1958 MGA Coupe

[bobs77vet]

no guts no glory......this is time consuming and you have to bring your A game to the table the entire time, the rivets holes didnt line up in the chrome surround and i needed to drill them, painted the speaker grill with aluminum paint it just would not clean up enough. glued up the blanking plate, held the fininisher in place with #6 screws and had to drill each hole to clean up the vinyl. used about 4 pairs of blue gloves so i didnt transfer any dirt



screws every other rivet hole



riveted up















let me tell you gluing the piping on and painting the glue on a finished dash will make you slightly nervous......after this dries i may try slipping on those moon clips






blue tape must be pulled off immediately or the glue sticks to the tape

 

[bobs77vet]

any how lets wrap up the corners and add some more chrome....

test fit








we dont want any more MGAs being born so slip over the rubber




ok i may be a little bit anal......but how do you know the gauges are actually centered...



....the center of the jewel and the numbers at 12:00

 

[bobs77vet]

great day today...celebrated 35 yrs of service at work...had a nice ceremony, went out for a good meal with the Mrs and kids that could make it and worked on the dash board!!!!!


one of the switches wasnt working like i wanted so i took it apart and cleaned it up and it brought the resistance down to nothing



inside guts







and squeeze those tabs to tighten it up and put it back together



the nut on the switches is both BS and Whitworth just not SAE


sorry i cant flip it for some reason, i really like the stands.






next to work on the turn signal switch and see if it needs any TLC....




tonight I worked on the electropneumatic trafficator.....I love that term......turn signal switch for the rest of us......, i cleaned all the old caked grease off of it and gave it a new wipe down with dielectric grease and forced some behind the seal lip and wiped some on the cylinder walls and it seems to work pretty well.
the idea is that the switch turns that bar that is inside a V shape on the back of the piston and it pushes the piston down and then the piston slowly comes back up from the pressure of an internal spring and small air orifice that lets air in .. a pretty nifty idea.








the piston seal turned up side down






tomorrow i will make a black steel sheet for behind the speaker grille, i think they were card board originally

 

[bobs77vet]

we are getting there slowly but surely...

its fun to see where it started














so I am at a good crossroad....I am at the point where in order to continue to move forward I need to make my drivable chassis not operational any more, I need that safety gauge for the dash, I have to rebuild the oil line tubing, .....and I see those are not original starter and choke cables so I need to find those original ones to put in the dash tonight......I wanted the chassis drivable until the last moment so this means I see the body mounting happening in the not too distant future




heres a good picture I found of the door caps that also get covered, probably one of the last things I do but I didn't realize I had a picture like this of both sides.






I have the distributor rebuild, wiper motor and heater box still to tackle......I think those will happen this weekend, I have gone through the distributor and it needs a new vacuum canister and the short wire from the coil lead to be replaced. That will get sent off to Jeff for one of his rebuilds, too much work done here for that not to be running right....so that comes out and the heater box and wiper motor are on the short list....

 

[bobs77vet]

turns out my choke and starter cables are in good shape but do not have removable knobs so lets see what magic i can work...







cleaned really well and then cleared.....I will let it dry and i will try and make the S and C whiter





these are high quality cables from at least 35 yrs ago, the ends aren't even frayed. i did not take the cable out of the sheath just worked around the knobs, went back and added some white paint to the S and C should have done it to begin with and let it dry over night but we worked around it with a hair dryer. did the white paint to the screen washer before the clear. that screen washer pump threads into the hole in the dash it doesnt push through...i am not sure it works though it pushed bubbles out but did not suck any thing in, maybe i need to prime it first.

one more gauge and i can move to the wiring, still need to make the grill backing

 

[Red77]

That dash looks AMAZING! You are a magician and the before and after photos are shocking as always. Like the rest of us here, reading your updates has become an addiction! Thanks for the inspirational work.

 

[bobs77vet]

thanks

wrapped up dash in plastic and time to move to the Heater box. i have two to choose from. and i am picking the one that has the smoothest opening bottom flap. decided to go with semi gloss black, if i dont like it i will paint it again in gloss black. the motor spins freely and quietly and the heater core does not leak still under pressure filled with water and no leaking



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/bobs77vet/MGA%20Coupe/heater%20box/20160415_085658_zpsdvebkjgm.jpg[/IMG

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this is the one i am choosing

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on the right
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sand theheater box parts

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see the sun on the left
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now on the right, tire is still inflated

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first coat primer

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then high builder primer
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paint inside too with primer color coat will come later
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some extra work on the flange so its nice and flat with no rust pits

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primer sealer coat on the red primer after sanding with 400 followed by 600

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color coats going on

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and done, this is acrylic enamel and after 7 days i can color sand it and buff it..

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[Sam Cogley]

That heater box that you're not using has an interesting deflection system.

 

[bobs77vet]

they had two different ones, one in the actual door vent flapper and the other in the body of the heater box. I like the one in the vent flapper more but the flapper didn't move very smoothly on the one I had and I really wanted a smooth operating cable so I went with the other heater box that was in slightly better shape


any body ever see a balance weight on the inner fan blower fins?




and clean up the other parts and paint them.....





funny story....we were driving down to drop my daughter off to visit a college and my son who has helped me with the restoration saw the dash board and called us on the trip.....the car Bluetooth system answered the phone and he said I like the dash when did you get it. I said I made it, he laughed and said yeah your just saying that cause moms sitting next to you.....he didn't believe I actually made it.....

