ADO16 - Where to find parts and maintenance

Great stuff - owned a few of these and repaired hundreds - literally - especially with welding for MOT - cant help with the owners clubs but can help on advice & what to look for - front panel is a weak point and the front subfame fastens to it - front panels are available but are very expensive £500 + so if the old one can be salvaged / repaired then it's worth exploring the option - some repair panels / sections are also available for it - front inner wings tend to go but mainly around the 'trumpet' panel - again complete inner wings are very expensive but repair sections for the trumpet panel are available so if the inner wings can be repaired then all well & good - you really need to remove the front wings to effect any major repairs to the inners - the sills go has does the floor pan abutting up to the sill flange edge - floor pans can be repaired with sheet steel sections and the sills are available - rear subframe mounting points go - these are the forward mountings just adjacent to the bottom of the rear wheel arch - repair sections are available but I have always made my own repair panels for these - rear subframes rot but are available - subfame mountings (metalastic type - bit like a engine mounting) tend to perish too - but great little cars - very comfy ride - can be made to go really well - quite simple mechanically - loads of character too - I just hope that it's not too bad once you get hold of it - my best advice is to put it up in the air and go all the way around it thoroughly inspecting everything - especially the weak / rusty areas and determine from day one what you are in for - that way you can master plan around the weak points / good points and not realise half way through the structure is so bad that it's not worth doing - but it will be a great little save if you can return this one to the road - Good luck - Chris

Link to Ex-Pressed steel panels who manufacture panels for the model (along with a whole range of other classics)

www.steelpanels.co.uk/category/bmc/

EDIT - Just realised its a 2 door !! Very, very rare - vast majority were 4 doors - equally the estate must also be a rare commodity

I know it's had both sills replaced in its lifetime at least once. I also know it's had work to the usual areas on the floor and the front panel has filler around the lights. What repairs have been done don't look to have been hidden and I prefer that, I like to see what I'm dealing with. It's all fairly normal stuff really, nothing particularly scary, just awkward to put right again.

Not planning to go nuts with it, just assess the bodyshell when I get it on the workshop ramp and reassure myself that it's repairable, the mechanical side of things can wait as that's way easier to sort out on these than anything else. As far as I understand, they're fairly easy to take apart if you have to with them having subframes so at least access to welding jobs shouldn't be too bad.

One thing I don't know on these is how the front seats fold to get in the back. This one has seats from a Wolseley in it, which as far as I know were all four doors, and I can't recall seeing a little lever on the side of the seats of any 2 door ADO16. I'm assuming the whole sit tips forwards rather than folding, I just don't know.

I'm also guessing these are toughened screens rather than laminated. I wonder if they ever had pop-out rear side windows? I also wonder if the wooden side trim from an estate would fit. Idle considerations there, we're a VERY long way off that sort of thing.

Slater: If I decide to sell it, I know where to find you

I'm about 170 miles away from Peterborough so it's not exactly local.

Just looked in the handbook, It's not clear but I think all seats do tip. Some had catches fitted, but it suggests these were only on certain export models.

Had a poo brown 1300gt back in the very early 80's. Managed to break it in half over the speed bumps at Lee Valley whilst "testing" the suspension....

2 door seats just tip forward like a mini.

Nice save.

P.

Awesome little cars! I've previously owned a Vanden Plas Princess 1300 but I'd really like a nice 2 door MG1300 one day. My Dad owned about 4 or 5 on the trot including a 1300GT, these are very hard to find in good condition now.

As slater has already mentioned, there is The 1100 Club which is all ADO16 variants, (and not just the 1.1 litre engined cars). There's a 'For Sale / Wanted' section which is free to advertise in although you'd need to be a member to access other areas of the site. It's a very active club with lots of show attendances, lengthy club runs, etc.

These cars were built in huge numbers so there's still lots of parts floating around. There are thousands of parts for these on ebay including body panels.

They're simple cars so with time, work and investment it's not inconceivable that you could bring yours up to a very high standard without breaking the bank.

excellent purchase!

the ado16 'two door sports coupe' is a great alternative to a mini, and so much cheaper.

there's a lot of info on the mk1 forum, with a dedicated sub section

mk1-forum.net/viewforum.php?f=28

ive got two of them, a tatty every day beater, and ones that's having a full resto


ebay is pretty good for sourcing some parts

and earl part, whilst pricy for some bits, is a very good source of many parts - ive have a few panels of him and they have all been really good

the base models got the fixed rear windows and the normal painted door tops

anything slightly better got opening rear windows and the stainless door top tops

Could probably glue an outer trim and a strip with tabs to hinge from directly to the glass with windscreen adhesive as newer cars did. Since old style full frames probably tend to rust out anyway, especially with stainless trims on a steel frame.

I'd have guessed you'd be almost as keen for one of the formal MG/Riley/Wolseley grilles even if the rest of the front had to be cobbled up from metal or fiberglass to suit.

My only knowledge of them was Dad's complaints of his early 1100 regularly breaking exhaust pipes since it hadn't incorporated a flexible/moveable manifold/exhaust joint at that stage.