1958 MGA Coupe

[bobs77vet]

the curves on the coupe catch my eye every time I look at it. the weather is getting nice and i am finding my self drifting to the garage, a few non related MG tasks need to be taken care of and then its MGA time to finish adjusting the door latchs and put the front bumper on.



heres one of the projects scratched off the list.

the corvette has a space age frame under it and it requires crossbeam adapters to hold the alloy frame properly...of course it does, this is for under the rear axle and the front cross member. well I have the need for some of these and the HF cross beam adapters that i eyeballed i would need to modify to fit the corette and two would cost me $70 or $80. I can buy the steel for about $27. so i have been looking at pictures on line and measuring under the car and asking a couple C5 guys questions about theres and this is what i came up with...

so here we go, I bought 2x3x1/4 rectangular tubing , and i had 1/4 plate laying around, the pads are 3 5/8 x 6 3/4 and the end caps hang down 1/2", these weigh about 20# and i have not put a jack shaft on, i am going to try just resting on my jack saddle

took about 45 minutes to cut everything with a cutoff wheel and about an hour to tack it up



i am going to do a full mock up with more then tack welds but less then full seams and will test it. i think i will add gussets to the pads sides just because i can....











capped ends so the jacks dont slip out




and they also fit the smaller jack stands


and yes these will get up pretty high

bbb

 

[bobs77vet]

so the cross beam adapters passed the oil change and coolant fluid change on the corvette so time to flap disk sand the cut edges and paint them.



i found another picture of the sebring lights and mocked up some brackets









now to find some steel to make this with

 

[bobs77vet]

lets wrap up the cross beam adapters and glue the rubber pads to them





clamp tthem down


and a peek at a finished product



now back to the brackets





used some big round washers to give me a pattern













not a bad fit for the first time i can see i need to lower the drivers side a wee bit



now to work on the top design and determine if the brackets are curved or if they stay straight

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

excellent

 

[bobs77vet]

I spent another hour adjusting the brackets some and I sliced the top so the back of the angle iron would bend to fit the curve. its clear to me that the brackets in the photos i am viewing are using smaller diameter washers and the the sizing of the bracket is just slightly larger then those washers and also the top of the bracket is very tight to the bottom of the driving light mounting bracket. i have ordered the driving lights so once i get those i can figure out the top mounting spot. over all i think i am in a pretty good spot its easy to trim stuff down. and also easy to weld additional material if necesary

 

[bobs77vet]

I got the lights today and mocked them up a little bit.

 

[Red77]

its easy to trim stuff down. and also easy to weld additional material if necesary

You are certainly the master of trimming and welding. This project has proven that there is no task you can't accomplish with a little ingenuity and fabrication. You are an inspiration to us all. Keep the updates coming please.

 

[bobs77vet]

thanks

getting closer

 

[bobs77vet]

fill up the holes they were a tad too big with the smaller washer



weld it on a copper wtapped piece of 1/4 plate







trim it down

 

[bobs77vet]

 

[bobs77vet]

lets start by having some garage time with the boys... we are making a hitch mounted table for metal work and a vise for an F150 out of scraps from an old trailer hitch, the hitch receiver is in my welding table.








now we make the removable top





now lets get back to the MGA light bracket and add in the material to the bracket to fill the void from the bending















next thing to do is to put the final curve into the bracket from the center to the ends....next weeks work


we have to get my new grandson in a cool car quick so the imprinting can set in



and the baptism at the welding cart...

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

Are you sure you started him soon enough? the gifted go from the hospital to the shop then home :thankyou:

 

[bobs77vet]

Are you sure you started him soon enough? the gifted go from the hospital to the shop then home :thankyou:

damn i am 3 weeks behind already....will have to make up for it with massive amounts of tools and car projects

 

[bobs77vet]

lets add some curves



lets make them symetrical




add some spray primer to see the definition of them











getting close i need to find one of my drum sanders to do some radius sanding

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

Are you sure you started him soon enough? the gifted go from the hospital to the shop then home :thankyou:

damn i am 3 weeks behind already....will have to make up for it with massive amounts of tools and car projects

I have a friend who just brought home her first daughter (she has 4 boys) and was commenting that she was looking forward to her daughter getting ballet lessons. I told her that unless her daughter had already been interviewed that it was impossible for her to get into a good school. Boy, did you know that women with newborns could be testy?

