hursst
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Posts posted by hursst
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Had about 15 minutes available over the last 2 weeks to do anything on the MGA, was so busy. Well, here's the progress. Hung most of the panels on now, although they are not really bolted in at all, mainly threw them on to free up space in the guest suite, which became dry storage for "finished" MGA parts (Photos 1-3).
Getting the parts in the sunlight really shows the flaws. Lots of small dings to work out and lots of light pitting to fill. Bought some really good glazing putty that a friend recommended, so I should be able to make short work of these problems.
Strange seeing what looks like a car in my garage now, but I won't get too exited, because I just have to blow it up later and there is still tons of bodywork left. Have made zero additional progress on the trunk area over the last 3 weeks. I should have some more time the rest of this weekend and next weekend to do a little catch-up.
Rear panels not back on yet, as I still need to put fresh primer on the two inner panels that go at the front of the interior of the rear fenders. Hope to get them primed, sanded, and hang the fenders tomorrow.
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Got out early this morning and got my paint setup out to primer the inner fender panels and beat the forecasted wind. Was able to spray all 6 panels plus my other tail light plinth. Put it on quite thick so I can make for easier cleanup of any problems. Turns out this was a good idea. I guess the pitting was even deeper than I thought and the filler combined with my sanding did not fully get the job done. The rear panels needed minimal sanding and were pretty good. I put them back on the car. The middle panels were bad news, I ended up prepping the wrong side of the panel; I was going to leave the side that no one can see with its pits and fill in the side that you can side, but I reversed them. Oops. Ended up filling and sanding the other side now, which will require more primer on the next nice day I have. The front panel still had a lot of pitting showing, so I ended up sanding and sanding and sanding, and got all the pits level without burning thru the primer, thanks to my thick application. Got it down to 400 grit paper and it's pretty smooth now. Put those on the car as well. I think all panels will need another quick shot of primer, then some more sanding with 400 grit to make sure it's pitless and smooth. Not going to spend a huge amount of time with them, since they will only be seen if you look in the wheel wells; it should be good enough for these panels at this point (Photo 1).
The tail light plinths will need a little block sanding, as they are a little wavy as I had to use a wire wheel to get the reminder of the paint off when I stripped them (Photo 2). Very minor, should clean up easily.
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Hello,
I have another panel to ID, this one is a roof drip panel with a GM tag with "911659" hand written, which I assume is a partial part number. I used the GM part number Wiki page and found a full part number, 91165974, that is associated with 1971-74 Chevy Vega, but the number is not specifically mentioned on the page about the Vega, so I suspect the part number was superseded. Can anyone find reference to part #91165974 and find out exactly what it is? Thanks.
-Chris
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Hello,
I have a front fender upper support panel, with part #2949552 that I can't quite ID. It should be 1960's 70's, and it may be MOPAR. Haven't found any positive ID on it. Any ideas?
-Chris
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The warm weather (finally) has motivated me to try to do a little more work. I took off the rear fenders and I'm now focusing on completing the inner fender brace panels, both front and rear. There are 6 panels total. I had previously applied primer/sealer, then some high-build primer, but it was not enough to fill in all the pits on the flat primary surfaces, so time to finish these panels once and for all. After a little sanding and cleaning, I applied some body filler to fill in the pits. They were much deeper than I originally thought, but cleaned up pretty well with a little filler. Here are 4 of them in progress (Photo 1). Here are all 6 panels with 99% of the sanding finished (Photo 2). I am going to try to put them in more high-build primer tomorrow, but the weather is calling for up to 30 mph winds, so I may have to wait. I'm not set up to use the spray gun indoors right now. No big deal.
I also continued on the trunk (Photo 3). I'm about 90% finished sanding the upper left portion and far front portion. It needs a little more contouring, but turned out okay, considering what I started with. I will have to add more filler to the vertical surfaces down where the back rear of the trunk is in this area. It still has a lot of pinholes in the metal. The trunk still needs a lot of work, but it's going well and I'm making progress each time. I hammered up some of the low areas of the previous work, so the contours are slightly better now. Still have a lot of minor work to do with the spare time aperture, especially at the rear, with more grinding, sanding, and filling. I may even have a spot or two I'll need to weld.
