1958 MGA Coupe

[bobs77vet]

a quick check shows the headliner insulation still in place

put the muffler back on

 

[Sam Cogley]

That muffler looks like new with that coat of silver ceramic paint!

 

[bobs77vet]

That muffler looks like new with that coat of silver ceramic paint!

you shamed me into making it right.....

lets start with making the missing headlight adjuster.....for some reason i had to chase the threads with a die to make the screw work, not sure why perhaps it was metric...any way take the head that was a hex head with a lip and turn it on the flap disc unitl i had a nice round head.





test fit the old head light lamp

lets start with making the missing headlight adjuster.....for some reason i had to chase the threads with a die to make the screw work, not sure why perhaps it was metric...any way take the head that was a hex head with a lip and turn it on the flap disc unitl i had a nice round head.




test fit the old head light lamp

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

wow, just wow.

you know, I'm getting to the end of my FJ40 build - and I love the result, I have a 50 Buick (and others) waiting in the wings; but I get get C3s out of my head.... you're in roughly the same stage of completion... how did you get Corvettes out of your head?

 

[bobs77vet]

. how did you get Corvettes out of your head?

there wasnt enough metal body work in the corvette, thats all. i just needed to exercise my metal working skills some. it is hard to get the corvettes out of the mind.....and i am thiinking if i am going to have only one toy what should it be.....a C2 ????? its hard to get them out of the mind. but that big ass buick would be such a fun build. i think that would but corvette fever at bay for a while


easy day today

 

[bobs77vet]

parts came...



lets start on the dash instruments and things

 

[bobs77vet]

lets do the big instruments, I used a very fine 1" paint brush to carefull wipe down the inner face, to remove some cob webs on one of the gauges, these are new bezels

you can see the big O ring in between glass face and chrome ring







the glass wouldn't come off,easily









stainless steel paint to freshen it up.





there is so little chrome on the inside of the coupe it seemed like it was worth it to me to make sure the chrome really popped out.

 

[GoVetteGo]

Bob - You ARE a magician!! You turn "crap" into jewels. Man, it is a pleasure to look at your expertise in turning things that most people would toss, into precious, usable parts!!!

It is joy following your precesses!

Thanks for the inspiration!

John

 

[phantomjock]

Glad to see you are using Mothers! We use it on all our stainless steel on deck. Have you also tried Autosol? Been giving it a go - seems similar. Will know after some long term "testing."

Beautiful, just beautiful.

Cheers - Jim

 

[bobs77vet]

thanks, we are getting there.....a little bit slower then I wanted though

 

[bobs77vet]

its hard to imagine I still have so many parts laying round with the car so much put together... I need to have clearer picture in my head what parts I have left



brackets



new parts



and what got my nuts all twisted.....too many nuts bolts screws washers...and I haven't even sorted the master electrical kit yet



buy two parts boxes





and no more twisted nuts, man do I feel better

 

[bobs77vet]

sorting, painting, wiring


that's the electrical fastener kit sorted


painted the big clips for the heater air hose



and while I am down here I am pretty sure these screws are going to get replaced with flush rivets



harness mayhem





up front



my home made P clips

 

[bobs77vet]

woohoo interior time coming soon




finish up some more wiring harness

 

[bobs77vet]

put the two tables together with screws, these are quickly becoming my favorite tables





take dash out of car



get some scraps to make a holding system for the dash

got the idea from here

https://www.google.com/search?q=reb...LAhXCRiYKHeruDQoQsAQIHg#imgrc=2d3UYa8k-uFZeM:

from an old file cabinet









spent way too much time trying to figure a cut pattern only to determine i did not have enough vinyl to do to it all








then to find out i didnt have enough vinyl fabric....... &^%$# ^&**(%$# ^%$#@!@# ... so 2 stores, 3 hours and $43 later I am now ready to continue





glue time when i am in a fresher mood

 

[GoVetteGo]

put the two tables together with screws, these are quickly becoming my favorite tables



glue time when i am in a fresher mood

Nice work Bob! I just put one of those welding tables together last week. Sturdy and easily adjustable. Harbor Freight????

