1958 MGA Coupe

[bobs77vet]

I built up the low areas with continuous welding beads and give the final shape with a grinder and then some body filler to even every thing out





tape off and prime the area, I will have to finish the sanding the inside curve by the headlights with the fenders off the car




I was curious to see how the fit would be with the gasket so i had to wait a while for everything to dry, its worth the time to do a rough fit of all the parts before you invest any time in doing the finish body work and sanding. I always prime the areas because it pulls out the flaws. this way you don't spend your time in areas that actually are good and miss the bad areas, and it doesn't matter if you have to sand it off or not>

 

[bobs77vet]

lets practice my body works skills and wrap up a fender, I use short strand fiber glass for my first skim coat

 

[Sam Cogley]

It's amazing how much more like a "finished" car it looks with the headlight buckets installed.

You may have mentioned it at some point, but I remember from the photos at the start of the thread that the grille was smashed. Are you going to repair it, or are there reproductions available?

 

[bobs77vet]

its a repo that came with the car. its funny you asked I was thinking of fitting it on the car with the old head lights just for ***** and grins









trying hard to get at least one fender finished.......do some more body filler sand with 80 grit paper , spray with self etching primer on bare metal then hit with a base primer it just happens to be black. will guide coat it tomorrow with gray primer and then sand with 220 to see where it takes us

 

[bobs77vet]

as I have been walking around the car coming up with the next plan of attack I can see where I need to go into a production environment, that's a little different then my normal pace. so heres my plan....bring all the body panels up to the level of the black primered fender ....then get out the real paint equipment for the rest of the painting process. so I dug out my portable work tray that I used when restoring my first MGA when I didn't have a garage and I stored the tools I was using on this under the "kitchen addition" of our first house....so this lets me put all my body working tools at easy reach and no longer on the garage floor. I am busy for the next 5 or 6 days but after that it should be "game on " time

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

is "game on" short for hack, hack, hack, hack, cough?

 

[bobs77vet]

not me............not ever............wouldn't even think about that. although I am feeling feverish now that you mention it.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

I'd watch the SeaChickens, but they make me sick too.

 

[bobs77vet]

I'd watch the SeaChickens, but they make me sick too.

well I guess I could watch Washington foot ball that's enough to make you sick also....especially dan Snyder the owner...yuck

lets move to the boot.....take care of some dents, quick self etching primer then a quick coat of black primer and then to move on to the next panel. the plan is to do the the other rear fender then the rear body around the boot and then the coupe top then move on to the front. when its all black I will get out the real surface primer and start the real finish body work





I guess its too dark for a good photo on my phone

 

[bobs77vet]

my birthday is coming up and rumor has it i will be getting two portable body working stands....its from a very reliable source (me)....just have to wait until after my birthday dinner to set them up

same routine......sand off red primer out side only, fill the open joint with metal and weld, prime bare metal with self etching primer after first being wiped down with wax and degreaser. i will not paint anything after using a machine to sand unless its been hit with a wax and degreaser first. the machines can exhaust small droplets of oil that you never see and cause paint problems. this body work is really only the very first step in the process and its suppose to look rough





do some filler on some small divets

 

[bobs77vet]

house quieted down early tonight....so that means when the Boss goes to sleep its play time...about 1.5 hrs

the fender still needs some more love



just make up a new piece to slip into place





of course I had two holes top side, so I made the repair piece to cover this area also



of course theres always one more rusty spot



too late to do any grinding

 

[bobs77vet]

lets wrap this fender up for the first stage


grind everything down look for additional pin holes and weld them up.....every thing gets wiped down with wax and grease remover before any thing get primed

 

[bobs77vet]

time to keep on pushing.

