Wheel Arch repairs

As some readers of my blog and other MG Midget restoration enthusiasts will know that before welding in the outer rear bulkhead I have to make good the wheel arch where is connects to the bulkhead, as shown here:

So where do you go from here? Well I thought I would give a step by step guide as to how I went about it.

Lucky I love these I'll be needing the cardboard!

Pressed up to left hand side which is less damaged

Drew line to highlight the edge

Measured in 1.5 cms

Followed 1.5cms gap all way round

Drew in line

Cut out

Checked shape on left hand side

Flipped over

Check curve again joining repair panel (made earlier)

New Steel

Best place for I reckon!

Mark out

Looks about right

Ready for grinding out

Nearly there

Looks good match, thanks to flap discs!

Might squeeze it in

Cuts to make flange

Flange should be ok 

Need to work out how to fill those gaps

Looking good

Think it'll fit

Little by little think I might just get there!

More metal in!!

Such a boost to start getting more new shiny metal in place. So here are some photos of the progress so far.

Blow out! No back plate

Will sort these holes out

Now started to work on the inner wheel arch.

Welding needs to improve...more practice!

When I thought about this project I really thought that getting to grips with welding would be down to my abilities and practice. There is a part of me that wants to blame the welder but I can't, it is just my lack of experience and learning what I need in order to weld successfully. 

Just for anyone reading this who is keen to do a restoration project and has, like me, never welded before, find someone who has and get them to tell you every tool that you need and every little tip that they can show you. Then persuade the guy to spend as much time as they can with you, showing you what to do.

It has taken me literally months to get things sorted, but that is part of learning. So I guess I will share with you the hurdles that I have been through so far:

• Friend lent me MIG welder and two gas bottles
• Bought welding mask, gloves
• Start to practice
• Not arcing - this was caused by old wire that had oxidised
• Was told to buy 0.8 wire to replace it
• Bought 0.8 wire and new tips and shroud to go with it
• New tips and shroud didn't turn up from ebay seller
• Had to reorder tips
• New tips were wrong type, but found old tip worked ok
• Welding buddy set up welder and found I could weld in a straight line!
• Ran out of gas of first bottle
• Then weather got colder and wire stopped feeding ok.
• Found out the tip was 0.6 and the hole shrank in the cold making wire feed slow
• Ordered new 0.8 tips
• Tried out new tips all seemed ok, good clean welds
• Had a go at first weld on the chassis and immediately blew a hole in the metal
• Welding buddy came back and reset the welder for me and told me to order some aluminium to use as a backing plate to help stop blow through during butt welds
• Ordered aluminium from ebay
• Tested weld on test butt weld and all went well
• Tried out on chassis again...
• ran out of gas on second bottle
• no more gas!!

So I have learned so much in my restoration journey, which was the plan so I am happy really.

First Weld In Place

Yes tonight for the first time I have added some nice shiny new metal to my MG Midget. 

Damaged Area

So from this photo above you can see the extent of the damage to the wheel arch viewing from the inner sill. The complicated part of this is that there are so many panels coming together at this point.

Support Repair

This is the rusted support that connects the wheel arch in the background of the top picture to the inner section closest to you.

So I needed to make up a new section as shown above. (I'll have to upload a photo of this new part later) 

But you can hopefully get an idea how these parts fit together from this photo.

But before that I had to make up a small repair which you can seen partly welded in below.

First Weld!

I will tidy this up during my next session. But got it straight and in place which was my main concern. The welder was a little problematic. I really do need to work out how I can get it to be more consistent. Would help me enormously!

Fuel Gauge Repaired

I seem to spend a lot of time scrolling through ebay trying to find little bargains here and there. Two weeks ago a guy called Keith in the USA was selling an original second hand Smiths Fuel Gauge FG2530/70 face! 

I really couldn't believe my luck as avid readers of my blog may remember that I ruined mine trying to clean it.

Cleaning damage

So I made sure I won the item and set to work replacing the old face with my new purchase and I have to say that you can't help thinking that some things happen for a reason, as my completed fuel gauge looks way better than mine ever did!

Ready to go

Old face removed, all ok inside

Old v's new

New face fitted

Looking better than ever!

Bespoke Panels! What next?

