LHS A-Post Repair

Now that I had finished the outer sill it was time to tackle the other a-post. Reading my blog from before reminded me what a job this was. I cannot tell you how many times I fitted and refitted the door and wing, but it was a lot! Even though I had done this before I was fully aware just how important it is to get this repair right. Failure results in a poorly fitted door and incorrect gaps and having got the right hand side looking fairly good the pressure was on. 

I honestly didn't think that this side was as bad as the right hand side of the Midget...

I was wrong...again!

So that all needed to be cut out and replaced.

Another alignment check...

It is not easy to get the inner section exactly in the right place because you can't easily tell where is should be with the outer skin covering it up. So you have to keep measuring and checking the gaps.

And then in the end you have to bite the bullet!

It is really fiddly welding this in place. Even harder to grind the welds flat. But once in place the outer skin can only really fit one way, although that didn't stop me from checking the gaps about 30 times.

You have to be careful though to make sure the outer skin of the a-post sits flush with the front wing as well as making sure the door gaps are ok.

Fortunately everything came together nicely...

I'm definitely happy with that. Think I can relax now. What's next? Oh the b-post repair...more gap alignment checks!!!

LHS Out Sill Fitted

Another major win on the MG Midget project, welding in the outer sill. It doesn't actually take that long to weld in place. It is the all the prep work that needs to be done first. 

Drilling the holes for welding, painting the sections that will be hidden forever. Making sure that the contact points are painted with weld though primer. And then there is the measuring and alignment, which seems to take forever, but is totally worth it because if you get this part wrong it will have a massive knock on effect that could ruin the door alignment.

LHS Outter Sill Alignment

With work progressing well on the engine bay of my Mg Midget I felt it was time to start planning the installation of the outer sill on the left hand side. This meant fitting the donated wing, which went well and all lined up nicely. Trying to fit the door as best as I could considering the state of the A-post and then offering up the outer sill.

At first glance it was looking good, especially around the front and rear wheel arches. But I noticed that the gap under the door was slightly to big and also there was an ever increasing gap between the front wing, a-post and door.

The top of the door is aligned correctly, so I am thinking it is the b-post that needs to be altered that will allow the sill to come up a little at the rear and so close the gap, because the bottom of the door doesn't sit right. 

As the B-post skin isn't in great condition and as I have a repair panel, I'll cut this out and get the sill aligned to the door and build the A and B posts around it.

Plenty to be getting on with!

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. 

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.

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.