Tuesday, 20 August 2019

Front Wheel Arch Repairs

Managed to get round to the front right wheel arch this evening which needed a simple repair. Rust had got behind the join that had gone right through. 



And so the work begins



There are a couple more areas that need attention as shown below. you can just about see the flaps raised a little due to rust underneath, but I am hoping they are not as bad as the one above. I am planning on drilling out the spot welds and bending the flaps back, cleaning it all up and then welding them back down again. 


Tuesday, 23 July 2019

Battery Tray Completed

I finished the battery tray this evening and I am really pleased with the results.

My biggest worry was that I was going to have to replace the whole section which was way more complicated than what I had planned. Fortunately it did go to plan. 

First job was to check to see where the bad metal stopped. On closer inspection I realised I did need to cut more from the back wall.



I just wasn't happy with the pitting. That needed me to drill out some more spot welds the from other side and then cut back to good metal.



Next job to clean up all the waxoil as best as I could, which took a while using a brush and lots of Gunk degreasing agent. But it did evenually come off with a load of elbow grease as well.


The flanges that the tray sits on needed to be made good before I could weld the tray on.


Next was to make the template and offer it up.


Then to start to weld it in. 



And finish with primer.



Really happy with the results. Also managed to fix that hole above the tray. I think next stop will be the footwell toe panel.

Tuesday, 9 July 2019

Battery Tray Repair

I don't know why but I have been looking forward to working on this repair for ages. Probably because it is always right in my face looking at me from the front of the car.

The battery tray is really badly rusted.



I needed to cut out the worst of it in the hope I can weld in a new panel, without having to replace the whole section.




So far so good! Just need to clean this all up and cut out a new piece of metal and weld it in, but with all that waxoil that someone has painted on there I'll have to wash it down first with degreaser or the welds will become decontaminated.

I will also have to sort out this little hole as well.



Thursday, 4 July 2019

Nearside Triangular Support

I remember when I first got to look over my MG Midget and thought at least the nearside triangular support isn't as bad as the other. 

In some ways I wasn't wrong, but just because it didn't look like this...



... doesn't mean it will be a quick fix.

Ultimately I found some rust and if I don't deal with it now it will bother me for the rest of time. So that mean't pretty much the same amount of work as before.

I think this is the only photo I have of the nearside when I first stripped the car and you can see it looks in much better condition than above. There is just a small rust patch in the bottom right corner which I thought would clean up.



but it turned out to have a few small holes!



It was at this point I decided to repeat the same job as before, which meant starting with the end panel.


Now that was all taken care of and back to good metal I could get on with the main structure.



But then I had to deal with the badly fitting repair panel. 



That needed the same alterations as before.


I don't know why heritage have made the panel that don't fit but my local Moss supplier assured me they have always been like that. At least this time I knew what I was doing!


There were a few more welds to make good to seal it all in correctly and make a replacement splash plate that was previously damaged, so now it should last for many years to come without me worrying about that rust!

Sunday, 23 June 2019

Pressing on

As the weeks continue to fly by I am doing all I can to maintain work on the MG Midget. The list of jobs to do on the chassis is coming down and I think I am nearly at the point where I can potentially list them here! I am still just trying to get as much done as possible.

There are still a number of little jobs that seem to take as long as the big jobs.

For example, this little hole has been staring at me for months!



I have been putting it off partly because there was bigger and more important sections to complete but also it is in a really tricky location, right down in the engine bay before the transmission tunnel.

Thankfully I am still a little flexible, so got on with it, but it was not easy to get the welder torch in there and with the welding helmet and a light source!