1958 MGA Coupe

[denpo]

[FS]1958 MGA Coupe, fully restored, 60% Steel, 40% Weld.:rofl:
More seriously, nice job.

 

[bobs77vet]

[FS]1958 MGA Coupe, fully restored, 60% Steel, 40% Weld.:rofl:
More seriously, nice job.

you have that backwards.....60% weld 40% steel

Jasco prep and prime on inner fender splash guards


and tapped the shut face panel screws, Neil helped me out with the correct size screw

 

[bobs77vet]

moving forward to finishing those damn inner fenders....they are like work!!!

i rinsed off the jasco as per the directions then sanded the pieces again and applied some fiberglass short strand body filler to my weld seams sanded quickly and primed one side of them.

the only thing i dont like about the jasco is that you have to rinse it with water, it just rubs me the wrong way to use water on bare steel., although we do wet sand primer.....

these inner fenders are being brought up to a presentable level so that the final paint is smooth on them i am not worrying about perfection on these.

 

[bobs77vet]

inners fenders are done....they came out pretty nice for panels that you will never see. now to move on to the shut face panels

 

[bobs77vet]

well today had to turn the heat on in the garage for the newly painted stuff to dry, primers can take a long time at 60* to dry.

primed the inside of the right rear fender



can you see the red paint buried in that crevice.....I believe that is original paint and the shut face panel was mashed into place and it created that dent.


its the shiny raised part which is out of focus by the snips


and my solution is to relieve the crunched part to make it fit better. iwill weld it back together after some more fitting. you cant be scared to cut stuff to make it fit better in projects like this

 

[bobs77vet]

so part of the process of filling time is to mock up everything in final form and then take it all apart again. it feels really good to have something actually put back together on the body

so all the bolts get chased with a thread cleaner and all the washers get hit with the grinder



and we have a fully installed fender with spashguards all the bolts in place and tight







nice and tight screw holes

 

[bobs77vet]

several easy tasks.....weld in nut for the fender bolt, attach and weld in rear spalsh guard tab, sand inner fender one more time and prime

some times theres no easy way to get a good clamp, so this gave me an easy quick hold for a few smalls tacks then i could weld the rest from the back

 

[bobs77vet]

continuing on with the labor of love...full dress rehearsal on drivers side rear fender and two splash guards

all bolts in place and operational, i had to weld the other front fender nut into the body panel piece behind the door latch pillars, not hard just work since i had to cut it out of a piece of the old front part of the car.







the splash guards will get the hole drilled when i have the actual rubber piece that attaches to them.

 

[Red77]

It probably goes without saying, but your patience and attention to detail is an inspiration to us all. Keep up the good work!

 

[bobs77vet]

thks red77

easy 90 mins or so found a few more pin holes in fender that needed some mending and then once again sand and wipe down with wax and degreaser and then prime, I had wanted to get the out side of the fender where the patch panel is sanded and primed but its hard to work on both sides of a panel at once so tonight was just devoted to the inner fender and outside by the fender mounting holes










I am excited because I actually see an end to using the green self etching primer in the near future, one more inner fender and then the 2 doors so maybe 2 more cans, maybe 3 just to be safe.

 

[MYBAD79]

Awesome progress and congrats on now being a 2x grandpa !!!!!!!

 

[bobs77vet]

thks

sand the red primer off , hit the open lap area with a wire brush and then 36 grit and use short strand fiberglass to fill the gap and prime the fender this is just to move it to the next phase, if its not raining tomorrow it will get a quick sanding and black primer.

 

[bobs77vet]

two more weld repairs, a tear in the fender lip and a rust spot on the inner splash guard mounting tab



this has to go the spot that is bubbling if you ignore bubbling spots you are just fooling your self










added some body filler to low spots and prime it

 

[bobs77vet]

nice day outside so lets use the temps to our advantage

one green primed fender to Black primed





and I eye balled some more rust spots I didn't like



so I cut the out side piece all the way off and wire brushed the inner panel and use self etching weld through primer


make a piece to fill the void





tack in place



grind away



no more rust holes and ready to move to the next phase



no more things to do on inner fender so move to black primer, well after the primer dries for a day or two I will put seam sealer on all the weld seams. I also will make the inner sill cap ends and pop rivet them in place so they can be removed if necessary for inspection at a later date

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

looking good

 

[bobs77vet]

thks

and we move to the last fender....i am running out of warm weather to do this outside, i still have to prime the inside of the fender and then can move the fender to the "black primer" phase.

 

[bobs77vet]

the front mirrors are over the front wheels , but I have one too many holes and will have to weld one of them up and weld up a radio antenna hole





the copper backing plate



the radio antenna hole







front mirror hole and the one I filled in


all pin holes welded up and inner fender sanded




time to take a break for lunch and let the primer dry
back from lunch....

add a little body filler to where the repair was made from the radio antenna lead


primed since there was some shiny metal showing


primed in black meaning nothing left to do



wiped down fender with a wax and degreaser and move to the black primer stage

 

[bobs77vet]

lets add another fender nut that is missing and build up a low spot













hold in place to plug weld



see the low spot in the curve



so lets add some 16 ga to build it up










all contact points have to be metal to metal, no filler in compression areas, but filler can be next to them

 