Now that the body is on the chassis, I will just continue with the body panel build up and probably just roll right into adjusting and finishing the sanding and filling of the body panels, while the car is together. I'll have to finish the inner areas and underneath of the body after I take it all apart again and take the body off.
For some strange reason, I really don't mind sanding much at all. I'd rather not do it, but it's not that big a hassle for me, so I think I can make quick progress with the outer panels. I made an investment in high-quality blocks and sand paper, with lots of different grades, which I think is making everything much, easier. Hopefully, more tomorrow.
Chris
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The good part is how much more room I have to work now.
I will be piecing all the panels back together, that seems like the consensus. Before I do, I will clean up some of the inner panels (fender wells) by glazing or filling the pits in each of them to just get them finished and off my plate, then I'll hang them before all the fenders go into place.
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John, thanks for the advice.
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Big progress today, sort of. With the help of some friends, was able to get the body on the chassis (Photo 1) plus the rear fenders and doors (Photo 2). Unfortunately, they only had a very short time to help, so we didn't progress further. Pretty happy to get this point, but then reality sets in; I still have a LOT more to do on the bodywork. Getting these parts in the sunlight really brings out the flaws. Will have a lot more finishing work to do on the fenders than I first thought. Doors are actually quite straight so far. Body has lots of dings I didn't notice before, but nothing that bad. Having some trouble with the lower rear fender radius where it meets the door; had to do a lot of fabrication work to get the repro patch to fit when I welded it in, but the curve where it meets the lower door is disjointed and not a smooth curve. Door panel gaps seem generally within spec; very tight at the rocker but fairly large gaps at the very tops of the door. I should be able to draw these in with some rear fender adjustment. Of course, still need to add the front fenders to make sure they match up with the doors properly.
I think for now I will continue on the trunk work and finish that up, then continue on the test fit of the rest of the panels. In between, I will probably try to get the front fenders rough mounted, along with the trunk and hood, when I don't feel like sanding anymore.
A question for the experts, when I test fit these panels, should I be using all the chassis mounting bolts, every fender and door bolt, every inner bracket, the fending welting and get a perfect mock-up, or is it good enough to just get everything into general place, make sure it fits okay, make changes, then blow it up again? Right now, we just have about 3 bolts holding the fenders on and 1/2 the door bolts. What level of perfection should the mock up be? With the additional work I have to do, is it best to leave the panels on the car to do the final sanding and shaping, or should I have these panels off the car? I think most folks seem to be doing this work off the car if the panel can be taken off, but wanted to ask the experts.
Chris
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Thanks John! I'm looking forward to getting the sanding finished, but it's not that bad breaking it down into bite-size sections or time periods.
-Chris
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There is a book called "Haynes-Apperson and America's First Practical Automobile," by W.C. Madden that is a good introduction. It is available through McFarland Press, if this helps your request at all.
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Today, finished about 90% of the sanding on the primary portion of the trunk floor (Photo 1). Will still need to apply some more filler to some low areas and hit it will some finer paper to take out the 40 and 80 grit sanding lines. Turning out nicely so far.
I also got started on the left upper portion of the trunk with a good coat of filler where needed (Photo 2). This area had a lot of rust, small areas I had to cut out, weld in patches, grind, and leading some of the rough seams. This area turned out really well so far also; I was able to get the leading smooth and level. The rest of the filler will fill in the pitting. Areas with no filler are solid and just need some base sanding to remove the rough primer/sealer texture.
The other side only needs a small area at front, but nothing else. I'll also have to apply some filler to the very rear of the trunk where I welded in a large patch panel, then the inner trunk will be ready for final primer. Still have some minor metal work to do along the spare tire aperture, it's a little sloppy with some larger pin holes and some more weld grinding to do.
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Mike, thanks for the post, sounds like you're doing well!
Besides the callouses I've built up over the last 30 years of working on cars, no real damage yet. I would not be able to do this work without 40 grit sandpaper, that is really cutting my thick applications down quickly (thick due to the irregular surfaces I've created). It's actually not too bad, as I'm only doing mayb3 3-4 hours at a time, spreading it out. I know that it will pay off, so I'm not in a huge hurry, but need to just keep it moving along.
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You posted this in the "want to buy" section, should have posted in the "for sale" section.
