Starting to Repair the N/S/F Wing

Some filler had broken away behind the top of the headlight rim so I removed the headlight today to fill the gap. Turns out quite a bit of the wing behind the light is missing and the rest held together with crumbling filler so a bit more work was needed. After a rub down the true history of the wing was revealed. The original headlamps were a dirt and moisture trap and it seems to have eaten the front of the wing away on this side. The upper edge appears to have gone completely and been replaced over the earlier years with both steel and aluminium fillets which have been pop riveted on and filled. The aluminium has reacted with the steel and dissolved leaving the bare steel to corrode and the rivets are proud on the outer side, making a wider contour to the wing that I only noticed as I rubbed it away which will have to be addressed when the wing is filled.

I duly headed to Halfords to buy a new tub of P38 body-filler, but with big gaps and little for it to cling on to I also picked up a tub of P40 fibreglass filler, which is a bit tougher and bridges holes, as well as a small sheet of aluminium mesh to help form the shape of the ring and bind everything together. First though, to combat the rust, I threw on a thick coat of Finnegan's No.1 Rust Beater and stippled as much as I could into the fissures.

The aluminium mesh fillets were then cut out and pushed into place behind the headlight surround using the tacky paint to hold them temporarily.

I then began to mix the Isopon P40 fibreglass filler. I've not used it before and it turns out to be strong stuff which sticks to itself very well and, once it starts to harden a little, becomes really easy to form. I put a quick skim over the back of the mesh to fix it into place and then added a few extra mesh fillets to reinforce the inner edge around the top of the ring, which will be holding the weight of the top of the headlight.

I used two more slugs of filler of about the same size to nicely bind everything in at the back and fill the gaps at the front, though I may have been a bit over zealous with the thickness of the repair and it'll need a good rub down, not bad for a first try. The mesh really helped to make the shape - the filler clings to it superbly.

Soon as I find time I'll be rubbing down the rest of the wing's blemishes and breaking out the P38.

Painting the Chassis

The chassis rails and centre-framework of the MGA is solid and has lasted very well during storage. In 1989, Dad painted the fore and aft ends of the chassis with black Smootherite [now just called Hammerite 'Smooth'] to protect the bits sticking out under the wheel arches while the car was being moved around and this still looks as good as new. The rest of the chassis, round the footwells and cabin haven't been painted since my parents got the car in '73 and they just used a black coach-paint, so it hasn't lasted and I thought I would make time to get the messy job of filling in the gaps out of the way while Dad and I are struggling to find time to get together on the car and sort the mechanicals...

MGs at Tatton Hall Classic Car Show 2012

Went to Tatton Hall Classic Car show on Monday, where there were a good handful of As and other MGs on display, along with a host of other classic metal ranging from the 1910s to the 90s. For the full story on Tatton Hall Classic Car show 2012 and over 120 pics go here: Tatton Hall Park Classic Car Show 2012 [on my other blog: http://retrorunabouts.blogspot.co.uk/]


This is how ours will look...

This MGA 1600 engine bay looked good with the polished rocker-cover and S.Us.

Straight-6 MGC was well sorted with shiny triple S.Us, braided pipes and high-pressure silicone hoses. White-wall tyres were a nice touch.

 1951 Nash aero car. No idea if this is the original bodywork, with the 'ute' style pickup back, but it sure looked swell and I doubt I'll see one again.

Triumph Herald converted to a 'flareside' pickup truck - awesome.

'In Vogue' flagship 2-door original Range Rover behind was also superb.

Finishing the Bulkhead

After a couple of test cans we decided on Rover Carmine Red to paint the bulkhead at least, even if we changed out mind for the rest of the car. It's a deep purplish red that is probably closest to the Orient Red original MGA colour, but is more like the maroon coach-paint ours had been covered in long ago. As we only had one can of Carmine, filling in underneath the wings was done with a failed test-can of Rover Damask Red, which is why the paint looks orangey in the hidden places.

I touched up the sides of the heater-recess where the paint didn't get to with a white applicator I had lying around. I then started throwing the parts back on after cleaning them with WAXOYL, about time really. Also threw on the new pedal fume/dust excluder and rubber-seal for the heater. 

The re-conned heater then went back in and my work on the bulkhead is complete! Phew, now for the rest of the car!

