1958 MGA Coupe

bobs77vet · Oct 30, 2013

easy work tonight installing E brake cable, still need to get clevis pins and mount a anchoring bracket to the battery box. i need to find a picture of the original battery box mounting location. any body have a picture?

this looked like the best orientation to me.

i am guessing where it is naturally going underneath the battery box frame is where the mounting tab goes

bobs77vet · Nov 1, 2013

seems to me before i do anything with plumbing, electric and cables I need to finish fitting all the rest of the chassis parts

time to drill some holes in my goal post side cover plates, these are a coated steel which I am going to paint in an aluminum color becasue I like they way look that way. as you can probalby tell I am not to constrained by now they left the factory.

i was surprised how much the originals are "proud" of the frame here

and now for the fun part test fitting the floor

minor sanding in this area with a belt sander should be all that it needs. these are 1/2" off of ebay from Mr Dubois and they are really nice and i am very happy with them.

bobs77vet · Nov 8, 2013

I took today off to do some out side chores and slipped 2 hrs into work on the floor boards.

heres the belt sander mounted to a stand for removing some of the wood on the floor boards where my repair panel or welds are slightly out of shape

and for removing the high spots on the welds

you can use one of the pieces turned on its side to make sure you have the right final fit/size

inside grinding

and using some of the orignal weldnut locations to start the layout process, i am using Barneys layout for the new weld nuts

and the weld nuts for the rest of the project. i have not decided if i am going to spot weld them in or not i guess i will see the level of effort required.

SuperBuickGuy · Nov 9, 2013

the use of wood has me really considering using wood for the floors on my Spider.... it'd solve several problems....
thx

bobs77vet · Nov 9, 2013

this is 1/2" exterior grade 5 ply sand grade both sides and no "football" patches either

easy hour or so this afternoon, back side of the belt sander bracket, i bet you could find these on ebay

I decided to lay the holes out on the rails and then drill them from the top then put ply wood down and drill up

SuperBuickGuy · Nov 9, 2013

I have one of those - I use it in metal work a lot. I bought it for $5.00 at a garage sale. I spent $20 - got a Senco framing nailer, the sander, a 1000' roll of CAT 5 wiring, and something else I can't remember now.... I think I did okay

denpo · Nov 9, 2013

Any plan on waterproofing the panels?

BBShark · Nov 10, 2013

Are those templates or actual (literally) floor boards?

bobs77vet · Nov 10, 2013

the floor boards are original design and they were 3/8 plywood originally. these are 1/2" and 5 ply. originally they were painted black.

finsihed drill the holes

heres the weld nuts you can see it tells what size hole to drill

i have never done this before an i bought the spot welder for this project so lets play around some. i drill the hole and clamp the weld nut in place

use a grinder to remove the rough edges underneath and to give a clean weldable surface and unless your name is Brutus make a platform on the dolley for the welder to sit on

thats what it looks like

i use a long bolt to wiggle the nut.....if it breaks i do it over again.

a right angle grinder with a small wheel does the trick for the grinding

the spot welder tongs will not fit inside the heavy frame channel so we will mig it up

these just say for me to mig weld the hole's

welded and ground down

and if you screw it up this is what it looks like

done with the main floor boards. i need to think about how i can make a more uniform clamping jig just for the spot welder.

bobs77vet · Nov 11, 2013

i saw the new string ray yesterday drving by it was interesting

so i went to bed last night thinking of how to make a clamping jig for the spot welder....for those big copper jaws.....

so where is there copper in misc sizes....the electrical dept of HD

lets make some holes on the flat sides

you get the idea

and oh yeah those copper pieces get hot so have a tub of water to drop them in. didnt take very long you just have to use your fingers with the hot tongs for placing the jaws so its mostly waiting for the jaws to cool down. my bottom jaw was actually in the hole of the weld nut. you place that first. it would have been easier with a third hand.

bobs77vet · Nov 11, 2013

done for the day......there are 3 weld nuts on the front toe boards that i just could not get a good angle at to weld and those will not be welded in......the rear back board weld nuts is the next project.

bobs77vet · Nov 12, 2013

Well tonight was one of those kind of a PITA nights, about an hour of it.....of these last 12 weld nut locations 8 of them were miserable to remove the old weldnuts. there was limited access for a big grinder or a hammer and chisel. I just kept telling myself its just metal you will win over and over and over again. these are drilled to the final size now and both sides of the rails have been taken down to bare metal. I can see using the spot welder will be a chore. Its as heavy as a big battery and between holding it and lining up the weld nut to the hole and then slipping the copper plate under its a real test of strength and dexterity

bobs77vet · Nov 13, 2013

well I hate to admit it but it was 90 minutes of me mostly saying....its just metal you are going to win....over and over again. 7 of the 12 are done

bobs77vet · Nov 14, 2013

about 2 hrs tonight finishing the last 5 weld nuts and the rest of the work

all screws get hand tightened all the way down to make sure there is no burrs/binding etc and then get removed to sand

a couple really nice welds look close at 3, 7 and 11 oclock for the weld tell tales

rails all sanded and the top side sprayed.

next move is to test fit the floors and start on the trans tunnel repairs

MYBAD79 · Nov 14, 2013

Hey Bob, I see you got this 18V Ryobi drill..... I have the same one, I also got a lot of their other 18v tools.... Have you tried their newer batteries?? Just a few months ago they had a special on their drill/impact combo with two lithiumIon batteries and charger.... The old tools work with the new batteries - 100% compatible, good job Ryobi !!!

These new batteries are awesome, waaay better than the 'old style' batteries .... Give it a try , you won't regret it !!!

bobs77vet · Nov 15, 2013

yes i am a big fan of the silver lithium battery, i have two of them and one black lithium and the original yellow one that came with the set. i have lots of the ruobi 18v tools and like them very much i gave my hitachi cordless to my son so i have all the same tool and battery compatability

easy hr this am test fitting the ply wood. so all told that was a lot of effort, not really technically hard but it was just work

bobs77vet · Nov 15, 2013

test fit everything again again and again.....it just makes it easier when you are in the final assembly

i am chamfering the holes

first coat on one side

SuperBuickGuy · Nov 15, 2013

are you painting the bolts too?

bobs77vet · Nov 16, 2013

the floor screws and the counter sunk washers do not get painted

easy hour or two today.....making 6 P clips and painting the bottom of the floor boards