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Made some good progress today. Tackled the upper portion of the trunk floor. Cleaned it up the best I could, filed down more high spots in the lead and covered about 90% of it with filler (Photo 1). A lot of unevenness, some pin holes, and difficult contours, due to all the major surgery I did. So far, it is coming out better than I thought it would. Spent a few hours sanding it down. Not fun with a small block and getting into the nooks and crannies by hand. Got it about 70% sanded (Photo 2). Will probably hit it again tomorrow and finish it. I'll have to revisit a few spots and apply a little more filler to some low spots, but looking pretty good overall. All considering, I'm pretty happy with it, as doing it this way saved me around $4,000 (my labor is free!) and most of the bad areas will be covered by the spare tire and spare tire cover assembly, however, I think it may come out looking okay none the less. In the end, the whole thing will need some detail sanding at a finer grit to clean it up better and get rid of as much filler as possible while maintaining a smooth appearance. I just hope my leading and filler work holds up and doesn't separate or rust from the inside out.
Pretty much on track to be able to get the body in primer during the spring, although it will most likely be late spring, because of pollen coating everything in early spring. Still have a lot of minor detail work to do, and may have some bigger work to do if the body test fit doesn't go well.
The body test fit has been postponed again and again, due to bad weather and the very limited availability of my friends. Right now, looking like next Sunday for the body text fit.
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Hello,
Looking for NOS or very, very nice used rear trim pieces for a 1974-75 Camaro Type LT. Part numbers are 9698821, 9698822, 9698823, 9698824. The trim is four pieces in total, go between the tail lights, under the trunk lid.
-Chris
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Today I was able to get some filler on the other portion of the trunk floor and get it sanded down (Photo 1). I have a few small spots I missed and there are a few small spots that need some more detailed sanding, but it's about 95% complete.
Once I touch it up, It think I will move on to the upper portion of the trunk that has all the main leading. It's a mess. Will need some more filing to get the edges of the lead more even with the steel around it. There are also a few small sections that have some flash rust that will need to be removed and mitigated first. This will be a lot of work and not sure how the filler will work with so much lead and general unevenness of the surfaces. I guess we'll find out.
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This isn't the same exact model as in the photo, but could be from the same company, just a different model year:
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Looking forward to seeing the progress of this restoration. Seems I run into a lot of trucks of this vintage, in the condition at various locations, but few people will attempt to tackle a restoration on these, for obvious reasons. I will say, nothing against Model As, Camaros, and Mustangs, but I would much rather see a truck like this at Hershey show field than yet another "Brand x" show car. I know of a Ruggles truck that looks like this that is sitting in the same condition. It's a mess, but I think someone could work with it. Would be really interesting to see restored. Best of like with the Republic!
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Amazing work, you are a true automotive artist.
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"Snow storm" shut down work today, so stuck at home. Was able to break out the electric heater and kerosene heater and get the garage just warm enough to do some work. Started really easy, filled in the rub strips in the trunk with some Rage Gold filler (Photo 1). Went on okay and sanded down nicely. Will probably try the rest of the lower floor over the next 3 days, since it's pretty easy. Floor has lots of minor pitting, deep enough to warrant some filler on most of it. The far right is pretty good, as most of the water collected towards the left when it rusted things up.
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It is not a 30U trans for sure, that would be a 42948 or 320656. I checked my trans on my 30U it is reads 320656. I found another post here, which probably answers your question, looks like 1930 Dodge/DeSoto 6 or 8cyl. Maybe you can sell yours to this guy if he's still looking.
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This is probably generic and does not apply to any particular car, but could fit on just about any car. Any Motometer or similar type piece is worth a decent amount of money.
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Hello,
I have a glass bowl fuel pump that I can't identify. It came with two others that are mid-50's Ford, as I ID'd from part numbers, but this one has no part numbers that I can find. Any ideas on what this fits, or where a part number is? I see nothing around the flange. It looks like there was a sticker or small tab affixed to the top, but it's long gone.
Thanks!
-Chris
1960 MGA Restoration
in Our Cars & Restoration Projects
Posted
Thanks a lot Steve. As much as the grey/puke green two-tone primer sets it off, it will be its original color, which is Old English White, black interior with white piping, grey top.