Priming & Painting the Bulkhead

After rubbing the rough surface left by the KURUST nice and smooth, I started the first body-paintwork the car has had since the early '70s by first throwing on a liberal coat of nice protective zinc-primer. It took a couple of rattle-cans to get a complete cover, so got us thinking about buying a little air-compressor and spray gun.

Dad then sprayed one can of red-primer on. Our final coat will definitely be a deep red colour,  probably BMC, but not an original MGA red. We've yet to decide.

Preparing the Bulkhead for Paint

With the restored heater still out I decided to remove as many more of the bits as I could and repaint the whole bulkhead / firewall. This also gave me a chance to refurbish the wiper-motor and other parts, and means that when they all go back on with the heater and master-cylinder they won't need removing again when we focus on the bodywork.

I began by rubbing the bulkhead down as much tp the bare metal as possible using 180-grit sandpaper and removed parts as I went along.

I then treated the bare metal bulkhead with Hammerite KURUST...

...which turns it black and cruddy - I was expecting shiny metal. This stuff is supposed to kill any remaining traces of rust and chemically protect the metal. It also prepares the surface for primer.

KURUST also prepares the surface for primer, apparently, though I think I'll still be giving it another rub down before painting.

New Clutch Slave-Cylinder

Took the old slave-cylinder off from the clutch and got the new one out of it's wax-paper for the first time since it was bought in 1989 and the rubber and piston look spot on. The rubber-hose is also in good nick, but the threads at either end had become a bit rusty and I had to clean them up with a wire-brush. The lever to the clutch-piston looks in good order too, but I suspect it will take more than the hydraulics alone to un-seize the clutch-plate after so many years.

 

With the clutch now complete along with the brakes I threw the master cylinder back in, which was a bit over zealous, as it had to come straight back off to allow work on the bulkhead. Good job really as a test of the master-cylinder revealed a seriously fluid leak from the clutch side plunger-rubber. It was also full of a grey sludge, so after a swill-out and letting the silicone brake-fluid soak in we left the master-cylinder for the time being in the hope that the fluid will swell the rubbers and create a seal against the leak - if not it'll need a new set of rubbers for £10 or, if were feeling flush, maybe a whole new unit for £109.

Brakes + Clutch finished.

The brakes are now on all four wheels, all copper-pipes are laid out and the master cylinder, which also operates the clutch as well, is now in place in its newly painted bracket and the clutch slave-cylinder is in place ready for us to unstick the clutch-plate and the car's hydraulic system is ready to rock.

What a shame the master-cylinder and the under-bonnet copper-pipes must be removed again to work on rubbing down, protecting and repainting the bulkhead, in which the newly restored heater unit sits, and the firewall joining it to the cockpit / dashboard, so we'll have to delay filling the system with fluid and testing it until the master-cylinder is firmly in place.

Heater Unit Refurbishment

The heater was in a bit of a sorry state with a matrix full of sludge, a wobbly fan and, as you can see, a fair bit of rust.

I stripped the unit down and first gave the matrix a good flushing out. I then gave the metal unit a quick rub down to get the rust off but left most of the old paint on and threw on a liberal coat of zinc-primer.

Followed by several coats of BMW Black paint.

The fan has been fettled back into a straight position and the spindle oiled so it spins much better now and works great off a 12V battery test. I threw a quick coat of zinc-primer onto the fan-drum before refitting it.

Reassembled, the unit looks a million times better and is ready to go back in place when we've finished painting the bulkhead in which it sits. The old nuts and bolts still look a bit rusty, but they've had a nice thick coat of Wax-Oyl.

Window Winder Worries

Took off the door-skin while cleaning out the cabin to try and shed some light on why the window winder mechanism refuses to catch the cog and move the glass any more. It's a reasonably recent defect to appear [meaning it's likely something my friends and I broke when we were kids] so I feel it my duty to have a look, hoping to find some broken teeth or a loose spindle, but as you can see from the pics there's not a great deal of access to the mechanism. What I could make out though by holding a mirror and torch in the gap, is that the small ratchet that turns the cog is clearly not doing its job, either by being disconnected from the spindle, slipped clear of the cog or even worn away. Unfortunately there's no way of seeing, as the ratchet is totally enclosed within the mechanism and the cog, which looks fine, runs through a channel in it. Getting the mechanism off involves removing the entire glass/bracket/door-lock system, so it's a task best left until we're concentrating on the bodywork.