Outer Sill Alignment

In order to make sure I get this outer sill aligned to the best of my ability I consulted with my friends at the MG Cars Enthusiasts' Club. They, as always gave me some valuable advice which was to properly line up everything first and make sure that the door looked good. 

But there was one job that I have been putting off for some time, not for any particular reason other than I was just nervous about cutting more metal away from the A post pillar.

The problem I have with this repair is the repair panel itself. I have noticed that the new panel is slightly smaller to the lower left of the hole where the windscreen support slots into. I guess that is something I will have to tackle at some point.

For now I needed to cut some metal away so that the A-post panel will fit in place so I can test fit the door, the wing and the A-post to make sure the outer sill is in position and ready for welding.

Oh look more rust! Hardly surprising as this spot it a usual suspect in terms of rusting points. I'll be back to sort you out later, but for now it was time to check the alignment.

I think that it all looks fairly good for a test fitting. I am happy with the gaps as they all seems to be constantly equal and straight. Hopefully I can start to tack some welds in tomorrow.

Outer Sill Preparation

For the last couple of evenings I have been preparing the outer sill for one of my most nervous welds to date. If I get this wrong it could ruin the entire look of the car.
Gaps, wheel arches and bolt holes all have to be carefully considered to ensure I don't mess this up.

First job is to prepare the inner sill that is going to be covered for evermore (hopefully! Not doing all this again in a hurry) by painting it in a couple of coats of black chassis paint to protect it from the rust.

Then I drilled all the weld holes in the outer sill, took it back to bare metal and sprayed the edges with weld-through primer to protect the join from rust. I applied a couple of coats of chassis paint to the inner section, as shown below.

Next I presented the outer sill to the inner sill and sprayed a little primer through the holes to highlight the welding line.

This was then stripped back to bare metal and sprayed with weld-through primer.

 Finally the outer sill in (hopefully) in position ready for welding.

The gaps and arches all look good, including the two ends of the outer sill which I was relieved to see ends perfectly in-line with footwell end and the rear bulk head. Must have done something right! In case you are wondering why the blue wing, the guy I bought the MG Midget off included it in the price as the old one was too far gone.

Next post will be welding in the sill and then on to the A and B post repairs and fitting the door.

Where does the time go

It has been a long while since my last post, but I have been somewhat busy working on the house that we bought nearly two years ago. Every room and the garden needed to be redone. During the summer I spent nearly all my time working in the garden trying to transform it from a jungle to something we can enjoy as a family. During the winter months to date I have been sorting out the bathrooms. I'm happy to say that I decided that enough was enough and it was time to get back to the MG! 

There was a couple of things that encouraged me to get back it, the first was watching quite a few episodes of CarSOS, kind of hoping that I would appear on the show, only to get frustrated that it wasn't me and telling myself I must get back into the garage. The other was some nice gifts friends and family gave me for Christmas.

My last post explained about getting ready weld in the floor. Well I am please to say that I completed that job back in the summer. I just don't think I took any photos. My next job is to align the outer sill and prepare the area for its fitting.

I am so happy that the sill and the wing appears to line up really well. The b-post repair also looks like it should fit into place with near perfect gaps all round.

It's Nearly Floor Time

I got a message today from Andy Mc in Holland today telling me to keep going! He also had a link to his website of his MG Midget project which I recommend you check out: http://superspridget.blogspot.nl/?m=1

That was all it took to help me decide that I needed to make some more progress with the car and so tonight I finally got the repair to the shock absorber bracket completed after the second time of trying.

The first time the welds didn't take at all and the whole repair just popped off. I guessed because I didn't increase the voltage on the welder to accommodate the thicker metal. So after drilling out the welds and turning up the power I gave it a second go and all was well, as you can see.

This now means there is nothing stopping me from welding in the new floor panel!!

I had to check when I first tried to test fit this panel to fit and it was the 1st April 2013. 

But so much has happened since then both with the car and with life in general, especially the new garden which has been consuming my spare time since September last year. 

I finished off the evenings work by doing the final test fitting before the big weld.

I also though it would be good to see the before and after photo.

Very happy with the way it has turn out and I am certainly looking forward to getting the next section done, just got to remember to turn the welder voltage down before I start!

Floor Pan Preparation

During the last few weeks I have been preparing the chassis and new floor pan to fit together ready for welding. It turns out there is quite a lot to think about. First off you very quickly realise how many holes you have to drill. I lost count after 200!

Then there are the tube sections which will be covered up forever more. I wanted to treat these with rust protection to hopefully give them some extra life. Midget's have seemed to suffer badly around the crossmember area, probably because of the jacking point clear lets moisture into that section.

 

Another area that will be mostly hidden is the gap between the inner and outer rear bulkhead. Once I have completed the chassis the plan is to take it to a sandblasting company to take all the metal back and prime with an Epoxy paint. I am sure these gaps will be hard to blast when the floor pan is in, so any protection will be useful. Both of these sections I used rust converter or primer and then black chassis paint. 

I then spend some time cleaning down the bare metal and zinc priming all the contact welding points. This included the new floor pan and as you can see the panel on the right is all prepared. Shame really as the new panels look so nice!

I've got quite a lot of welding to do here. Best to take it slow so not to warp the metal.

It was only the other day when I realised I might have hit a problem. If I weld in the floor plan now, it will be very difficult to weld in a repair section that links the shock absorber bracket to the rear suspension mount as shown in the pictures below.

I have made it even more difficult because of my chassis tilting device that uses the shock absorber bracket for support. So the option I came up with was to weld the part to the suspension mount first and complete the weld at a later stage when I can get better access. 

  
Hopefully I can get welding soon!

Sill Welded in

All welded in!! Very happy. Next stop the floor! Got to say being able to tilt the chassis has made this job so much easier.

Sill Prep Update

Had some time today to carry on with the preparation work for the sill. Couple more jobs and I can start to drill all the holes for the sill and floor!

I also had time to make a bespoke repair which is one of the jobs I like the best.

It's nearly sill time

No I really mean it this time! I just need to finish off this small triangular hole next to the rear bulk head and I am going to start drilling the welding holes.

After that I need to weld in this section repair that might be a little challenging fitting into place. This repair below was one of the first that I made. Be great to get it in place after all these months. 

I just can't wait to get the sill and floor in! Certainly being able to tilt the chassis now has already made a difference. I think that I am getting about a a 70 to 75 degree tilt which is fine by me.