I thought I would start a thread to chart the progress on my recently-acquired MG Montego as interest in them appears to be on the up.
I've always been a fan of these cars as we had one in the family from nearly new for about 10 years and whilst it was showing its age cosmetically towards the end of its time with us, it always went really well and was super-reliable despite being considered to be an unreliable car based on who built it. I've always wanted to get another at some stage now they are becoming increasingly rare.
Here is a quick photo of the car from when it arrived:
First impressions were that it was a relatively solid car, just a little scabby. Obviously needing a fair bit of work. A few parts on it were wrong for the car. It didn't have the correct MG Bumpers, it had bumpers from a lower spec car (no MG front spoiler, non-bodycoloured mouldings), it had the door cappings from a non-MG model and some awful window tints. Not overly difficult parts to get hold of/rectify, so wasn't too worried about that.
Next step was to determine what panels it needed. It clearly needed four doors, two front wings and a bootlid as they were all completely shot. The bonnet went into holes on the front edge and was rusty elsewhere, so while that would have repaired, it made sense to buy a new one. Rimmer Brothers had stock of three of the four doors, N/S/F wing, bonnet and bootlid. They also had the 2.0i decals and tail light seals, so ordered everything they had. I found the O/S/F wing in stock at an MG/Rover specialist in Holland, along with new tail lights and the bootlid reflector and rear door seals, so got those on order as well. I then found two new front indicators on eBay. The parts collecting was going pretty well. I was gifted with an excellent condition steering wheel and drivers door seal, along with a N/S/F door moulding as that was the only one on the car which was warped and rippled beyond repair.
Moving onto the main shell was where things took a little turn for the worse. The rear arches were rotten, which was not a problem as they are readily available. It had obviously had new rear arches fitted relatively recently, but I think Stevie Wonder must have carried out the work as they had not been fitted properly at all. There were gaps behind, not sealed properly, not welded properly, so moisture and all sorts had got in and rotted them out from behind. They had also been painted with no prep, so the paint could be flicked off with your fingernail. The inner arches had been bodged up with fibreglass, silicone, cardboard and go knows what else. This is by far the worst part of the car.
The sills on both sides were completely rotten, inner and outer. They just turned to dust when poked and prodded. I found a company making new N/S complete sills from a NOS original as a pattern, so I bought one of those (I had planned on just cutting the sills out complete and making complete new ones from that, but the car had been so badly bodged, the ends of the sills simply weren't there) and pressed a new one myself for the other side and reversed the end pieces.
There were also two (extremely bad) patches, one on each front floor pan towards the outer edges. The rest of the floor and structure is extremely good. I can make panels for a vastly superior repair to the floor and with new sills in it will be perfect. The boot floor is excellent, as it the engine bay. By far the worst part of the car is the rear inner arch area. Due to the extent of the rust and bodges in this area I decided I need to strip the car to a bare shell and have it blast cleaned to do it properly. The floor and chassis rails will be fine apart from the couple of areas mentioned. I just need to see what mess we are left with in the rear arches. There is also some rust around the windscreen apertures (I've had both screens cut out. The front screen is shot, but our windscreen man has plenty of these in stock).
Exterior panels and parts-wise, the only thing I've been unable to source (and I've scoured worldwide) is a new driver's door. So at the moment the plan is to have that blasted with the rest of the shell (all 4 doors were shot, but the one I can't get happens to be the worst of the lot!) and then make the panels required to re-skin it.
Most of the shell is pretty solid and the only area where it is really bad has been made 99% worse by bodged previous repairs.
Beyond that, plans are too keep it looking pretty standard and original. It needs lowering for a nicer stance, but I'd rather stick to the standard wheels. I've figured out some brake set-ups that will fit behind the standard wheels as the standard brakes are dangerously bad. The only major change will be to swap the engine for a T16 Turbo lump providing I can find a suitable donor.
Mechanically it seems pretty sound. Starts first turn of the key, everything sounds sweet. The only thing that jumps out is the steering rack is shot, so pulls you all over the place when you put your foot down. But that aside, it drives well.
