Monday 10 February 2014

Wheel Arch Repairs Continued

I think progress is going to happen on a much quicker pace from now on. It's a bit like decorating a room. You have to do the preparation first before starting on the big jobs. All those little jobs have to be sorted first.

I decided to purchase a 10 litre gas bottle of Argon / Co2 mix that cost me £115, but I will get back £55 when I return the bottle itself. This has made a huge difference in having a good steady supply of gas at all times. 

It seems that in order to get the rear bulk head, floor and sills in place I have to sort out half of the wheel arch and other small detailed parts in this area. 

Tonight was welding in another section of the inner wheel arch using the repair that I had made a couple of weeks ago.


1965 MG Midget Restoration

To get this perfectly in line with the main inner arch would take a good accurate weld!!


1965 MG Midget Restoration 1965 MG Midget Restoration 1965 MG Midget Restoration

It all seems good from most angles so just need to tidy up this weld joint and then I'll match up the curved section.

Monday 3 February 2014

I think I've got it!!!!

I was just looking back to when I made my first custom panel for the wheel arch and started to try welding it in...that was 3½ weeks ago!! During that time, without knowing it I taught myself to weld. I made so many mistakes, probably mostly schoolboy errors like to keep trying to repair numerous blow through holes and grinding the metal down too much making the metal thin and more unstable that it ended up looking more like Swiss cheese than a repair panel.

So tonight I bit the bullet and cut out the panel and made a new one and welded it in!! Yes in one evening and not 3½ weeks, grrr!! I know I need to sharpen up my technique, but I have penetrated the metal and there are no pin holes to let the moisture through.


Sadly just as I was about to finish it off I ran out of gas. Again! So now I know I can weld well enough I am going to invest in a large bottle and stop buying the disposable ones as they just don't last ten minuets.

That small rust hole to the left of the weld will be sorted next by cutting out a small section with my draper multi-tool, shaping a piece of steel and welding that in.

Well there should be no stopping me know!!

Monday 13 January 2014

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!

Friday 10 January 2014

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.

Thursday 9 January 2014

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.

Monday 9 December 2013

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!

Tuesday 3 December 2013

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! 


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.

Smiths Fuel Gauge FG2530/70 face
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!

Smiths Fuel Gauge FG2530/70 face
Ready to go
Smiths Fuel Gauge FG2530/70 face
Old face removed, all ok inside
Smiths Fuel Gauge FG2530/70 face
Old v's new
Smiths Fuel Gauge FG2530/70 face
New face fitted
MG Midget Smiths Fuel Gauge FG2530/70
Looking better than ever!