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Now that the Molvo is on the road, it is time to get back to the MGBs that started this whole car game for me. I have dug the 67 MGB GT out of the barn and put it back in the shop where I can't ignore it. I have also adopted ( temporary basis) an early MGB shell that needs some attention to the sills and rear arches. This lot should keep me out of trouble over the winter months. The GT fired right up despite two year old fuel, but the brake fluid had gone away, so it came home on the hook  Barn dust washed off and tucked into the shop. Still cleans up good for a 25 year old paint job.  This charming fellow has come for a spa-stay to deal with rusty sills and rear quarter panels around the arch. It is actually quite solid other than these areas     Since the sill is for the most part in good shape, I will do a rockerectomy where, rather than replace the entire sill, I replace the lover rusted part with a graft from a new sill.  |
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Last Edit: Nov 5, 2019 16:17:53 GMT by bjornagn
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Couple of hours in the shop last night and I made a nice mess of my clean floor. Only tools required were a grinder with a zip wheel ( aka Death Wheel) and a cordless drill and drill bits to remove the pinch weld spotswelds The good news is that the rust damage is restricted to the outer sill and only the lower portion of the lower sill at that. I was expecting some repair to the membrane, but the donor panel wont be needed.   The sill under the dogleg is marginal for a rockerectomy where I graft a new sill part to the original sill, but I will make it work to meet requirements for originality. I am going to cut the sill about 1/2" higher to get to more solid tin at the rear. The owner has balked at the price of rear quarter repair panels to repair the arches, so it looks like I will fabricate some arch repair sections; not terribly difficult with a sheet metal shrinker/stretcher tool. |
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Want to say measure twice and cut once, but with the tape method, you really only get one chance at this. I am happy to report that the panel fit between new and old is perfect. All that is required now is the one long butt-weld to make it like new. NOTE this repair is being done against my advice with a Steelcraft panel. In my snobbish MGB mind that is going to stand out as non-original. A BMH panel would have made the sill repair undetectable to any observer.  |
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Nov 11, 2019 15:08:46 GMT
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So of course it would not be a project without scope creep. I knew the front of the castle rails were a bit thin, but thought I might get away with a local repair from the outside. I took a peek by cutting open a bit of the middle membrane and found otherwise. About 12 " on the RHS and 19" on the LHS needs to get cut out. Making this REALLY fun is the fact that 3 years ago I replaced the floors on this car and the factory spotwelds are now much more difficult to cut out puddle welds. But we go it done. You can see where the castle is cut back. A new piece of castel was harvested from a full replacement panel ( non BMH) and the membrane has been cut back for repair and access   Why I hate working with non-BMH pamels. They just don't play well with exisitng parts: Close, but no cigar. The rality is that you don't save any $$$$ by using the cheaper panels and the job will not be as nice as it could be. I have a low tolerance for complaints based on panel fit and finish when asked to work with Steelcraft parts.  Good news is that we are now going back together. The bit behind the front of the castle is ALWAYS rotted so a new bit is made up to weld the castle to on the front bulkhead  The full arsenal required to do sills on an MGB. Note that there are 3 angle grinders with dedicated functions to save time.  Wanted to be pretty much done with the sills by the end of Sunday, but it looks like it is going to take most of this week to get that far. Then we move on to the quarter panels. Still would like to be done by Dec. |
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Bit delinquent in doing updates. Progress has been make just not as quick as I would like from a calendat day perspective. Time for job-wise, not farr off the original estimate glad to say. The castle rail repair sections are in place and the piece of middle membrane has been grafted on to replace the bits that were crusty or in the way of doing the castle rail. Note that since the repairpanel provided for the membrane was not BMH, the stampings do not align and the repair can be invisible. I'm over it. Inner cavities flooded with POR.  Sill trimmed to fit the original sill. Once again, I would prefer to be working with BMH parts, but it is what it is  The RH side with the long butt-weld finished and partly ground down. I use the edge of the cut-off wheel to grind down the weld so that metal either side does not get thinned out.  Now on to the quarter panel repairs. First cut the old ones off to see what horror lurks inside  Yeah, pretty much what I expected. Will make a small repair panel  Other side was better so after a wire wheel scrub the outer side of the tub get the POR treatment  And after a bit of mucking about with the fit, the quarter panel gets welded in place. No lack of fun getting the edges of a large floppy piece of steel to but up flush with the original tin. Does not help that the Steelcraft metal is a couple of thousandths of an inch thinner than the factory stuff. Some seam grinding in my immediate future and then repeat on the other side.  |
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Wheel tub patch done. Fun little project since it has 3D shape and two ribs to factor in. Left it well coated in POR after wire wheeling the weld seam. Not too fussy on grinding stuff that wont be seen.  And the final panel is tacked into an appropriately sized hole and ready to be fully welded. Note that the new panel has been cut and spliced at the rear of the door. Preserves the factory look at the B post and wont change the door gap. What has been interesting about this car is that it has a non-trivial layer of bodyfill over every panel I have touched. And I cant see why? The panels have not been patched over and there is no previous accident damage that I can tell.  |
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Dec 10, 2019 10:45:07 GMT
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Thanks for the detailed pictures and explanations....nice work.
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