1958 MGA Coupe

[JPhil]

First car I ever owned & fell in love with was a little red MG TD. I was 4 years old and it was about 6" long, made of cast metal. I played with it for years, until the wheels literally fell off. I have no idea what became of it, but I still miss it. It was a very great influence in my always & never ending relationship with things that go.

 

[bobs77vet]

funny you mention that, mine was a remote control jag xke coupe with a control box that was atached with wires to the car....circa 1965

 

[JPhil]

Wow! I had one of those too! When I was about 10. Red, about 18" long, with a battery/controller box about 5" square. Ran the wheels off of that also. GI Joe totaled it while on leave.....

 

[BangkokDean]

wow , another red one ! Gotta love those handles on the dash board

:friends:Nice find

 

[bobs77vet]

wow , another red one ! Gotta love those handles on the dash board

:friends:Nice find

thanks and yeah it really does catch your imagination from many different perspectives and it totally smells like a british car.....gas and oil. i think i have two keepers


well Tom of TeamEvil fame has come through for me and I now have a fascia trim piece for my rear parcel shelf. this is the last piece interior trim i needed. thanks Tom




and i still have some ooomff left in the old guy, sistering up some new wood on the old joists that had the concrete set tile floor....in the kids house taking away from MG time.....oh well

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

love those nailers - I keep trying to convince myself that I'd actually use one enough to make it worth it.... so far no, but I've found the older I get, the more easy it is to come up with excuses

 

[GoVetteGo]

Nice Paslode Bob! I have the framing and angle finish nailer. LOVE them!
Ahhh - Classic cars and tools! Perfect marriage!!

 

[bobs77vet]

you know nailing with hammers is for young guys......

i lost feeling in my arm for several months from nailing about 25yrs ago......so now i just use power tools for that.

i like the Paslode that one has to be 15 yrs old. my other nailers are pneumatic.

 

[bobs77vet]

well lets finish the interior took care of some delamination on the parcel shelf front fascia, goal this week is to wrap it in vinyl and screw it in place

 

[JPhil]

OK, I'll say it:

You're using the TD for a workbench???:club:

(I know you're not really)

(are you....?)

 

[bobs77vet]

OK, I'll say it:

You're using the TD for a workbench???:club:

(I know you're not really)

(are you....?)

I will exercise my 5th amendment rights on this one.....

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

You know, pleading the 5th is great, but it's far more effective to seek protection under the 2nd. :hunter:

 

[Sam Cogley]

You know, pleading the 5th is great, but it's far more effective to seek protection under the 2nd. :hunter:

I don't think shooting the TD is going to help anything...

 

[bobs77vet]

the TD is a pretty cool car for sure and it smells like a british car.....gas and oil.

for the last 4 years my garage has not smelled like that with the MGA in it.


I have been looking for a gas leak on the TD but there are none to find. I will have to try sealing the gas tank while its in the garage and see if that does anything.

 

[bobs77vet]

pretty icey here today....so lets clean up the window surrounds and get them into place this weekend.









and outside in the iciness with paint stripper on it

 

[bobs77vet]

i just went to the auto store and used up a gift card on some chrome and metal cleaning polishes. lets start with this stuff









not such a bad start for about 90 minutes of work

 

[JPhil]

the TD is a pretty cool car for sure and it smells like a british car.....gas and oil.

for the last 4 years my garage has not smelled like that with the MGA in it.


I have been looking for a gas leak on the TD but there are none to find. I will have to try sealing the gas tank while its in the garage and see if that does anything.

Gas cap or carburetor float bowl vent?

 

[bobs77vet]

the TD is a pretty cool car for sure and it smells like a british car.....gas and oil.

for the last 4 years my garage has not smelled like that with the MGA in it.


I have been looking for a gas leak on the TD but there are none to find. I will have to try sealing the gas tank while its in the garage and see if that does anything.

Gas cap or carburetor float bowl vent?

the fuel sender unit as a cap on it that was not tight and was leaking, i cleaned it determined it was the culprit and siphoned the gas and removed the cap cleaned and put some blue RTV sealant on both sides of the gasket and reassembled it....i have been adding a gallon per night and it has not started to leak so i think i fixed it....

my first thought was the gas cap venting was too big but then i found the weeping sender unit

 

[bobs77vet]

thanks and you guys embarassed me into action

some more polishing and a test fit








and next is polishing like 50 SS rivets...

I did some neat stuff with the modifying the clutch lever and making the clutch rod adjustable.

Needle bearing design is by Declan Burns, I am just the fabricator the other mod is the Mike Oconnor mod

as you can see my clutch sump lever broke when i went to center punch a starter hole for the modification of the clutch sump lever. I have been conversing with Declan Burns about his rose bud clutch linkage set up and he mentioned about adding needle roller bearings in place of the bushing. well one thing lead to another and declan posted pictures of his modified lever with the parts information and instructions on how to do and here we are......

