Ready for Paint!

Check it out, the MG goes away for painting. It’s taken me 16 months to get to this point.
Hopefully in 3 weeks it will be returning in glorious Tartan Red.

The last several weeks have been challenging. Getting a good fit on the front wings took forever and included a repair to the scuttle, but I’m happy with the final fit. I also painted the inside of the front wings with anti-stone chip followed by body colour cellulose.

The car came of the rotator, which meant fitting the suspension to get it rolling.

I had a trail run of fitting the under floor services. I’m not going to put the car back on the rotator, it's just too risky with the paint on.

In between getting the shell ready I have cleaned the gearbox and a number of parts associated with the pedal box. Not the most fun part of a restoration.

My first jobs on its returns will be: Fit fuel tank, pump, services and pedal box.

Progress...

We had great weather over the Easter weekend. This and an extra couple of days holiday that I took has enabled me to make good progress.
The highlight had to be installing parts for the first time. I wanted to ensure that the underbody services fitted before I removed the shell from the rotator. This involved the routing of the fuel pipe, rear brake pipe, rear loom and the battery cable to the solenoid. I temporarily installed the fuel tank and pump to get the correct lengths and routing. Here’s a picture of shiny parts back on my MGB.

The shell is now ready for coming off the rotator. I will install the rear axle and front suspension so that it can be rolling ready its trip to the painters.

While the weather was good I prepared the front wings. First I keyed the factory primer, then sprayed anti-stone chip and finally sprayed Tartan red cellulose to match the rest of the underside. It’s great spraying outside. Lots of room to move and no masking of the garage required.

I almost forgot…I also repaired the ‘crack of doom’ in the driver’s door. That really should be the last bit of welding for a long time!

Front wing fit and scuttle repair

Fitting the NS front wing has taken a lot longer than expected, but it's worth the time to get it right. I also had to finally repair the rot on the NS scuttle before the wing could be properly fitted. The repair was difficult as the scuttle is a compound curve and the heat from welding introduced distortion. After a lot of minor panel beating, I still had to use some filler to restore the scuttle shape. Anyway it's pretty close now so I'm ready to trial fit the OS wing.

Cleaning and more welding required

Went to the MG Show/spares day at Stoneleigh Park. Purchased the remaining bits needed to get the car rolling ready for its trip to the paint shop.
Spent the weekend cleaning one door, the bonnet and the rear axle. It was great working outside on the patio rather than in the garage. I just had to be very careful not to get any underseal/oil on the flag stones.
The drivers door is in excellent condition except for the 'Crack of Doom'! So a repair job is called for.
I'm almost ready to fit the front wings, however there is one last remaining area of rust on the scuttle that I will have to deal with first. So its back out with the welder.

Boot

Spent a few hours wire brushing the boot floor followed by a coat of Bonda Zinc primer. It will stay like this until the body shell goes for paint.

Engine bay

I know it's a bit sad but I wanted to paint behind the regulator mounting plate. So I drill out the spot weld and removed it. I could then clean and paint the inner wing before refitting the plate. At the same time I fitted the bonnet stay locator which had been removed when I replaced a section of the wing mounting rail.

Time for the inside...

I couldn't resist some more painting, this time it was the cockpit. First a coat of primer, then seam sealer, then two coats of anti-stone stone chip (for a bit of sound deadening) and finally two brush coats of cellulose Tartan Red.

Had to leave the heater on all week. I worked out that I have already spent £70 running the heater. I better make sure that I get hold of our electricity bill before the wife see it!