I have taken on a new tact with the cars - 30 minutes then a break!! I can't risk burning out on either car otherwise I may never finish either one!!!

Keep it up buddy. You give me the little push I need!!

John

 

[bobs77vet]

thanks and yes harbor freight on sale for like $50 each

well time to &^%$ or get off the pot as the saying goes....

dont really know what i am doing but sometimes there are leaps of faith....(.and its not the first time i have done this , these are just not skills i stay practiced on)

i am taking a break for dinner and will do more tonight





put the contact adhesive on








trim inside of opening



just put the gauges in for temporary pulling the fabric taught

 

[bobs77vet]

done for the night ....in another hour or so i will take the clamps off






and we have a wrap for the evening

 

[bobs77vet]

move to finishing the top and bottom of dash, the wrap around sections will get done tomorrow along with the trimming. this dash should be done this weekend for sure.

 

[bobs77vet]

i need to move boxes out of the work space so lets see what i can move from to do......to DONE




all the other head light adjusters are single slot, so let make this one the same way



put some oil on the grommet and like to see some of the tubing on the inside








there is a dust excluder in between the outter rim and inner rim







other then going back to adjust them they are done, (sorry photobucket wont let me rotate them?????)

 

[bobs77vet]

back to the dash.....not all buffing has to be done with fancy equipment












trim the back using a fresh blade and go carefully




glue the ends .....









tomorrow i wrap the ends and should finish it up......

 

[bobs77vet]

no guts no glory......this is time consuming and you have to bring your A game to the table the entire time, the rivets holes didnt line up in the chrome surround and i needed to drill them, painted the speaker grill with aluminum paint it just would not clean up enough. glued up the blanking plate, held the fininisher in place with #6 screws and had to drill each hole to clean up the vinyl. used about 4 pairs of blue gloves so i didnt transfer any dirt



screws every other rivet hole



riveted up















let me tell you gluing the piping on and painting the glue on a finished dash will make you slightly nervous......after this dries i may try slipping on those moon clips






blue tape must be pulled off immediately or the glue sticks to the tape

 

[bobs77vet]

any how lets wrap up the corners and add some more chrome....

test fit








we dont want any more MGAs being born so slip over the rubber




ok i may be a little bit anal......but how do you know the gauges are actually centered...



....the center of the jewel and the numbers at 12:00

 

[bobs77vet]

great day today...celebrated 35 yrs of service at work...had a nice ceremony, went out for a good meal with the Mrs and kids that could make it and worked on the dash board!!!!!


one of the switches wasnt working like i wanted so i took it apart and cleaned it up and it brought the resistance down to nothing



inside guts







and squeeze those tabs to tighten it up and put it back together



the nut on the switches is both BS and Whitworth just not SAE


sorry i cant flip it for some reason, i really like the stands.






next to work on the turn signal switch and see if it needs any TLC....




tonight I worked on the electropneumatic trafficator.....I love that term......turn signal switch for the rest of us......, i cleaned all the old caked grease off of it and gave it a new wipe down with dielectric grease and forced some behind the seal lip and wiped some on the cylinder walls and it seems to work pretty well.
the idea is that the switch turns that bar that is inside a V shape on the back of the piston and it pushes the piston down and then the piston slowly comes back up from the pressure of an internal spring and small air orifice that lets air in .. a pretty nifty idea.








the piston seal turned up side down






tomorrow i will make a black steel sheet for behind the speaker grille, i think they were card board originally

 

[bobs77vet]

we are getting there slowly but surely...

its fun to see where it started














so I am at a good crossroad....I am at the point where in order to continue to move forward I need to make my drivable chassis not operational any more, I need that safety gauge for the dash, I have to rebuild the oil line tubing, .....and I see those are not original starter and choke cables so I need to find those original ones to put in the dash tonight......I wanted the chassis drivable until the last moment so this means I see the body mounting happening in the not too distant future




heres a good picture I found of the door caps that also get covered, probably one of the last things I do but I didn't realize I had a picture like this of both sides.






