Luv2Wrench

hey hey hey!! look at that! Looks like a trunk floor. Great job man, you'll be done in no time.

Veneer work went a lot smoother. They say the these burls really come alive once they are finished. If that's the case then the burl I have is going to be something special because it looks good raw. One cool aspect of how the MG TD dash is put together is that they have a chrome band that goes all the way around including around the glove box opening and door. It is a bit pricey at $300 but it looks good. In the last picture you can see two pieces that I have test fit. The center section is a spare and the original one I sent off to have chromed.

Passenger's door was going absolutely perfect right up to the point where it became a disaster. It seems that I just didn't get enough base on the bottom edge. I was having some trouble getting down there to shoot and I just flat out missed a spot. I tried to blend some base in but it wrinkled. A trick is to shoot some clear over the area and try the base again but it still wrinkled. Unfortunately this door will need to be sanded back down, shot in epoxy sealer, base and the clear. It is unfortunate but that's the reality of learning on the job and having zero tolerance for mistakes. I will continue forward with the dash, wiring harness and engine connections so I can get it fired up again and test the clutch fix. Once I've confirmed that is working correctly then it will be floorboards and the remaining interior work. I'll work on the door when I get around to sealer/base/clear for the fenders.

Outstanding work Chris, diving in head first is the way to do it!! I might have mentioned that one trick is to assume that your patch is going to be wrong... and thus make it out of something thin or aluminum so that it's an easy practice run. Once you like the shape and the procedure you invented to get it... you can switch to the correct material. Great eye finding things like paver bricks. Once you get in that frame of mind there will be things everywhere willing to jump in and help you make a shape!!

@ply33 thanks for the translation Wing is certainly more representative for what is on the front of the MG. Driver's door is done. I'm happy with how it looks and I think it is probably as close to perfect as I can get for now. It still isn't a perfect mirror finish as there are some distortions from what looks like a low frequency wave more than orange peel. I think it is possible this is in the base as I'm certain the clear was sanded dead flat. The base looked great when I put it on and I don't think I could shoot it any flatter but maybe these stronger glasses will reveal more as I move on to the wings and bonnet.

Got the scuttle reshot and the doors finished. Still need to wet sand, cut and buff the doors. After that I will most likely start on the dash. Once that is complete I should be able to get the car properly assembled sans hood and fenders. Once complete I can drive it out and park it in the main garage and then have the whole shop area to do the fenders, hood, gas tanks and misc. I will likely be wet sanding the tub again as I realized that my glasses were not quite strong enough and I missed some textured areas along with some scratches. My normal reading glasses are 1.75 and my shop "detail" reading glasses are 2.25. That's just not enough anymore. I just picked up a pair that are 3.25 and suddenly I can see everything. Better to find that out now than later. In the picture below my phone has turned it a little blue. Fortunately that is not what it looks like in person.

I figured as much... 80% is so close and the end results will be the same anyway.

Wonderful work as always. This is going to be a beautiful car!! When we manage to collapse the United States, can I live with you guys?

I wonder if it is worth getting a TIG welder? Shockingly... I think Harbor Freight's ProTIG welder is actually pretty good. While I've never used one, I've heard (and seen) that they are a go to for thin sheet metal. I've been gas welding which is tough but it doesn't end up the the splatter and lots of stuff to grind off. TIG is the best of both worlds in that the process is like gas welding but you don't have have the constant extra heat.

Last time I used the paint booth which was essentially the first time I used the paint booth, I ran into a bit of a problem in that while most of the air exited out under the garage door and significant amount turned the corner, went back through the shop and then again out the fan. The white air filters I started with ended up becoming green. I had always planned on fixing some sort of connection between the two walls and the garage door but at the time I couldn't really see a good solution. This time around I added to extension "wings" to the last wall panel on each side along with an addition stub wall coming down from the ceiling and intercepting (nearly) the top of the garage door. This effectively seals the gap. I ran the fan for the first time this afternoon and was very pleased with the results. The two "wings" automagically deploy when the fan comes on. While certainly not really intended or needed... it is one less thing I have to do. There is now enough positive pressure in the room that the door also stays shut by itself, indeed, it is somewhat difficult to open when the fan is on. I'll need to get a bigger pulley for the drive on the fan to get it slowed down a bit. Still too much air moving through. Obviously that's the problem you want to have as it is certainly easier to get less than it is to get more.

