Left Rear Wing Repair

Getting this rear wing done was one of those major milestones that I have been looking forward to for some time. 

I had to look back through the blog to remember how bad it was rusted and the poor attempt to repair it.

Which all needed to be cut out

You can see the damage behind which was all fixed a year ago in this post: Left-hand-rear-wheel-arch-repairs

Certainly looks a lot better now behind the wing, which leaves the next job of lining up the new replacement panel.

Needed the usual preparation of weld through primer and holes for the welding.

Then make sure it lined up ok. This took quite a bit of fine adjustment with the angle grinder to make sure that the panel fitted just right, but also left a small gap between the new and original metal to weld into. About 1mm to 2mm is normally about right.

Then a final spray of chassis paint to cover the parts that the sandblaster probably won't reach.

And then it was time to weld it all and grind to a smooth finish.

It will certainly need a thin coat of filler to make perfect but considering the extent of the damage I'm very happy with this result.

LHS B-Post repair

After the pain of getting the a-post repair completed I was in an upbeat mood about how quickly I was going to get this very simple repair done. On the drivers side I bought a nice new B-post panel that fitted really well, but for this side the guy I bought the car from had thrown in a few panels to help me on my way and that include the same b-post panel but for this side. Happy days!

Turned out it didn't fit anywhere nearly as well. It wasn't long enough so I had to flatten it all out and remake the curve using my hammer and dolly set, whilst lengthening the overall panel to fit.

It took hours!!!

I also had to use my dremel with the mini sanding disks to smooth out all the imperfections in the metal from hammering it so much. But it was worth it in the end.

I'm not 100% happy because the door gap is ever so slightly increasing as you come down the door to the base, but the b-post is straight which suggests that the A-post is slightly at an angle. But i think there is only about 1 to 1.5mm in it. I'm probably being too fussy but when you've taken this long you kind of want to get it as best as you can. Hopefully a little more fettling and the door gaps on my little MG Midget should be good as new!

Looks so nice...well in my head it does!

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.