I have the distributor rebuild, wiper motor and heater box still to tackle......I think those will happen this weekend, I have gone through the distributor and it needs a new vacuum canister and the short wire from the coil lead to be replaced. That will get sent off to Jeff for one of his rebuilds, too much work done here for that not to be running right....so that comes out and the heater box and wiper motor are on the short list....

 

[bobs77vet]

turns out my choke and starter cables are in good shape but do not have removable knobs so lets see what magic i can work...







cleaned really well and then cleared.....I will let it dry and i will try and make the S and C whiter





these are high quality cables from at least 35 yrs ago, the ends aren't even frayed. i did not take the cable out of the sheath just worked around the knobs, went back and added some white paint to the S and C should have done it to begin with and let it dry over night but we worked around it with a hair dryer. did the white paint to the screen washer before the clear. that screen washer pump threads into the hole in the dash it doesnt push through...i am not sure it works though it pushed bubbles out but did not suck any thing in, maybe i need to prime it first.

one more gauge and i can move to the wiring, still need to make the grill backing

 

[Red77]

That dash looks AMAZING! You are a magician and the before and after photos are shocking as always. Like the rest of us here, reading your updates has become an addiction! Thanks for the inspirational work.

 

[bobs77vet]

thanks

wrapped up dash in plastic and time to move to the Heater box. i have two to choose from. and i am picking the one that has the smoothest opening bottom flap. decided to go with semi gloss black, if i dont like it i will paint it again in gloss black. the motor spins freely and quietly and the heater core does not leak still under pressure filled with water and no leaking



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/bobs77vet/MGA%20Coupe/heater%20box/20160415_085658_zpsdvebkjgm.jpg[/IMG

[ATTACH=full]44767[/ATTACH]

this is the one i am choosing

[ATTACH=full]44768[/ATTACH]

on the right
[ATTACH=full]44769[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=full]44770[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=full]44771[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=full]44772[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=full]44773[/ATTACH]

sand theheater box parts

[ATTACH=full]44774[/ATTACH]

see the sun on the left
[ATTACH=full]44775[/ATTACH]

now on the right, tire is still inflated

[ATTACH=full]44776[/ATTACH]


[ATTACH=full]44777[/ATTACH]


first coat primer

[ATTACH=full]44778[/ATTACH]


then high builder primer
[ATTACH=full]44779[/ATTACH]

paint inside too with primer color coat will come later
[ATTACH=full]44780[/ATTACH]

some extra work on the flange so its nice and flat with no rust pits

[ATTACH=full]44781[/ATTACH]


primer sealer coat on the red primer after sanding with 400 followed by 600

[ATTACH=full]44782[/ATTACH]

color coats going on

[ATTACH=full]44783[/ATTACH]

and done, this is acrylic enamel and after 7 days i can color sand it and buff it..

[ATTACH=full]44784[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=full]44785[/ATTACH]

 

[Sam Cogley]

That heater box that you're not using has an interesting deflection system.

 

[bobs77vet]

they had two different ones, one in the actual door vent flapper and the other in the body of the heater box. I like the one in the vent flapper more but the flapper didn't move very smoothly on the one I had and I really wanted a smooth operating cable so I went with the other heater box that was in slightly better shape


any body ever see a balance weight on the inner fan blower fins?




and clean up the other parts and paint them.....





funny story....we were driving down to drop my daughter off to visit a college and my son who has helped me with the restoration saw the dash board and called us on the trip.....the car Bluetooth system answered the phone and he said I like the dash when did you get it. I said I made it, he laughed and said yeah your just saying that cause moms sitting next to you.....he didn't believe I actually made it.....

 

[bobs77vet]

so it turns out my buddy at work saw my heater core test hose and we realized his racing bike tubes were even narrower




clean the threads on the heater core box, and let me tell you putting those clamps on is just a killer on the paint









not really happy with the gap, any body use cork as a gasket on this mating surface?



does the total car grommet kit come with the grommets for the heater core? and i need the new id plates for the top..