I am formulating my painting plan as I go through the process, looks like it will be to take every part to the " black paint phase" basically that means all the welding and grinding is done and the first coat of body filler is done. and the part is trial fitted with all sub components and all the nuts and bolts. in place once that is done then I will move to the next level of body finish. I have figured out how I am going to build a spray booth in the garage so I will not be dependent on out side weather

 

[bobs77vet]

heres whats left to massage back to life






I normally don't use paint stripper on steel parts but the shut face panels are kind of small with lots of curves for a sander

 

[bobs77vet]

heres todays effort



ALWAYS WEAR A FULL FACE SHIELD when using a cupped wire brush, this flew apart at several thousand RPM and scared the bejsus out of me





and this was a good one





the part has lots of curves in it


this is a treatment after the sanding and wire brushing I will sand this off before it gets primed

 

[JPhil]

Your posts & pictures remind me of the big sign in front of General Air & Gas Welding & Tool Supply last week which said, "Your wife called and said you need more tools." :lol:

 

[bobs77vet]

Your posts & pictures remind me of the big sign in front of General Air & Gas Welding & Tool Supply last week which said, "Your wife called and said you need more tools." :lol:

the sign was correct!!!!!!!!!! and the timing is funny, when I was 16 some 41yrs ago I started cutting out tools I wanted from the craftsman tool catalog and taping them to index cards so when some asked what I wanted for a gift I could give them a range of gifts in differing dollar amts. its how I started to build my tool collection.

it was somebody's birthday and he got just what he wanted from the family I don't need ties, shirts, belts, socks etc, etc etc


A Product review....portable work stands from Harbor Freight on sale $16 each not on sale but 20% off $20, regular 30

stows pretty thin

product material says 200# that may be a little optimistic but I am impressed with these, you definitely need to spray wd40 into the rubber tubing to slip it over the metal tubing frames. I am keeping these boxes so I can pack these back up when I am done

 

[bobs77vet]

this was just dirty work but other then the instrument gauge panel this is the last of touching parts for the first time.









use a gasket scaper on the undercoating

 

[Sam Cogley]

I think you need a sandblast cabinet.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

and certainly another side grinder

I have a stand like those... I use it, but just not that often because - as you pointed out - it's not terribly stout.

 

[bobs77vet]

I think you need a sandblast cabinet.

only a really nice one that is big with a vaccum will do, I had a smaller one and I gave it away becasuse it just put off way too much fine particulate into the air. they also take up space so until if get a really nice size shop it will just be on the "wish list"

 

[bobs77vet]

lets tackle the worst splash guards first



make a pattern and trim



on 18 ga


I suspect tool benches are like pretty girls and money, the more the better




lets try a tipping die on a flat bottom die and you pick up on the out side edge as you work it through the machine....4 times each panel










trim to fit


weld up and repeat



last thing to do is to dimple the metal so we don't lose the hole marks

 

[Sam Cogley]

My cabinet lives in my dad's garage, though I'm going to bring the small one down here when I get my garage better organized. I've found that a standard shop-vac, large size, works fine for dust collection.

 

[bobs77vet]

i have seen some really nice commercial units that make no dust.

open up the caged nut to replace the frozen nuts on both sides and chase all the caged nuts


tap a new square nut to the UNF (luckily I have good old American stock on these and they are nice and tight even when retreaded)



new install


this will get welded back on the fender



cut and fabricate

 

[bobs77vet]

lets wrap these puppies up!!!



plug welded the little rust holes





do a little magic on the other side also



yikes this looks like work





its hard to see the plug welds

 

[bobs77vet]

cant get dirty today so it was a cleanup day and picked some really low hanging fruit,

 

[bobs77vet]

big week my second granddaughter came to us



and I decided I hadn't run the car in a while so time to take it out and drive it up and down the block, I should probably send the distributor out to be rebuilt since the vacuum canister is toast



see the tire tracks up the side of the house

 

[bobs77vet]

no more welding necessary on the inner fenders!!!!









and for some reason I noticed the inside of the bomber seat was rusting, only the inside not the outside, so I painted both sides quickly with some gloss grey



went back out tonight and bent the rear forward inner splash guards and gave them a slight radius on the bottome and gave them a trial fit, more to do tomorrow in fitting them and then some body filler and primer

 

[bobs77vet]

well the right rear forward most inner panel is fitted, I had to reform the top a little because of the body rust repairs and the welds, no big deal about 40 mins worth of work. this is now ready for some light body filler over the weld seams and some primer

 

[bobs77vet]

nibbling on this elephant hard and fast......

finished fitting rear fender and grinding down welds that were visible or in the way of the fitment.



everything shiny gets the green self etching primer first and then the top coat of black primer (so i dont forget where i am in the process i am getting old after all)



lastly the inner fender gets a painting of Jasco rust converter on it, it will sit over night then get scuffed tomorrow and get primed