1958 MGA Coupe

[bobs77vet]

I'm probably forgetting something from an old post...but after all of that work you did on it, where is the body?

sitting on saw horses waiting for warm weather




the kids were the best part of the drive they flocked to it like pigeons to bread crumbs

 

[bobs77vet]

.

well the cleaning up the garage went well and one of the big initiatives was to get rid of boxes....starting with the box that goes here



this looks like a pretty nice quality tank from Moss



I used inner tube sections from a Motorcycle tube for the barrier inbetween the tank and the brackets and used electrical tape to hold it in place every 12" or so, remember I am not going for a concours quality restoration just a nice quality driver quality restoration



this is the last step before I can start doing the seats which will be an inside job, remember I have been having the seat bottoms sitting on the seat foam now for several months in the basement.

I didn't want to being drilling any holes around the leather seat kit. and remember before you drill any hole to look below.....there are brake lines there and the battery cable











so after that I promtly uninstalled that side and took both seats to the basement I think now I will start on the seats...this is where we left off with the seats in December

 

[bobs77vet]

well in my mind I always thought I would do the seats on a snow day....

lets start by unstuffing the seats and letting it get use to the foam and the plywood bottoms, 35 yrs old is along time for the leather to have taken its own shape and we don't have to rush anything



same strategy to use the clamps and bungie cord to put some tension on the seat bottoms



two of them done and wrapped up in plastic so I don't get them dirty




so we take the bottom wood strips and use some adhesive sealant to go along with the screws


screw them in



add the clamps back in the middle and lets do some reading on how to do the backs

 

[bobs77vet]

so lets start to form the back board, this is cut for a roadster so i will need to do some trimming. i flipped the backboards over on each other and transferred the low side on each one to the other by tracing it. this will give me a reference mark but i will trim it in place after its glued in place.



those dark colored markings are from me getting a paper towel moist and running it over the bends, not soaking wet just moist about 4 times to release some of the tension in the paper fibers. i will do this several times over a couple of days unitl the back board is rigid in its new form

 

[bobs77vet]

i moved on to the other seat with the same technique, slightly dampen the back board where the bends will occur clamp in place, you can see the fit which will need to be trimmed. last time I did this I bought backing board for mounting pictures and cut it out myself , this time i wanted to try the premade backing board, i am not sure its any better and i still have to trim it.

 

[bobs77vet]

lets do some work....I have used ideas from all the info on this that is on the web, not a single original thought on my part just a lot of stealing....

used some batting to cover the sharp metal ends


glued the foam to the seat bottoms. I guess the clamping is my original thought to this





I used an adhesive from a tube for this it has a 6 hr set time for full cure





I used 2" foam for the bottom support and 1 stiff batting and 1/2 foam for the top. I decided to go a little bigger on the bottom piece for some additional comfort. it seems that these pieces for the coupe seats are all different sizes maybe they were left over materials



lets play around with the stapler and batting and make a cover for my temporary seat.....this is just for fun and to play around with stapler depth settings and to get use to working with batting and foam

 

[bobs77vet]

lets do some upholstery....I will only be stretching the fabric for the time being

trim the back board to shape



wrap the tube frame and the backboard with duct tape






build up the seat base







turn fabric inside out and stretch over the foam


yes those edges are sharp



back to seat backs

 

[bobs77vet]

so lets work on these some more and see if we can take the looseness out of the top of the seat. I don't know why that is there, it could be my home made coupe seat is just off a little bit or it could be the leather and vinyl aged and shrunk differently who knows but I am still only interested in slowly stretching it to shape....

this is the issue





this is the cure, currently I have a kitchen trash bag over the seating material so it slides on and off easily, and when you pull down on the trash bag that new foam just compresses away





so the cover is twisted a little so I add some more heat to the back and pull it in to compliance



last step is to pull the back tight after hitting it with a hair dryer and clamp it in place to stretch the material and on the top lets add some compression to help stretch things