I'll update with some more photos when I get 5 minutes to get it stripped.
I've always been a fan of these cars as we had one in the family from nearly new for about 10 years and whilst it was showing its age cosmetically towards the end of its time with us, it always went really well and was super-reliable despite being considered to be an unreliable car based on who built it. I've always wanted to get another at some stage now they are becoming increasingly rare.
Here is a quick photo of the car from when it arrived:
First impressions were that it was a relatively solid car, just a little scabby. Obviously needing a fair bit of work. A few parts on it were wrong for the car. It didn't have the correct MG Bumpers, it had bumpers from a lower spec car (no MG front spoiler, non-bodycoloured mouldings), it had the door cappings from a non-MG model and some awful window tints. Not overly difficult parts to get hold of/rectify, so wasn't too worried about that.
Next step was to determine what panels it needed. It clearly needed four doors, two front wings and a bootlid as they were all completely shot. The bonnet went into holes on the front edge and was rusty elsewhere, so while that would have repaired, it made sense to buy a new one. Rimmer Brothers had stock of three of the four doors, N/S/F wing, bonnet and bootlid. They also had the 2.0i decals and tail light seals, so ordered everything they had. I found the O/S/F wing in stock at an MG/Rover specialist in Holland, along with new tail lights and the bootlid reflector and rear door seals, so got those on order as well. I then found two new front indicators on eBay. The parts collecting was going pretty well. I was gifted with an excellent condition steering wheel and drivers door seal, along with a N/S/F door moulding as that was the only one on the car which was warped and rippled beyond repair.
Moving onto the main shell was where things took a little turn for the worse. The rear arches were rotten, which was not a problem as they are readily available. It had obviously had new rear arches fitted relatively recently, but I think Stevie Wonder must have carried out the work as they had not been fitted properly at all. There were gaps behind, not sealed properly, not welded properly, so moisture and all sorts had got in and rotted them out from behind. They had also been painted with no prep, so the paint could be flicked off with your fingernail. The inner arches had been bodged up with fibreglass, silicone, cardboard and go knows what else. This is by far the worst part of the car.
The sills on both sides were completely rotten, inner and outer. They just turned to dust when poked and prodded. I found a company making new N/S complete sills from a NOS original as a pattern, so I bought one of those (I had planned on just cutting the sills out complete and making complete new ones from that, but the car had been so badly bodged, the ends of the sills simply weren't there) and pressed a new one myself for the other side and reversed the end pieces.
There were also two (extremely bad) patches, one on each front floor pan towards the outer edges. The rest of the floor and structure is extremely good. I can make panels for a vastly superior repair to the floor and with new sills in it will be perfect. The boot floor is excellent, as it the engine bay. By far the worst part of the car is the rear inner arch area. Due to the extent of the rust and bodges in this area I decided I need to strip the car to a bare shell and have it blast cleaned to do it properly. The floor and chassis rails will be fine apart from the couple of areas mentioned. I just need to see what mess we are left with in the rear arches. There is also some rust around the windscreen apertures (I've had both screens cut out. The front screen is shot, but our windscreen man has plenty of these in stock).
Exterior panels and parts-wise, the only thing I've been unable to source (and I've scoured worldwide) is a new driver's door. So at the moment the plan is to have that blasted with the rest of the shell (all 4 doors were shot, but the one I can't get happens to be the worst of the lot!) and then make the panels required to re-skin it.
Most of the shell is pretty solid and the only area where it is really bad has been made 99% worse by bodged previous repairs.
Beyond that, plans are too keep it looking pretty standard and original. It needs lowering for a nicer stance, but I'd rather stick to the standard wheels. I've figured out some brake set-ups that will fit behind the standard wheels as the standard brakes are dangerously bad. The only major change will be to swap the engine for a T16 Turbo lump providing I can find a suitable donor.
Mechanically it seems pretty sound. Starts first turn of the key, everything sounds sweet. The only thing that jumps out is the steering rack is shot, so pulls you all over the place when you put your foot down. But that aside, it drives well.
I'll update with some more photos when I get 5 minutes to get it stripped.
Good luck!! 