The reason the sump clutch lever broke to begin with is because the holes are off center and it pushed the spring hole into the forked area....you can see the discoloration meaning it was broken for a long time, this would have stranded me sometime in the near future....


Not the same mistake twice


Drill press in action


The deisgn

Pop out bushing


Practice with old one first

Hole for grease fitting




Too long


Lets save the face of the vise, I used a grinder with a cut off wheel


Much better

And enlarge the opening a very little and in they go


also made my clutch rod adjustable







I went out and looked at the motion of the lever arm its really close to being equi distant travel.....its hard to eyeball it when the front is off the ground so i can crawl under it. Those parallel lines are drawn from either side of the bushing lever shaft using a square on the sump pan ribs...










the test drive is complete and the terrible biting in first gear is gone and the car has a usable gear......well at least it is somewhat manageable....much better then before.

 

[bobs77vet]

well it happened....the garage is absent all the big wood working tools tehy went to my oldest son, just small stuff left and it has been rearranged to take advantage of some new gained space....., I spent a bunch of time throwing stuff out, and then the mood hit me, time to work on the car again,....some body needed pictures of my door locks, let me go through some emails or send me what you need photographed, and the extra set of window chrome will be available when i am done if some needs it.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

clean garage, impressive.

 

[bobs77vet]

well you have to start some where:

of course i have 6 of them, so lets take the best 4




clean them up and paint them with the zinc oxide treatment



did somebody need these dimensions?

 

[bobs77vet]

small bites as usual, last night i painted the brackets

dont ask me why but there are three different hole sizes for the holes for the caged nuts...one size for the bottom and two sizes for the top...of course there is



so carefully pull the tabs close together or make the small holes on the top bracket bigger



i did say carefully right?



no problem I have another one that is an original



looks like cross slotted on the outside with a washer and hex head on the inside

 

[bobs77vet]

well i gave my welding table to my son along with the wood working equipment......so what is a poor boy to do???? 5 hours worth of work by Grandpa....those 9' pieces were heavy....

remember this, lintels from old brick houses that are being torn down.....9' x 3x5 x 5/16 USS steel... and 6'x2 1/2 x4x1/4



it will have full inner perimeter clamping capabilities and a clampng slot down the middle, top is 11"x 1/4" table size is 35 x 54. depending on how is use the 3x5 angle iron, i may do one side with a 3" spine and and the other with a 5" spine. just to give maximum vesatility. the 5" spine would be good for straightening out metal parts









wire brushed and wiped down





and sprayed with self etching primer, most people don,t paint welding tables but this is really a metal shop assembly/welding table. i need it to be clean so if i brush up against it i dont get all dirty.

 

[bobs77vet]

another day of having fun!!





set up the legs



trued up



welded up 240v hobart handler 190 set way up high



time to lower it it was just me working today....i estimated about 270 lbs

 

[rtj]

Nice!

 

[bobs77vet]

thanks



heres the blocking for the casters so its a rigid table....





for now its band clamped on and its rock solid, i think i will make some brackets at some time and bolt them in place.



some bracing for the top supports while i weld it in place





and my recycled top 11" x 1/4 from a parking lot repair that the contractors through in a dumpster at my sons work and he retrieved it for me



next to incorporate a trailer hitch in to the under side shelf

 

[bobs77vet]

well since I have the MG TD with a relatively new exhaust it really has put the MGAs 40 yr old muffler to shame. i knew i needed a new muffler but with a side by side comparision i had to do something. so i have been watching for a replacement muffler and sure enough one of you guys in NC swapped your new exhaust system for a stainless steel system and your shop sold the replaced new muffler to me with shipping it was $39. the label hadn't even fallen all the way off yet



i didnt even jack up the car



i knew when i installed the exhaust system the old muffler would come off at some point so i never torqued up the clamps to crushing torque levels








and the sound test was fantastic, it took 45mins.from start to finish

 

[bobs77vet]

a left over Hitch from who knows where, it was under my deck



i lucked out i now have some receiver tubing


the top will be my storage shelf


some i beam from fencing a neigbor was tossing



now i need to get some 1 1/2 inch black pipe to bridge the channels and then i can tack the top down and sand the new pieces and prime them and then slip it in place


with those pieces i am up to about 380 lbs

 

[bobs77vet]

so lets wrap these windows up

where we start with two now to make one



missing some screws



take off the bottom chrome trim the other frame is the nicest



broken screw in the bracket and the other screw was missing but i had one



the tap set tells you what size hole to drill to tap new threads, for a #6 screw its number 35 or really close to 7/64 if its not it exactly



go slow and use cutting oil , you go backand forth cutting about 1/16 of a turn at a time especially for these small taps



and after hand polishing





so the only thing these window frame needs is a new inner liner for the frame. I have a new ventilator gasket but I am not sure if I am going t put that in or not



about 2hrs of work