Australian built MGB...getting the kinks out

And the game goes on. The game-plan is to get the boot panel lined up to the rear deck (the white bit that defines the rear of the cockpit) and build from there. Once the boot panel fits in the quarter panel channels that define the boot opening, I should be close. At that point I will lock in the quarter panels (wings) and make the rear panel fit regardless. I am using that circular looking device to set the gap between the boot-lid and rear deck to 3/16".

So, for starters, the boot-lid to rear deck fits OK. So does the corner where it transitions to the new quarter panel.



Looks reasonable down the RH side also.



Even the LH boot panel to quarter is reasonable if a bit tight:



Where it falls apart is the LH side where it transitions from the rear deck to the quarter panel. There is quite the gap that I have yet to explain.



It may be that the bootlid is bent there, but I need to come up with a way to measure the shape. It is a second hand panel that looks like curse word, so who knows what is going on with it. Two equations with two unknowns makes this more fun.

I worked in a few car factories 30 odd years ago bending and twisting closing panels to fit was common practice, even with original panels there is no guarantee they will fit.

Need one of these
www.trick-tools.com/37_inch_Curve_Template_148455_363

Nice work! keep it up:)

Hung some wings on the front to see how much fun that was gong to be.

New tin is nice, but it ain't perfect. Going to have to work on the door to wing gap as it widens from top to bottom on both sides. Not sure if that is because of the accident or because of the wings manufacture.

Next job is to splice in a repair panel for this little hole where the mangled stuff got cut off. If I get it right it should be an undetectable repair. Going to do a but weld and hide the seam under the flange that supports the radiator mount.




For those following along at home....The original guesstimate for this project was 100 hours. I am about 35 in and while it is looking good in the pics, I bet it takes all of the remaining time to get the panel gaps where they need to be.

That's good progress for 35 hours.

So, the project this week-end was to get this lot sorted. The astute amonst you might note that there is a bit of tin missing on the inner wing. Also, the front apron may look OK, but is a bit crumpled, so it has to go.



First we find and trim a donor chunk from another MGB and trim it down to fit . Irony is that as it turns out, this was already a donor piece to the MGB it was harvested from.
Note that I am trying to make this an invisible repair. What I am doing is cutting the donor piece right up to the rad support bracket, and then butt-welding from the other side. There will be no evidence of a repair from the engine compartment and very little from the wheel-well side. This is before welding:




And the weld seam from both sides:

Outside


engine compartment view: ( you can just see the weld seam along the back of the bracket.)



The front apron removed and inner cavity painted with POR:



After a lot of careful drilling with a 1/4" drill bit, the new apron is firmly in place. Even did a quick test with the rad support to make sure it all fit.




From here I go back to the panel gap game. I think I have the wings fitting to the doors reasonably well. So next I go back to the bonnet. It is an alloy piece, so at least I know that it fit an MGB at some point. I wont fit the bonnet close piece until I have the wing to bonnet gaps worked out.

That's impressively bad. Unlike your workmanship.

a half inch of filler on the bootlid will soon sort it