1958 MGA Coupe

[bobs77vet]

got 5 hours of uninterrupted time and the garage today and got a lot done. i started by taking pictures and measurements so i could use them as reference to align all the panels back again. i got lucky and the latch on the shut face panel came right off, not so lucky on the door hinges so i just drilled the heads off.















i then cut out all the rusty areas and came up with a plan to see if could make it out of one panel, after making the panel i decided to cut it into two panels so i could make the seams on the front corner to look like they were originally.











now i have everything mocked up i will sleep on this tonight and ponder what else i need to do in that area

 

[MYBAD79]

you developed some amazing sheetmetal skills :thumbs:

when I repaired all the rust panels on my Karmann Ghia I just bought the repair patches, cut the old rusted stuff out and welded the new pieces in place ... making all these pieces seems like a lot more fun, I'm sure it also feels like you really accomplished something.

 

[bobs77vet]

thks i actually like working metal. i just wish i had the artistic talent to make metal sculptures, i am hoping that will come to me some day. i will only buy panels that i cant make. i would rather take the $$ to buy tools. so with what i saved in a making the inner sills and the flat panels i bought a 230v spot welder. i have always wanted one of them.....

a couple of hours worth of more nibbles today, i made the final cuts on the front inner fender piece and the rear inner fender piece and trial fit the inner sill and outer rocker panel.

here i cut the piece and flanged the top so it would fit behind the panel on the tire radius and fit out side of the panel by the bracket.



moving to the back i make a line for the flange and drew up some radius lines for the back



heres a tip transfer the flange mark to the outer die so you can keep track of the line easily



and after that its time for some trial fitting of parts











luckily the out rocker panels screwq holes line up perfectly with the pillar posts so I know i am close on the final fitting. its time to step back and take a breather and come up with a game plan for reconstruction the bottom of the door posts.

 

[bobs77vet]

well I figured out all the angles and dimensions and have mocked up the rear pillar








you can see here what I left to do on the front post.

but that will have to wait for a day or two....I have done enough sheet metal work for a while.

I want to poke around the engine some more and drain the oil in it and take out the old filter, and remove the starter and generator and see what they look like inside.

 

[bobs77vet]

well i made some progress in taking stuff apart and I found the usual and expected issues..... the oil cannister had no seals on either the top or in the bottom of the bottom plate. what looks like a seal is just perfectly formed sludge, and had a large washer that really doesnt look like it belongs in the filter, i say that because its not machined in any fashion on its big surfaces jus left kind of rough, the generator has a broken ear and an undersized screw was in the back, the distributor is stuck in place and is being soaked at the moment with PB blaster, and the starter only hums when 12v is applied to it. looks like from the wiring on the coil the car was converted to 12v neg ground.

 

[1Michel]

I love this project Bob, keep the pics coming

 

[bobs77vet]

i have to tell you after working on SBCs and the ford flathead for the last 9 yrs this thing is so small its wonderfull. the starter weighs like 12lbs or something. small with inexpensive parts....i like it. i bought my first MGA 25 yrs ago after having restored a chevy fleet side pick up truck....it took me a week to color sand it...after that i said i need something smaller

 

[denpo]

I truly amazed how you turn what's to me a piece a rusted trash back into a car.
I would have seen this car in person I would have thought it's well beyond fixable.
Respect.

 

[bobs77vet]

i like the challenge...

BINGO.....well look what i found.....no doubt the reason it was parked some 30 yrs ago and explains the new spark plug wires, and distributor cap. the previous owner tried tuning it up but i can see it never ran after he changed the points..... i couldnt believe it and got out an ohm meter to make sure i wasnt dreaming.....the metal washer on top was touching the condensor tab and grounding out the points



this is the washer that was sitting on top of the nylon



part of what i have learned over the years is to touch the parts only once...



clean them up and paint them

 

[bobs77vet]

I was able to get the valves adjusted this morning , heres what they were

set at previously #1 .021, 2 .014, 3 .013, 4 .023, 5 .016, 6 .015, 7 .018, 8 .021

all in all I suppose it could have been worse. Interestingly I found kernels in the number 2 and number 3 cylinders, mostly the number 3, I theorize the exhaust valve was open and the mouse would crawl up the exhaust and eat his lunch inside the exhaust manifold/exhaust port and he would lose some kernels and they would roll down past the open valve into the cylinder

here are the kernels that I blew out of the cylinder. while I was crawling around on the floor I noticed that for some reason the timing marks were bent backwards and not easily visible, so i straightened them out



here is the amount of dirt in this area





here is the cleaned up area



I spent a little bit of time cleaning, the oil filter housing was so badly rusted I had to sand it because I was too scared of getting rust in the oil when I changed the oil so after that i primed it some self etching primer.