 

[Sam Cogley]

Looking great. No front bumper for this little beastie, I assume?

 

[bobs77vet]

dont mess with a momma bear....

this is the idea...

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

no bump-to-pass?

 

[bobs77vet]

it would be more like crumple to pass, although the steel is that nice 1950 quality stuff

grabbed an hour to install 2 of the 6 fender spalsh guards










hopefully tomorrow the others go in.

 

[bobs77vet]

todays work...once my young and flexible son comes to visit

 

[bobs77vet]

i must admit some of my best work is done by others.....little Joe, he is actually too big to fit in the coupe.

so now all the parts I took off the car are back on. i still have to do the furlflex door trim and the chrome around the windows, and finish the driving lights

fitting the inner splash guard panels

 

[bobs77vet]

i have decided to paint the bracket gloss black so lets finish this up

sand everyting again and stamp sides markings





just cause its a bracket doesn't mean it should not be brught up to high paint standards




first sanding





and spray primer, first coat

 

[bobs77vet]

i am using the dupli color universal black its nice and shiney and gives a clean uniform coat and can be clear coated

wet sand, prime and then sealer and first top coat



then prime again after its nice and smooth



then seal


then top coat to see what we have

 

[bobs77vet]

and heres the clear coat being applied

 

[bobs77vet]

what the hell, i haven't tempted the gods lately, well except for buying some new wheels for the corvette in the direct line of sight of the boss.....yikes i was daring.... although it turned out better then i thought just a lot of eye rolling and disbelief. but i digress....

lets warm these up some to help the drying process so i can install them on saturday, looks like i need to clean the oven too.

 

[bobs77vet]

so the idea is that this light circuit will be completely separate from my new wiring harness. i have a new front bumper for the car and when I go to sell the car the bumper will go with the car. so if the next guy doesn't like the lights all he has to do is remove my light wiring and the lights and hes good to go. i will mount the swicth on the dash panel lower support bracket and the relay will be mounted to the same switch panel. should work nicely.











of course a bracket needs to be made











lets clean up the wires so they are nice and neat


and done for the day relocated the relay with a tie strap to get the wires up and out of sight, you dont hit this with your knee not even close

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

wait, those look like non-smoking wires. You sure that's gonna work?

 

[bobs77vet]

wait, those look like non-smoking wires. You sure that's gonna work?

I think these Hellas use more amps then my generator can supply, the supply wires are going right to the main positive battery connection. so when the smoke escapes its not frying my new wiring harness

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

wait, those look like non-smoking wires. You sure that's gonna work?

I think these Hellas use more amps then my generator can supply, the supply wires are going right to the main positive battery connection. so when the smoke escapes its not frying my new wiring harness

:bestwishes:

There was a light bar that was called a laser - it came completely with 15 halogen 'aircraft landing lights'. A friend of mine bought it and put it on his 4 cyl. toyota 4x4. He was so proud when turned the lights on. It worked for maybe 10 seconds before the battery died. We charged the battery, fired up the truck and he proudly proclaimed this would work.... turned on the light and the motor stopped like it had water in. Of course, the battery hadn't recovered from the last assault, so it had to charge again. He got it started again, then figured RPM would be his hero.... nope, pulled the thing down like it was on a dyno..... though that time it took the alternator with it. We, being the friends we were, didn't have any comment because we were laughing so hard we could barely breath let alone talk.

 

[bobs77vet]

thats funny...... i dont think you need any other head lights with these lights, they are super bright if i ever need to go racing through the swiss alps