I will let this stay like this for at least two weeks and let the fabric slowly come back to shape. if I knew what I was doing or the material was new I may be more daring, but I don't want to rip the seams, no big deal if it does I will just have a new panel sewed in but if don't have to take it to a shop that would make me and my budget happy

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

one of those "talents I'd like to have" is upholstery. In my Corvette, I'd like to replace the seat foam; then remake the uppers to have side bolsters.... just a bit of stitching...

you make it look too easy, and I don't need another project or talent

 

[bobs77vet]

if I had the $$$ I would buy an industrial sewing machine and play around with making upholstery, so I think that's off the table for the short term!

tonight lets play around with the fuel line, this thread helped me out and of course Barneys write up on it. http://www.mgexp.com/phorum/read.php?2,2183428 Dave Dubois fuel line fitting picture schedule is great! Dave thank you.




all the ugly parts



propane didn't do squat.....so we move up to the OA rig



and the new setup



and some paint for the lower bracket

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

Your vise grips look too new

 

[bobs77vet]

well that one in the fore ground has been with me for a while....the others around Christmas when they go on sale in a pack I buy the kids and myself some....you can never have too many vise grips



I have a plan.....I mocked up the cube fuel pump now to find some fittings

I will use the original mounting bracket under the cube pump so the next guy or me has the original bracket if they ever need it



I will use the ground wire off of the battery terminal with an enclosed spade connector to the fuel pump ground



I will use a 90* fitting here and point the filter out to the frame



this is what the fittings will look like

the original fitting to the gas tank, a 5/16 compression fitting with a 5/16 barbed nipple for the hose connection to the fuel filter ( I will see if any of the local stores has a filter that is threaded on both ends), the fuel filter gets a 1/8" NPT female 90* male fitting, the fuel pump outlet gets a 1/8"NPT 5/16" compression fitting, and the engine end gets the original fitting.



tomorrow I look for fittings!!!

 

[Sam Cogley]

You don't need an industrial machine to do upholstery. A Singer 201-2 or 15-91 will do it, as will a Pfaff 130. I have all three of them, but I keep the 15-91 set with the proper lower tension for heavier upholstery thread. The Pfaff is basically a small industrial machine sort-of made for home use. They sold it in an industrial table with the same sort of motor that would drive a purely industrial machine, as well as home cabinetry with smaller motors.

 

[bobs77vet]

thks Sam for the info

this is a fuel pump I was using on the 37 ford and it was too much so I had to get one with even lower pressure for the 37 ford but I think it should work on the MGA



lets make a fuel line


this is the old one and the new one


start marking out bends





double flaring the line












this is so the inner flare doesnt fall out when I sweat it



add some flux, heat and apply solder

 

[Sam Cogley]

One word of warning with the Singers - they didn't mark anything with model numbers, but there are good serial number cross-reference databases out there. I can usually identify most common models on sight, but I still check to verify. Pfaff marked theirs with huge decals. Any of them can pop up at thrift stores, I got my 130 in a thrashed cabinet at the DAV for $60 - 25% off coupon, but that was more than a bit lucky.

 

[bobs77vet]

thks Sam for the info
first let me say thks to every body for reading the thread I never thought so many people would be following this, I guess I will have to up my worksmanship ......

lets finish the fuel line.... this was not hard but it was work



I will use the old fuel line to make a mock up of the correct bends this is how I mark where the 90* lines up












I covered the engine in towels so I didn't scratch things while I was wrangling the fuel line










that took about 2 hours, all I can think of that I have left on the chassis is to put in the fuel sender and make the new P brackets for the bigger welding battery cable

 

[denpo]

Thanks YOU for keeping us entertained, nice work as always.
Given your (pretty constant) pace, do you have a ballpark idea when you gonna be done?

