1958 MGA Coupe

[bobs77vet]

That fender is enough of a mess that I'd be looking for a replacement, or at least a damaged fender with a good front section to graft onto it. If you rebuild the entire front of it, you're more of a glutton for punishment than I.

are you just realizing now that I am a glutton for punishment....although if these fenders weren't so outrageously expensive I would be with you

lets make a form and transfer it over to the pass side and see what we have to do to start repairing this fender



cut some 18 ga steel and make a 90* bend in it



and this is what its suppose to look like.....just flip the template over



so we will use a shrinker and stretcher to make the curves



note to self...resist the temptation to see what the smooshed metal feels like...because .it feels like little slivers of metal pressing into fingers

final form




playing around with the planishing hammer....you know the painting the Scream? I wish I had some artistic talent. I think I will need to make some of the curves of the front fender so I wanted to brush up my skills.



test fit on good side



and a test fit before dinner

 

[bobs77vet]

well today was playing around with the passenger side fender some more, you would be surprised at how strong fenders become when you start stitch welding up the holes and tears...



























where we started

 

[Sam Cogley]

So you're just welding reinforcements behind the headlight ring rather than cutting those rotted areas out and replacing them?

 

[bobs77vet]

not sure yet on this side just trying to bring it back to a reasonable place to start the repairs.....for some reason the previous owner cut the curled lip off of the head light ring in opposing sides probably to make it round after the fender bump.....the headlight ring is in pretty good shape just misformed because of that hack job.

you know the routine by now....use template to make sure the sides are the same, and spot weld the piece in place



make some adjustments



very close



weld in bottom lip


finish fit



cut away













enough for today

 

[denpo]

 

[bobs77vet]

that's excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is really a nice set of clamps







I didn't like how the seam lined up so I cut the piece out and relined it up





I had to stop the grinding it was kind of loud in the neighborhood for a sunday

 

[Sam Cogley]

Meh. Your neighbors should be proud of living in such close proximity to an artiste.

 

[bobs77vet]

Meh. Your neighbors should be proud of living in such close proximity to an artiste.

I mean I get it .....grinding metal I think is even more annoying than a circular saw. so when the neighbor lady asked my son in law how long I was going to be making the noise for I just stopped and cleaned up. my daughter was saying that at 10:45am on a sunday anything is fair game and she even pointed out that my granddaughter was asleep in a stroller in my bedroom which is the window right out side the garage and it wasn't bothering her. my view is more neighborly.....I know that my hobbies make noise and generally I grind with the garage door closed but there was so much grinding to do I wanted to have the mess be outside. so I cut short my work by an hour or so. I guess my next house if it has to be in the city will have a dedicated dirty bay that has nothing in it so I can sand grind etc and keep the mess contained.....

 

[Sam Cogley]

That's one reason why I want to build a detached garage/workshop. Need funds first.

Some people are too sensitive, though.

That said, I guess I'm lucky that I only have neighbors on two sides, businesses on the other two.

 

[bobs77vet]

test fit the headlight buckets , drill the holes for the adjusters, wirebrush them and paint them

 

[bobs77vet]

I built up the low areas with continuous welding beads and give the final shape with a grinder and then some body filler to even every thing out





tape off and prime the area, I will have to finish the sanding the inside curve by the headlights with the fenders off the car




I was curious to see how the fit would be with the gasket so i had to wait a while for everything to dry, its worth the time to do a rough fit of all the parts before you invest any time in doing the finish body work and sanding. I always prime the areas because it pulls out the flaws. this way you don't spend your time in areas that actually are good and miss the bad areas, and it doesn't matter if you have to sand it off or not>

 

[bobs77vet]

lets practice my body works skills and wrap up a fender, I use short strand fiber glass for my first skim coat

 

[Sam Cogley]

It's amazing how much more like a "finished" car it looks with the headlight buckets installed.

You may have mentioned it at some point, but I remember from the photos at the start of the thread that the grille was smashed. Are you going to repair it, or are there reproductions available?

 

[bobs77vet]

its a repo that came with the car. its funny you asked I was thinking of fitting it on the car with the old head lights just for shits and grins









trying hard to get at least one fender finished.......do some more body filler sand with 80 grit paper , spray with self etching primer on bare metal then hit with a base primer it just happens to be black. will guide coat it tomorrow with gray primer and then sand with 220 to see where it takes us

 

[bobs77vet]

as I have been walking around the car coming up with the next plan of attack I can see where I need to go into a production environment, that's a little different then my normal pace. so heres my plan....bring all the body panels up to the level of the black primered fender ....then get out the real paint equipment for the rest of the painting process. so I dug out my portable work tray that I used when restoring my first MGA when I didn't have a garage and I stored the tools I was using on this under the "kitchen addition" of our first house....so this lets me put all my body working tools at easy reach and no longer on the garage floor. I am busy for the next 5 or 6 days but after that it should be "game on " time

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

is "game on" short for hack, hack, hack, hack, cough?

 

[bobs77vet]

not me............not ever............wouldn't even think about that. although I am feeling feverish now that you mention it.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

I'd watch the SeaChickens, but they make me sick too.

 

[bobs77vet]

I'd watch the SeaChickens, but they make me sick too.

well I guess I could watch Washington foot ball that's enough to make you sick also....especially dan Snyder the owner...yuck

lets move to the boot.....take care of some dents, quick self etching primer then a quick coat of black primer and then to move on to the next panel. the plan is to do the the other rear fender then the rear body around the boot and then the coupe top then move on to the front. when its all black I will get out the real surface primer and start the real finish body work





I guess its too dark for a good photo on my phone

 

[bobs77vet]

my birthday is coming up and rumor has it i will be getting two portable body working stands....its from a very reliable source (me)....just have to wait until after my birthday dinner to set them up

same routine......sand off red primer out side only, fill the open joint with metal and weld, prime bare metal with self etching primer after first being wiped down with wax and degreaser. i will not paint anything after using a machine to sand unless its been hit with a wax and degreaser first. the machines can exhaust small droplets of oil that you never see and cause paint problems. this body work is really only the very first step in the process and its suppose to look rough





do some filler on some small divets