[bobs77vet]

well somehow 2 weeks ago I hurt my back doing pretty much nothing????? so its been slow for me since then but today I went back at it , kind of light but any way...the task is to fully model the pass side front fender and inner splash guard
give a quick sand to the body filler and prime it




who would have thought that the inner fender splash guard holes would not be universal to all MGA's? since my inner fenders are off of a newer model the caged nuts are in slightly different locations......this is why you test fit everything before final painting

 

[bobs77vet]

todays chore is to mount the drivers side fender and inner fender and use all bolts and fully "model" the fit

chase all the holes and bolts




it may be a combination of adjusting all the holes not just the bottom ones....I will look at that again tomorrow

 

[bobs77vet]

mission today is the drivers side shut face panel and the rear light plinth



sanded and primed



the problem







new piece test fit

 

[bobs77vet]

removed the door glass and frame from the drivers side.....no matter how much I read the instructions in the shop manual I could make no sense out them.....so I just did it my way....

some screws holding things down




the rivets hold the door skin to the metal frame, I drilled them out because I wasn't sure




the usual grinding was required to remove several bolts



I found what a barrel nut was the hard way, there was a screw holding the front of the trim down and I couldn't figure out how to get at so after a couple hours of frustration I cut it






a barrel nut


this is where the barrel nut attaches inside the door frame.....I have no idea how you are suppose to get to it though. I will see if I can figure a different way on the pass side now that I know how it all fits together

 

[Sam Cogley]

I'm guessing you need a long-ass extension bar, and maybe a u-joint, to get on that thing.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

I'd love to meet the engineer that comes up with stuff like that... preferably in a place where his screams for help will go unheard.

 

[bobs77vet]

even after taking it apart on the one side I don't know how you do it on the other side..... some how you have to remove all the door locking components, then raise the window so you can remove it from the cranking mechanism, then remove the cranking mechanism so you can get at those barrel bolts then the window and the frame can be taken out???? I have not figured out how remove the window crank mechanism when the window is still with in the frame and the frame is still in the door .....I may be making an access hole some where to help this situation out. and did I mention that the window crank mechanism has like zero clearance to be pushed out and I could only do it after I had the window frame out...and as always "installation is reverse of removal"


lets get all the door handle and locking mechanism components out






use a tooth brush to clean the threads off no need to make the situation any harder then hit with PB blaster





and of course the lock retaining nut is 9/16W which is just a tad bigger then 1" the key code is stamped on the cylinder, the key cylinder retaining nut will slip off the back after the small bolt is removed and the cylinder will come out



and lastly letting the door handle machine screws soak for a little while




these door mechanisms are a PITA most due to the cramped space

 

[bobs77vet]

this is whats left of the window seal



so now i move on to the pass side with my new found knowledge of whats holding it down....well after enough of sticking my hand every where I could think I found this position for the back barrel bolt



I tried every conceivable way to get at the front barrel bolt but an inner door support was in the way no matter how I moved my hands. strangely there was a 3/8" hole in the bottom of the door in the area of those two barrel bolts but I still couldn't get at the front one.

so I marked the location of the barrel bolt using the other side as the guide


so I made an access opening


can you see the support bracket the barrel bolt is sitting on?



and my access window


and it slipped off the bracket as I loosened it and moved down





loosen up the caulking


and I win, if you had any sort of a seal left you would need to remove the horizontal chrome finishing piece that covers it

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

I bet they put the door skin on after they assembled the innards... as I said "where their cries for help will go unheard" or better, where no one cares.

 

[bobs77vet]

I bet they put the door skin on after they assembled the innards... as I said "where their cries for help will go unheard" or better, where no one cares.

i can tell you that any one who has done this before falls in the where no one cares category...when i get a moment with everything out of the door i will put the frame back in and see if my hand can even reach up there, if not i make my access hole a little bigger and be done with it. there may be some strange combination of putting the parts in and tightening them up that makes this doable.....almost like putting headers on an engine in a C3......you fart around with it for 30 mins then it finds the right angle and slips in.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

I bet they put the door skin on after they assembled the innards... as I said "where their cries for help will go unheard" or better, where no one cares.

i can tell you that any one who has done this before falls in the where no one cares category...when i get a moment with everything out of the door i will put the frame back in and see if my hand can even reach up there, if not i make my access hole a little bigger and be done with it. there may be some strange combination of putting the parts in and tightening them up that makes this doable.....almost like putting headers on an engine in a C3......you fart around with it for 30 mins then it finds the right angle and slips in.

C3 is easy - V8 conversions on S-10s. There's this magic moment when you realize that you have to pull the motor to get the right side header into the truck... bad words tend to happen just after that magic moment. :clobbered: Those words are especially poignant when you've already plumbed and wired the motor... want to guess how I know this?

 

[bobs77vet]

today I cleaned up the door windows and packaged them up for safe keeping. the question was posed to me would a planishng hammer work well to remove a crease. this was the go to tool back in the 30 and 40s to remove creases when the metal was good quality and pretty thick...so lets see how it does on an mga body panel





lets make a crease






about 1 minute on the planishing hammer





heres the rub the distortion it introduces











so with very little effort the crease is gone but some distortion is introduced.... I didn't take any time with this and did it very quickly you may be able to go slower and find the sweet spot to stop at or just add some heat to shrink the metal.