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.