack on the hood.
Every time you read an article in Hot Rod about "perfect paint", they always show pictures of sanding on a nice big old American car with acres of flat surfaces. I don't think there's a single flat surface on the MG, and most of it is compound curves. It's been quite a lot of work getting the shape just right. Especially those new flares. But I'm calling it done. I'm happy with their shape now.
entry 567 - tags: body, sanding | | |  | June 13, 2011 - Before I shoot primer, I'm doing the last bit of body prep.
Almost forgot about this - the new exhaust pipe on the right doesn't sit in the same spot as the original. So I welded in a patch. I'll now give it a coat of filler and then sand it smooth. Luckily, it's basically hidden when I'm done so it won't take days of careful shaping.
Check out those spot weld marks hiding behind the stock bumper! They look pretty random.
entry 568 - tags: body | | |  | June 13, 2011 - While I waited for the last coat of filler to dry on the exhaust cutout, I started masking from the back of the car.
Maybe it's because I grew up in the 80s, but I'm digging this neon green and bright blue on black color scheme.
I've gotta get out of the garage.
Always use good tape when masking. It's awful to discover you had a leak and now there's black paint all over your stainless steel trim, for example. I bought a couple of rolls from Harbor Freight and it's worthless. Real painter tape makes all the difference.
entry 569 - tags: body, masking | | |
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