 

[bobs77vet]

so it turns out my buddy at work saw my heater core test hose and we realized his racing bike tubes were even narrower




clean the threads on the heater core box, and let me tell you putting those clamps on is just a killer on the paint









not really happy with the gap, any body use cork as a gasket on this mating surface?



does the total car grommet kit come with the grommets for the heater core? and i need the new id plates for the top..

 

[bobs77vet]

well two steps back....added the grommets


and bent the flanges out to create tension when clamped down





now to the last thing to take apart, degreased the motor with brake clean a puddy knife and tooth brush












and i think that dimple parks the "parked" position

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

interesting, my FJ40 uses the same button-style arrangement to shut off and center the wipers.... the fj40 is a combination of stolen American and stolen UK tech - so it's not even a little surprising to see the similarity.

 

[bobs77vet]

pulled the distributor and mocked up the shrink wrap on the rear wiring


well the distributor would not slip out of the clamp joint and as we all know getting the bolts out is a PITA

this is the spot for a snap on 4 way wrench, it gives full access to the bolt with no interference, and off to Jeff for a rebuild






heres the shrink wrap for the open ended connectors

 

[bobs77vet]

earlier today British on the Green at Gunston hall the home of George Mason a Virginia statemen of the Revolutionary period



this got my motor running







i got to sit in this....i like it



















heres a home made snap connector tool for our wiring harnesses.

http://www.britishwiring.com/Tool-Snap-Connector-Tool-p/ssc1.htm

It is the only answer... One pair of the tips is tapered. This is intended to stick into the sleeve before you try to insert the bullet. This sizes the sleeve perfectly so that the bullet fits with a nice snug snap rather than a palm endangering shove and grrr with some improvised implement. Of destruction...

Then, when you get the bullets started, the forked jaws are just perfect for squeezing the bullets fully home in the sleeve...

Works a treat!

well i spent some time looking at my old broken and abandoned tools......and look what i came up with. a craftsman handi cut

the one side already has the split jaws to accommodate the gold plastic piece that acts as pad for the cutter blade



spring loaded



my requirements for the connectors on my wiring harness





and the open end already the right size for the bullet ends



and tip to tip the full opening is 1 5/8.....and full closed is 9/16. so that means i am really close and all i have to do is figure out how the paddle end for the one side is going to get attached.. those two holes in the one side are threaded so i dont even need to compromise the tool...(although what made this tool be in the old pile was that the blade end was broken and needed a new blade)

i am thinking a 14 gage piece that gets attached using the two holes with a paddle end





14 gauge


















and after contemplation that these pliers were sitting in a bucket on the front porch for the last 3 yrs i decided to weld the tabs in place





nice and parralel at 1 1/8


opening up the groove, kept filing it until 14 ga wire slipped through easily






and it works

 

[bobs77vet]

... how did you get Corvettes out of your head?

well this week i was in NY and i swung by the corvette shop of "paulywannafly" in montgomery NY

it was C3 heaven.........nice stuff there, and nice guy.

the corvettes are not out of my head......

i saw a C1 with and LS3 in it.....a c3 with i dont know what but it was freaking big and fuel injected.....


so my whole 5 hr ride home in my newer mustang convertible I was thinking about a C2 with and LS3 set up in it...vs a C5 or C6

i can assure you the corvettes are not out of my head, i wonder what an LS3 in a cobra kit car or daytona coupe would be like.....decisions decisions....time to finish the MGA when the next build starts creeping in

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

well, at least I have company in the obsession.

 

[bobs77vet]

and low mileage C5s can be had for about 13K.......

 

[bobs77vet]

i am thinking seriously of a C5 convertible, spring time gets my corvette blood flowing......


today went to the apple blossom parade in Winchester VA..... a cold gray breezy and drizzly day......I was on my best behavior because my temper tantrum not to go, got me no where...oh well

but tonight and tomorrow is mine.


so as I contemplate mating the two halves of the car together its clear to me I need to wrap up the engine compartment area 100%, so I got back to cleaning all the buffing compound off and looking for any areas that I need to buff some more in the engine area....then i can put the wiring harness in and put the under dash insulation pad





i found the Griots speed shine worked best to remove the over splatter of the buffing compound, i also used a clay bar and tooth brushes and a detail brush.

 

[bobs77vet]

finished the engine bay , it needed buffing in one or two spots that you will never see, but i can see it now so what the hell


and move on to wiring, adding the longer fender bolts for the wire p clips in the engine bay, adding the front wiring harness and drilling a hole for the head light wires to feed through





missing this on the other side




the sharpie mark is the new destination



done, I love those Christmas tree drill bits



and touch up the paint



if there was a place for a plastic P clip this is it



whats the deal with the short parking lights wires???? i guess i will make them longer and put them in PVC tubing and i guess i need to add the ground wire also, so i need some connectors and bullets.




I have some wiring to figure out here...looks like an extra wire for the fog lamp i am guessing and some wires for the horns.

 

[bobs77vet]

I used the connector tool on the rear wiring harness, it worked great i can say that its worth making one of these. it actually compresses the rubber when its pushing the bullet into place and it fully seats the bullet



this is the dielectric grease to use, also works good on light bulb bases for out side spot lights



I put the shrink wrap around the connectors and used zip ties to hold it in place, the original wiring is in tact and it gives some weather protection with out compromising anything