1958 MGA Coupe

bobs77vet · Aug 17, 2012

well I agree!!!! but I promised the Mrs. I would finish the back basement "weight room" 15x12 with stud walls and drywall and in Virginia August is the perfect time to do an inside basement project.....read naturally cool. so we got back from vacation last week and I have been out buying 2x4s this week and this weekend I will build the stud walls and then next week start hanging the drywall. The good news is that this is the last thing i could do to this house with the exception of building some "built in cabinets" in the other part of the finished basement . so after this is done, my garage time will quickly come back to me and hopefully it will be a bit cooler.

bobs77vet · Sep 6, 2012

i am happy to report the wall studs are up, elecetricity is done and 50% of the drywall is up, maybe by the end of september it will be finished and ready for paint....then back to the car...i seem to some how have collected a beer "kegerator" in the garage....so i may look like fred mertz in the near future...

MYBAD79 · Sep 15, 2012

looking forward to October garage time ?? it should be nice and cool by then, when is it getting too old ? November ?? do you have heaters in your garage ?

mrvette · Sep 15, 2012

MYBAD79 said:
looking forward to October garage time ?? it should be nice and cool by then, when is it getting too old ? November ?? do you have heaters in your garage ?

HEHE...in Rockville Md, just maybe 20 miles north of him, I had a ~125k BTU Gas furnace in my garage.....in about 15 minits it was warm to work, no matter the outside weather....it was GREAT@@!!!!!! Bob will need something similar or DIE....:flash:

Stpman · Sep 19, 2012

mrvette said:
MYBAD79 said:

looking forward to October garage time ?? it should be nice and cool by then, when is it getting too old ? November ?? do you have heaters in your garage ?

Click to expand...

HEHE...in Rockville Md, just maybe 20 miles north of him, I had a ~125k BTU Gas furnace in my garage.....in about 15 minits it was warm to work, no matter the outside weather....it was GREAT@@!!!!!! Bob will need something similar or DIE....:flash:

I have an 80K BTU in my 2 car nd keep it around 55f

bobs77vet · Oct 10, 2012

woohoo the painting of the finished drywall has started. october is perfect car weather with an open garage door here. after thanksgiving the heat will get turned on. I have a cieling mounted Dayton 240v electric heater and my garage is so well insulated that it doesnt cost much to keep it warm. i actually think that the beer refrigerator that the keg sits in is so old and inefficient that just keeping the refrig on will keep the place warm. I am thinking I am two weekends away.....heres what i have been working on...i may have slipped over the edge on this one....

thats a 139" diagonal, epson 8350 projector with an onkyo 7.1 HTiB and a pioneer bluray player

SuperBuickGuy · Oct 11, 2012

wow, with a 3d cheerleader.... all looks good

bobs77vet · Oct 27, 2012

hard top believe its been about three monthssince i worked on the car last so i wanted to sart slow with an easy project so i worked on the door hinge plate.

here it is i drilled out the old screws and retapped the holes

heres the retaining plate, nothing really fancy to make this.

1Michel · Oct 27, 2012

now were talkin...
One part at a time lol

bobs77vet · Oct 28, 2012

lots of one parts............another quick moment in the garage

I took the wire brush to the area

the mock up

i always use the "best ground" set up when i weld

some quick ugly welds

.

bobs77vet · Nov 10, 2012

well here is another bite of the elephant and may be the last thing i had to do before i can wrap up this side.

this is the foot well body mount and bolt

this is the template cut out of thin cardboard

this is it laid out on a piece of austin healey 3000 frame i had laying around

some slight persuasion happening

some times things dont fit in the vise to bend when the sides are already bent so i used a piece of flat stock to make the jaws wider

the rough shape

all seams are welded here is the final fitting and welding

to make a nice rounded fit around the bolt hole i used an old steel washer welded to the bottom of the bracket

MYBAD79 · Nov 10, 2012

As always Bob: great fabrication skills there :thumbs:

1Michel · Nov 11, 2012

MYBAD79 said:
As always Bob: great fabrication skills there :thumbs:

+1

SuperBuickGuy · Nov 11, 2012

bobs77vet · Nov 11, 2012

thks guys

happy Veterans day to everyone thanks for your service, I actually think about all those who came before me and gave me the right to vote when I am in the voting line.

worked some more on the finishing the pass side.
heres the need for the inner panel

heres the template for the inner panel

here I am bending the piece

this is how you get extra leverage with brake

now to fit the big panel and creat the flange< it its upside down in the photo

these are deep C clamps I use on the sheet metal break and are good for many things

you can see the good penetration by the heat discolortation on the panel

427Swede · Nov 11, 2012

Nice work going on here:thumbs::thumbs:

/Daniel

denpo · Nov 11, 2012

My god, that car is a metal swiss cheese and you'll filling all the hole one by one.
This is crazy, in a good way :nuts:

bobs77vet · Nov 12, 2012

yes lots of swiss cheese but whats good about this project is that there is very litttle out of pocket expense on this, just welding consumables. i needed a project this time that was more time intensive than $$$ intensive. I am still recouping from a wedding this past summer.

well we are getting close to wrapping up this side....

heres the panel fitted in place for welding

I added the supports for under the door posts and painted the inside with cold galvanizing primer over the weld through primer and then 3 coats of rustoleum glossy black

here the interior with gloss black. I will use the mig welder for the welding on this and I will grind away the paint that is exposed prior to welding

heres the test fit before the third coats of paint and I will let dry before I weld it in place.

bobs77vet · Nov 18, 2012

What a great day yesterday was! I got to go on a road trip with my oldest son, meet fellow NAMGAR member George Kress , work on an MGA and Tour George's car collection. George had been watching my post and realized he had exactly what I needed and offered a donation to the cause of a front shroud, front frame extension, and unbent radiator. I glady accepted this generous offer! Our road trip started at 6:00am yesterday and we reached George's shop by 9:30am. We started the dissassembly process and by 11:20 the three of us had wrangled the front end off the parts car. After we got the Shroud loaded into the Pick up the fun really started and we toured George's extensive car and parts collection and enjoyed every moment of it. About 12:30 we had everything loaded up and headed back home. It was a great Day with my son and it was really enjoyable meeting George and I look forward to seeing him again at one of the NAMGAR car shows....maybe even with my coupe wearing the new front end!

bobs77vet · Nov 18, 2012

Front frame extension

well i got to work this am on removing the front frame extension from the shroud and worked on it a little bit to bring it back into tip top shape. one of the bumper mounts got bumped when the car got moved into the shop and it broke off when i removed the frame extension and it will get welded back on later this week

here is how i will remove the bolts

i take this stuff serious and i gear up for it and use a full face mask, hearing protection and thick leather gloves, not like these numb nuts on TV who use no protection