 

[bobs77vet]

Heres the work for the day. I sanded the fan and painted it with a high build primer and then sanded it. I painted the pulleys with satin black and the oil cannister is painted with "cast iron". the thing the oil cannister and fan is on is a "lazy susan" base and it rotates so i can stay in one spot and move the piece being painted

 

[MYBAD79]

looking good.... you made more progress than I did today, with all the rain here I didn't get much done.....

 

[bobs77vet]

Today I took advantage of some nice weather and in anticipation of trying to make the beast run I back flushed the radiator, cleaned the inside of the valve cover, moved the engine to TDC compression stroke of number 1, scraped,sprayed and wiped the engine with brake clean. I got a bunch of parts in but I am still missing the thermostat housing so until I get that hopes of getting it to rumble to life are delayed. It took me about 30 minutes to get the oil filter in place and I scraped the old gasket seal for about 30 mins also. but in the end I got it in place what a PITA. I also JB Welded the broken intake manifold back together for the test run, I will replace that later. I have always wanted to actually test JB Weld on a repair like this, maybe we do some testing on trying to break it after I get a new one...I also added the oil to the car, its first oil change in at least 28 yrs.

 

[Stpman]

Lookin good Bob, I hope you have better luck with the JB Weld repair than I did some years ago. I tried it on a water pump but the antifreeze wouldn't thet it hold.

 

[bobs77vet]

Lookin good Bob, I hope you have better luck with the JB Weld repair than I did some years ago. I tried it on a water pump but the antifreeze wouldn't thet it hold.

I am not expecting much from it, really did this as more of an opportunity to see what it would do....I just want to see if the engine will run I cant get any good leakdown tests results on it probably because of rust on the valves from sitting, so if i can get to run for 30 or 40 seconds at a time and get some heat and gases flowing in those combustion chambers I am hoping good things will happen. I will take some compression readings before firing it up and then afterwards to see if the running actually improved things.

 

[Sam Cogley]

All things considered, I'm surprised that you haven't pulled the engine to work on it.

 

[bobs77vet]

All things considered, I'm surprised that you haven't pulled the engine to work on it.

I am still doing my early assessment of the vehicle and this is only to see if it runs at all and to get some compression checks with out doing too much work. I am not looking to have a fine tune on it just to see if the engine will mechanically function. who knows what will happen but it would be a great moral boost this early on if it actually runs.

 

[bobs77vet]

the goal is have the engine running tomorrow night.....tonight i put in a new starter, new generator, new coil, points, condenser, spark plugs, distributor and wires, and reinstalled carbs and radiator pulley. I static timed the engine to 10* BTDC. I did a compression check twice and the first time the readings were 90,60,110,90, the second time it was 105,105,130, 115 you could literally see it gain 5psi with each compression stroke. the number 3 cylinder was the one with the kernels in it. I am not worried about these readings because the valves have rust and mouse pee on them etc....so I think the real readings will come after some combustion has taken place. And we have 20 psi on the oil gauge when I was cranking it for the compression test.

starter and genereator from autozone with a lifetime warranty and rebuilt in the USA and very affordable I like the parts from there





I pay careful attention to plug wires and firing order and triple check this, i have seen too many guys with big egos screw up the firing order



I found it makes the most sense to lay the wires out before you cut them to size








tomorrow night we hook up the radiator and hoses and a gravity fed fuel tank....and off we go

 

[1Michel]

With compression allright, I dont see why it wouldnt start.
Are you going to video it?
It would be cool to see it wake up and breathe
.

 

[Stpman]

With compression allright, I dont see why it wouldnt start.
Are you going to video it?
It would be cool to see it wake up and breathe
.

I agree