 

[bobs77vet]

Thanks YOU for keeping us entertained, nice work as always.
Given your (pretty constant) pace, do you have a ballpark idea when you gonna be done?

thks , i see painting in October and interior next winter

we will do the seats today!!!! my oldest son is helping me

we started with taking the temporary seat apart and added the left over foam to it, mostly so I didnt have any left over material and more importantly we could get the hang of doing this again and figure out how to make the stapler be our friend.





its great to be able to practice on something that doesn't matter.


we pull it taught to see what it looks light and make some sacrificial staples



use some blue tape to get straight lines








we go back and clean everything up








now to the backs!!!

we pulled the seat backs down tight clamped them and then and went and did taxes to lt them stretch while we figured out what my son owed uncle sam, after that back to the seats






we pulled them tight and stapled them and then tucked the sides in a glued them





then to the other side





so these are the 35 year old leather seat kits on the roadster seats I made into coupe seats finished, I think the vinyl shrunk differently then the leather did but all in all I am pleased with the end result








35 yrs is along time to sit in a box

 

[bobs77vet]

i am not sure how this is suppose to get terminated but this is what I did





then I trimmed the piping

and what they look like from the bottom



I added 2x4 runners and you can sit in them

I am letting them sit on the deck in the full sun to let the wrinkles go away

 

[bobs77vet]

lets start warming up some body working skills again....

that's no place for doors



it looks like a ghost



I do this one handed so I cut the head off of a bolt as an aide and I use a punch











after hanging the doors I can definitely see where fitting the doors, rocker panel, fenders all need to be done with the body sitting on the frame...so I guess I will pick at all the low hanging body work fruit for a while and get that squared away before I tackle the fender repair panels and the rocker panel

 

[bobs77vet]

well time to get back at it......after contemplating a course of action for a few days I said screw it and just started cutting and welding...

I made an inner brace for the door hinge pillar post to tie the two hinge posts together and welded these bolts at the correct spacing for the brackets






this takes most of the movement out of the doors hinge post

I guess I forgot to take the heads out of the hinges when I drilled out the screws






I feel like cutting out rust today







these are just the most of a preliminary fit as you can get


some more cut lines


taking car of the inner brace



the inner brace cleaned off


lots more to do here .....but no more rust in this area

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

looks like anti-fouling paint on the bottom

 

[bobs77vet]

looks like anti-fouling paint on the bottom

io just need to add some markings for depth...
i always sand off there primer for my own....

there are probably a thousand ways to do fender patch panels, this is how I do them on fenders that have no accident damage I pair them up and brace them up together this way they are a matched pair







lap the door end





grind off primer and paint with weld through primer













now to get the right arch

 

[427Swede]

Great to follow your build, you do nice sheet metal work!!
Brings back memories of the many hours of bending metal on my Volvo P1800...

 

[Sam Cogley]

With all the work you've already done on that body, I'm amazed at the amount of rust you still have to conquer. That wasn't a car, it was a pile iron oxide! Amazing work bringing it back.

 

[bobs77vet]

thks guys i really am down to the last bits of rust repair on the fenders,and i have two areas on the body that are behind the seats and on both sides of the removable battery cover that i repaired in spots but they are so poch marked that i think i am just going to cut them out and fabricate a new panel for them. if i dont do this i think every time i saw them it would bug me. after that its maybe a few small holes i missed here and there and then its down to body filler time and sanding

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

oh good, the easy part - body filler and sanding. Ummm :lol: doesn't body work and sanding take twice the amount of time as it takes to do the mechanical and rust repair portion of the job?

 

[bobs77vet]

oh good, the easy part - body filler and sanding. Ummm :lol: doesn't body work and sanding take twice the amount of time as it takes to do the mechanical and rust repair portion of the job?

yes but that is no brainer work.....just 30 mins a day for the entire summer and paint it in the fall.....

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

oh good, the easy part - body filler and sanding. Ummm :lol: doesn't body work and sanding take twice the amount of time as it takes to do the mechanical and rust repair portion of the job?

yes but that is no brainer work.....just 30 mins a day for the entire summer and paint it in the fall.....

while I may vacation in my ADD, spending more than a few hours on anything would send me postal.... which is why I trade doing fabrication for someone else doing bodywork

 

[bobs77vet]

these cars are so small its really not too painful....now my 65 Chev fleetside was a nightmare