Mick, Yes, I too have read about the no glue dictum. I haven't done that much research but I do know that the glues I use are flexible to an extent. I can tell that the MG was glued and I do believe that they intended for the wood to allow the flexing, NOT the joint. I do believe that rebuilding a wood frame using today's woodworking technique and materials will provide a frame equal to or superior to original.

Thanks! You are correct that parts of the MG TD are either made from wood or have a partial wood frame. I think originally nothing was done to the wood and it got primer/topcoat if and when the primer/topcoat was sprayed in that area. I believe as a results of this the wood suffered greatly causing rot for it and rust on the sheet metal that wrapped it. In response to that, and being a wood worker myself, I worked with the wood the same way I would for an exterior wood project. After assembly with a waterproof glue, I brushed on a water base sealer (MinWax has one I'm fond of). From that point forward there was little difference between the wood and metal... each and every piece got 3 full coats of epoxy primer. Yes.. that's overkill but wasn't that much more work. Wood pieces then were attached to their metal pieces and the assembly, bodywork and painting of the car continued. As such, the very least covering any piece of wood will have will be; water based sealer, 3 coats of epoxy primer and then a final coat of epoxy primer. The epoxy primer I'm using has UV protectants and can be used as a final covering (like a single stage or clear coat). As per what wood is actually exposed, there is a panel on the back behind the gas tank along with the floorboards. Those are marine grade plywood with sealer and epoxy primer. The panel on the back also got base and clear. For your project I would recommend also using SPI's Epoxy Primer over both the wood and metal. This should go on after the water base grain sealer and before any other primer or fillers. Once primers/fillers are applied and bodywork complete, then one wet coat of the epoxy primer should be applied again before proceeding with paint. The epoxy primer forms a very effective sealer and eliminates the possibility of compatibility issues. Here is their website https://www.southernpolyurethanes.com I do believe their products are available in Australia but if not they will be able to recommend a similar epoxy primer. A big advantage of working with SPI is their tech support. In addition to their normal support line you get the owner's cell phone number and can call with questions at any time. I will not admit to the number of times I've called Barry so far... but let's just say I felt the need to send him a few gift cards.

Certainly not an issue Mike, all opinions are valued. If the burl turns out to be too busy I can always make another wrapped in vinyl. I think even if I were keeping this car I'd probably go with the burl. When I think of an English car I'm thinking more of the Jaguar that my Dad had and, of course, it had burl everywhere.

From the factory, the MG TD dash was covered with the same vinyl used on the door panels. In the case of this car, biscuit vinyl. I certainly understand on this site that changing a car from its factory condition is not approved of. The reality is that I'll be selling the car and if you search sales of MG TD that have fetched over $25K you'll find they have an upgraded dash. A purist could easily spray some glue on that and wrap it in vinyl if they'd like. I'll be happy to do it for them or include a length of the interior vinyl for them.