I have been learning a new skill this evening, making bespoke new panels and repair sections. This is the only way that I am going to complete this project on my budget.

I had really hoped (yes I know stupid) that buying new panels and welding them in would be a little more straight forward, but of course you need to weld them to something other than rust, as you can see here from this photo.

Above is the right hand wheel arch, looking at where the arch panel comes down to meet the rear bulk head (currently removed). So I needed to make up a section to cover that rusted section as shown here:

So I have cut this out and made a new repair out of the sheet steel I purchased back in the summer. I thought no problem to weld this in now, but then realised I would have to make a new repair for this section in red first.

This meant that I had to remove a supporting section of the B-Post which has rusted through and needed a replacement made. So more cutting and shaping resulted in this:

Got to be said having a nice new repair section made by yourself is a good feeling and I cannot wait to get it welded in place, but there is still so much work to be done in this area that it will be a few more evenings graft before I get that chance.

Nearly ready for first weld!

Over the last few weeks I have been making a real effort to get back into this project. Summer is now in the past and the nights are drawing in, which has drawn me back to the workshop. 

Unfortunately the restoration fairies did not pay me a visit and unsurprisingly the chassis was just the way I left it a couple months ago. But after a few hours of careful cutting and using my new spot weld drill bit, (which you have to get by the way as they are amazing!) I have removed nearly all of the rear bulk head section and have cut the new panel to fit.

I have taken so many measurements that I hope I can remember which one goes where!

The aim to date has been to remove the back section of the rear bulk head that has been badly affected by the rust and to replace that with a new panel cut to size. This has been a particularly difficult task as I am sure that there cannot be to many places where so many panels meet in one area. 

• back and front of the rear bulk head
• floor panel
• inner sill
• outer sill
• boot floor and wheel arch

What makes it even more difficult is that the areas where they all join are totally rusted so finding out what to remove or how the new panels will all fit together is a real challenge.

These photos give you a good idea as to what I am facing. But restoring the MG Midget in the state I bought it would have always thrown up complex problems that need solving. That was always part of the plan, to challenge myself and to go through the process.

So on Wednesday evening it was a great pleasure to take these photos, where the first new panel is cut to fit and is more or less ready to weld in place.

It will be some time yet until my welding skills are tested as the picture above shows the extent of damage to the wheel arch and, in order to make sure everything lines up correctly I will have to make bespoke repairs to these sections first.

But to see the new panel in situ is a massive boost for moral.

Rear Bulkhead Repair

Now that I have settled into my new workshop, come shipping container, known as "The Oven" and with temperatures closer to the norm for this time of year, I am spending as much time as possible to keep pushing on with the restoration of my MG Midget.

My attention is focusing on the offside rear bulkhead area which has some of the worst rust damage on the car. Starting here will allow me to rebuild the panels working forwards to the footwell.

The spring hanger area is particularly bad as there has been sufficient water penetration between the panel joins that more and more metal needs to be replaced. But I have got to the point now that nothing is phasing me on this project. It is just going to take longer to fix this and more cost for replacement panels. Nobody said it was going to be easy!

These photos give you an idea of what I am dealing with! The closer you get to the inner sill the less metal there is remaining. I have purchased the rear bulkhead repair panels and the spring hanger section. Having these helps me with measurements and my confidence as they seem to have been made well and look like they will fit in perfectly.

I am certainly now getting closer to welding in my first panel which will be the bulkhead kick board as shown. I have marked out the welding line on the above panel and on the repair panel, leaving a 2mm gap for the weld.

There is still some preparation work to be done in cleaning the metal of old underseal and applying rust converter to stop the rust from damaging my MG any further.

I am really looking forward to getting my first panel welded in as I really don't want to be cutting any more metal off this chassis.

More Welding Practice

Last night it was great to be in my new workshop sorting out the electrics and lighting.

It just seems ages since I was last working away on the MG and having so many issues with the welder certainly did not help. But just being in there with the welder working correctly was a big boost to moral. 

I have got to say that I am very happy with my progress using the MIG welder.

Being able to produce a nice straight weld with little more than watching a video on www.mig-welding.co.uk as my training, just makes me want to get on with it now.

I will need to get some steel sheets next as there is plenty of work to be done!