41 replies to this topic

[1984mini25]

The new grill arrived over the weekend, but unfortunately its been bent and damaged in the post so back to square one again. Plus it wasn't cheap, as you only need to look on eBay to see how much second hand ones go for.

[1984mini25]

Put in another few hours toady, first job of the day though was too straighten back out the new grill (second-hand, but new to the car) that had been dented and twisted during posting.

 

Before, pretty obvious and would spoil the whole look of the front end.

 

 

 

And after prising the dent back out with a chisel wrapped in duct tape, a small pry bar, a small hammer and some offcuts of wood.

 

 

Although this being a rubber bumper mg the grill won't fit without first chopping off and cutting back the old mounting brackets for the rubber bumper.

 

 

 

But before chopping those off I mixed up a p38 and p40 mix to fill the conversion pieces under the rear lights and the quarter repair, so that could be going off while I was cutting the front.

 

 

 

 

Eventually after a lot of careful cutting, as not to lose a finger or accidently cut through the oil cooler pipework, the grill fitted and the bumper temporally taped up in place for trimming and mounting.  

 

 

 

Once the filler had gone off, time for the boring job of sanding ready for a lighter skim of p38.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And after a lot of messing around with using various rubber doorstops as spacers the front bumper was mounted.

 

 

 

All that's really left to do is finish the filling and sanding, fettling the front bumper and gill until I'm happy with the fit and weld/box over the front bumper mounts that have been chopped for the grill to fit.

Edited by 1984mini25, 12 December 2013 - 06:43 PM.

[1984mini25]

All the filler work to the new sections under the rear lights, rear bumper and quarter repairs is done and primed.

 

The sections for the old rubber bumper mounts that I cut back yesterday to allow the grill to fit have also been plated up.

 

 

 

 

And the grill and front bumper have finally been mounted, just need to sort out some stainless allen bolts for once it's painted.

 

 

So all that's really left do is sand back and prep the sound paintwork, along with the possible addition of welding up a few trim holes and badges.

Edited by 1984mini25, 13 December 2013 - 08:21 PM.

[1984mini25]

Bit more done, although I've run out of welding wire and it's starting to get a little too cold so might not get much more done for a few days.

 

As I've said before, at some point this car has had new bottom half rear quarter panels and after picking at a scabby bit, I was left with this hole where the new panel wasn't quite big enough and just bridged with p40.

 

 

So new section made up and welded in.

 

 

And filled properly this time round.

 

 

The only other iffy area on the car left apart from the bottoms of the doors, was the o/s front headlamp.

 

 

Witch yet again turned out to be made entirely of filler.

 

 

lucky the other side has had a whole new section/panel welded it, why only replace one and fill the other I don't know.

 

 

So it looks like I've got some work trying to fix that headlamp mess when the new welding wire turns up.

[1984mini25]

Another day of welding filling and priming.

 

All the stainless side trim holes have been welded up and filled.

 

 

The reversing lights have also been removed, plated, welded and smoothed over, along with the holes left from the boot badge and an old areal hole.

 

 

 

 

I'm also halfway through repairing the headlamp on the drivers side front wing, just it got a bit too cold and dark to take any picks. Also while I was away over Christmas, A set of freshly powder coated wheels to replace the current rostyles, pair of brand new seats and a roll bar all arrived in readiness for once it's been painted.

Edited by 1984mini25, 26 December 2013 - 07:04 PM.

[1984mini25]

I had hoped on getting the headlamp/wing repair and both front corners of the doors done, But unfortunately after finishing the headlamp/wing repair I either had some grit in my eye or caught the flash from the welder. As my left eye decided to continually water and feel like I was rubbing sand in my eye. Meaning I was pretty much useless for the rest of the da, or at least were welding, grinding and filling was concerned.

 

But one fully repaired headlamp mounting.

 

 

 

All that's left is for me to have a day or twos rest to see how my eye is and then do the corners of both doors. Once those are done it can then be sent off for it's new shiny coat of paint.

[dennismini93]

looking really good mate :) hope your eye is ok soon though

[1984mini25]

Since my last visit the mg has been stripped, with some parts being easier to remove than others and sanded. Both doors removed, bottom front corners cut out and new inner door sections and outer door skin corners made up and welded.

 

 

 

All the welding and bodywork on the rear is all done.

 

 

 

 

While the doors were off the holes for some rather tacky stainless steel sill trims were welded up. you can also see why the seats are being replaced.

 

 

 

And the filler work on the headlamp repair is coming along, not bad considering the first fill I could barely see out of my left eye at the time.

 

 

My mates missis is ready to drop anytime within the next week or so. So once the new one has arrived, its just a case of giving the filled arrears that have been sanded a quick prime, tidy up a few lose end and send it off for it's new respray booked for the middle of Feb.

Edited by 1984mini25, 08 January 2014 - 12:09 AM.

[dennismini93]

Looking really good. Headlamp repair looks good

[domdee]

love it! nice change to minis! i thought about getting a hard top one a while back.

dont you fancy going the whole hog on the sebring conversion???

[1984mini25]

Pretty much sticking to just the front and rear fiberglass bumpers/valances as far as the sebring conversion goes. As this mgb isn't mine, but a good mate of mine who also happens to be into minis, although currently miniless at the mo. So I've been doing the work that he himself can't or doesn't have the time to do and helping out to earn a bit extra instead of signing on. Although that still isn't stopping an agency that work alongside the jobcentre repeatedly sending and making me appointment with the treat of stopping my benefits (witch I haven't been claiming/signing on for 2 years now) if I don't attend. Apparently I have another appointment booked for the 14th with the threat of being sanctioned/court proceedings for if I don't attend. The really annoying thing I've found out is for making me appointments and then stopping benefits even though I'm not signing on in the first place, these bunch of muppets still get there government funded bonuses.

 

 

Anyways, the main priority's for the Mg was to remove the ugly rubber bumpers and lower to normal mgb rideheight, as the later ones had the suspension raised for the Americans and their stupid safety laws of the time. Then tidy up and make a few subtle changes (removal of trim etc..) and once painted have something to enjoy over the summer and tinker with.

Edited by 1984mini25, 09 January 2014 - 05:08 PM.

[1984mini25]

Another day spent on it. I popped round to lend a hand  removing the bonnet, boot, seats etc.. and then prep the engine bay and boot so they can be given a quick spray over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plus while the pressure washer was out, I used to clean up the engine in the mini and blast away all the flaky paint that had bubbled up on the subframe from my leaking slave cylinder that I've just replaced.

[cradley-heathen]

good work, i like the look of how this going. i have done two mgb gts myself, one of which was a jubilee version.

 

the rubber bumpers do indeed weigh a ton, and they look much nicer without them too so good work on ditching yours too!

[dennismini93]

It's so much more solid now, looks alot better without the bumpers as well. When's it going for paint?

[1984mini25]

To be fair this is one is a lot more solid than some he's bought/I've worked on, hopefully though it should be going in for paint middle of Feb.