OK, quick update. Turns out I have a couple of options. Since the paint is fresh I can blend in base over the area and do 3 wet coats clear. I can do roughly the same but as I blend end up basing all of the scuttle and then 3 clear. I'm going to do the latter as it involves the least amount of risk. I put the paint booth back in and that went very smoothly. It takes about 75 minutes to transport it from the garage to the shop, put the fan in place, shroud, rear wall, first two wall panels (so I can see where each side will be), cover the floor with plastic, tape the sides and install remaining wall panels. I would imagine that as I do this more it will probably be under and hour... but still, that's a trivial amount of time to have a fully functional paint booth that takes up no space in my shop. I'm going to add another stub panel along the back that will nearly touch the garage door when it is in the raised position. Obviously it can't actually touch the garage door or I wouldn't be able to open the door when the paint booth walls are not there. It turns out that I can have about 1/4" clearance between the two that should be plenty close enough to keep air from looping back around to the fan. I've also made some extensions for each of the end panels that can swing open and then intersect the door when raised. This turned out to be a really simple solution and I'm glad I waited until I figured it out rather than hacking something in there. Now.. the bonus. The original plan was to shoot the tub and the two doors. Once everything was cut and buffed I would put the tub on the chassis and assemble all of the car sans the fenders and hood. That would mean the interior, floor boards, carpet, wire harness, dash, etc. I changed my mind on this because I didn't feel comfortable shooting the tub and the doors at the same time given a) it was my first time in the booth and b) the booth is a little tight and I couldn't figure a way to do it without worrying with overspray. Now that I'm reshooting just the scuttle, I'll have the opportunity to shoot the doors. The vast majority of the tub will be masked and I don't need to walk down both sides so it can be out of the way and free up room for the doors. So... in the end, all of this is a great turn of events. I'll be able to continue with my original plan and get the car completely together and then *drive* it out of the shop and work on the fenders, hood, gas tank and other items. Another fun item is that I committed to the burl veneer for the dash. Yes... I know... that's not original and I can hear the judges now docking points, but I think the future owner of the car is going to love the look. Attached is a sample of a book match with the burl I selected. I've also included a composite of how I think I'll position the dash over the book matched veneer. Obviously this is subject to change once I get the veneer but it sure is fun to have computer power to play around with mapping a veneer to and object!!!

Finished wet sanding the rest of the tub and it looks fantastic EXCEPT for one spot. One little 1/4" spot that didn't get enough base/clear. It is on the inside of the scuttle towards the middle. It is an area I've had a bit of difficulty reaching and apparently I just didn't get enough on it. I'll be bothering SPI once again tomorrow to find out what my options are but I think the scuttle will need two coats of base and 5 coats of clear... the good news is that the scuttle is probably the only place on the tub that could be masked off and shot separately. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to sand the clear and base off or just scuff it but I'm sure they'll have some answers for me tomorrow. The spot will probably be hidden by the piping that goes between the dash and the scuttle and if I were keeping the car I might just touch it up and let it slide. Ya live and ya learn.

Finished the driver's side tonight. I'm very pleased with the results and happily surprised by how little (relatively speaking) time it takes to get it the way I want it. I have had some minor heart attacks with finding "flaws" as it has gotten to the point it is reflective enough that the "flaws" are really things in the shop. This picture is a perfect example. I sent it to my brother to show him the progress and then freaked out at the problems along the bottom. Actually went out to the shop to double check... and yes, it is the flakes in the epoxy on the floor. lol.

It would love CT... and will be for sale after its first show.

Who can guess what I started doing to the MG this evening?

Your work is incredible and I love following along. One thing I found with the SPI epoxy primer is that a shot glass of their slow reducer and shooting about 26 psi gets rid of orange peel for me. There's a slight loss of gloss but not much. Do you use their 2K primer and clear as well?

That's a great sander and I'm sure you're going to be very, very thankful to have that!! Those fires are devastating, is your area pretty clear of fuel?

You don't need trig to measure the earth because it isn't a circumference... it is flat. Take a 25' tape measure, find one edge, measure out 25', retract tape and repeat. When you get to other edge you will know the length of the earth. If you do this, please take pictures at each edge and post. Also, I might add, that "flame speed" is measured in different units than suggested by some wizards in this thread. It is measure as "fast" "really fast" and "#*!!#&* fast". Hope this clears up some of the confusion.

Yep, I just read it wrong. For this base, and since it is dark green, it should sit overnight before clear... but it shouldn't have been wet sanded because if a little too much came off there could be some color variation that might not be seen until it was cleared.

I started thinking this morning that maybe I wasn't supposed to wet sand before the clear. I talked to Barry at SPI and sure enough, while you can do that with a solid base, it isn't the best idea. So I shot a wet coat of base this morning and then got 4 coats of clear on it. I ended up with some dry spots in the first and second clear coats because I really didn't have enough light to check my overlap and settings. I shot the next two coats with a headlamp and that helped a lot. I'm reasonable happy with the finish. There will be a good bit of work in the cut and buff to get out the texture and get the mirror finish I want.

Thanks, I appreciate that. Don't let the pretty pictures fool you, I'm hacking along just figuring it out. I see you're from Laurinburg NC, I spent about two years there at Saint Andrews Presbyterian College. Great place to play golf with Deercroft and Pinehurst nearby.