Australian built MGB...getting the kinks out

Normal equation these days; Young woman + phone + large car = CRUNCH (at some point). That looks in very good overall nick, mate.

I had a very similar accident in my elan +2 a few years ago, young lad in a Toyota Landcruiser rear ended me when stationary, fortunately nothing in front though. Upper body from the doors back had to be replaced but chassis, boot floor etc undamaged, a bit daunting but actually turned out a pretty easy repair, new section bonded in along all the original joints except a short butt jount on the sills.


After the volvo/mx5 this should be pretty easy for you!

Bookmarked.

It's no wonder they rust so badly in less temperate climates, there's barely any paint/protection on those hidden panels.

So, having written this as a kit car option, I looked again at this and the other thread - are you located in Ontario? If so, where? And have I asked this before? Amazing work!

Making decent progress on this car. The crumpled quarter on the RH side if completely removed along with all the fiddly no fun to get at spotwelds (actually not too bad for that).

While I have done a bunch of MGB shell rehabs, this is not only the first full quarter replacement I have done, I was surprised to find no documentation on the process in my Google searches. Used to hang on the MG Experience and even on that forum I could find nobody that has done a full quarter replacement.

So what I learned:

The quarter comes off easy enough until you get to the B post. Then it stops making sense. A smart person REALLY does not want to remove that B post panel, because the car was put on the chassis rack and delivered with good gaps. I need to keep the reference points.

After hours of head-scratching, I resigned myself to removing the B post panel. What all the thinking did was to convince me that I had to remove the B post without altering the door latch mechanism. That just makes the job funner. Using the spot weld marks, I am confident that I can get the B post panel back on where it came from and maintain the door position.

Here it is back together. If you look at the red dots, you can see that the spotwleds are on different plains. Clever bit of engineering in that the two pieces snap together like a puzzle piece. Pain in the ass for the poor guy replacing a full quarter. A body shop would have cut and grafted the new quarter just behind the B post to save time.




Here is a new one on me. See the little plate welded on top of the sill? I have done about 6 of these sill restorations and I don't recall ever having seen that bit. Is it particular to the Aussie cars or is it just another sign of old age?



Another anomaly. This one will curse word off the Brit crew who seem to battle rust on an endless war:

This is the original sill on the car. The car has had one dogleg repair in its past. What is strange is that the inner sill is still solid. Typically the inner bit pretty much mirrors the outer dogleg.

Definitely interested - not to derail this thread so I'll try and get round to sorting one for it, but this is mine at present 



Some major reconstructive surgery happening after (many) previous bodges.

Oh there was only one way to do this GT, properly or not at all - it was seriously bad underneath! Worryingly I did have it MOT'd and on the road for a short while but when investigating a cracked rear spring and deciding I may as well refurbish the whole axle, I spotted the rear subframe resembling swiss cheese and barely holding together and so things spiraled out of control.

Car is a little more progressed that the last picture as I did get the full heritage panels in the end so chopped the rest out. Likewise with the complete side assembly which incorporates the footwell side, A post and outer sill sections underneath it, you can also spot the complete rear wheel arch assembly which is also now fitted. Here it is all pinned in place to check panel fit and alignment.

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and yes the front wing was slightly off but door gap to sill and rear wing were nice and even - bailer twine was to stop the door opening .

In for more^

Sent the E36 M3ty trunk pan back to the supplier and sourced a proper BMH panel. So much better and even at $300 more, it probably saved the owner money over cutting up the Chinese part to make it fit. Not to mention it would look like curse word when all said and done.




Two more pieces (LH quarter and trunk lid) and we can see how much trouble I am going to be in getting all the gaps to work. To those following along at home, you are looking at about $3000 Canadian worth of tin to do the rear repairs. About the same for the front bits.