hursst
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Posts posted by hursst
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Welcome back, Jeff. you're still way ahead of me.
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I hope you let us all know where the car will be appearing so we can see it in person!
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Yes, a good machine shop is very hard to find in the DC area, evidently. High demand usually equals terrible service.
Yesterday and today, I got the passenger outer rocker spot welded on and it turned out fairly well. I then put on the rear fender and the door to do some very rough fitting (Photo 1). As I already knew, the outer rocker does not have a severe enough curve to it, so it sits up a little high, although it seems so mainly at the front. The door will touch the upper lip of the rocker when closed. The main issue is that I cannot place the 4 rivets (2 on each side) on the upper front and rear of the rocket, as they sit higher than the holes. I may be able to get a helper and put a pry bar behind the rocker in order to bend it enough to get the rivets in, but it may spring back into shape; that rocker is quite strong. Some of my spot welds burned through the outer rocker, but no the inner structure, so a couple welds didn't hold, so I'll have to fill in a few of them to make sure they are done properly. I'm going to wait on finishing this until finish the other side. The work on the lower fender turned out very well in its rough form. It will need a slight amount of contouring at the lower curve where it meets the door, but seems to fit well and look correct. I'm hoping the other rear fender doesn't need a patch panel, though!
I also started to attack the driver's side. I was able to remove most of the inner rocker panel, which was very rotten (Photo 2). I still have a lot of work to do in drilling out the spot welds and taking what's remaining of it off. The center part of the vertical structure, although very rusty, still appears somewhat sold, so I may have some leeway in terms of cutting this piece in the middle. The front and rear sections are shot and will be cut out, much like I did on the passenger side.
I almost finished the grille assembly (Photo 3). The inner grille with the bars has 2-3 bent bars in it and I think it could use a good polishing, so I will farm this out to my chrome shop in a few weeks. Should be easy and not too expensive, just want to make it as close to new as possible. The chromer did and outstanding job on the outer grille shell. The cloisonne MG badge only needed a little Windex to look new new, maybe the only part on the car that was pretty much good as is. Also refinished the radio delete plate, which is now in primer and ready for the body color paint. Pulled out a few more other smalls to work on the side as I go along.
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Finally got some time to work on the MG today. Made some decent progress. First, I was able to weld on the lower half of the outer rocker. I think I really have the spot weld part down now, almost no mistakes. Cleaned up easy with a little bit of grinding. I test-fitted the rear fender (Photo 1) to make sure it lines up properly with the outer rocker and it did (Photo 1). It will need some minor adjustment, but should go on easy when the time comes. Also finished welding that fender up, too, with all the extra cuts and bends I had to make to make the patch panel fit. What a mess. It actually turned out very well. Still needs a lot of finishing work, but the hard work is finished. Hard to see, since it's painted in primer black, but here's the outer rocker on the car (Photo 2).
Now for the bad news. Do you think this repro out rocker panel fit properly? Not a chance. More repro garbage. The curvature on the lower part of the piece, from the shelf to the bottom edge does not have a severe enough curvature to it. So, my plan is to weld the bottom first, then line up the 4 rivet holes on each side with nails to position them, then weld in the top portion, then try to bend the curve enough to get the 4 holes lined up for rivets. Right now, I got some nails in the 4 holes, but they are way off. Not sure how I'm going to make this work yet. I tried bending it by hand off the car, but had minimal progress. I thought with the piece stabilized, I could get more leverage. More wasted time thanks for shoddy workmanship with these repro parts.
In the meantime, I went over to the other side and started there. I removed the outer rocker panel upper portion that was spot welded to the main vertical piece (Photo 3). This went far easier than the other side, since I have the right equipment and generally know what I'm doing at this point. I should have this side done in half that time as the other side.
Think I got a call about my engine last week, like I was promised? Not a chance. No call this week, either. I'll be calling again Monday to see what the holdup could possibly be. Engine should be ready to go and back at the British car shop now, but it is not.
Still working side projects to keep it interesting. Just about have the grille assembly complete, really just need to clean up the inner grille structure, then bolt the thing together.
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I am selling a Delco Remy 943 J Generator, restored about 2 years ago. Adjustable functioning third brush, new wiring, new oil fill caps, new bearings and original ID tag, all as original. Works great, has maybe 200 miles on it. Comes with pulley and cut-out switch mounting screws as well. I do not know if this is the original pulley, but probably is. Is correct for 1929 -1933 Chevy 6 cyl., 1934-1935 Studebaker, 1929 GMC T11-T19, 1930-1932 GMC T11-T15- T19, 1934-1935 GMC T16 T18 T23 and 1929 -1931 Pontiac 6 cyl. Also can be used as a replacement for similar generator models, such as the 943 R and S, and maybe other models. Please check your parts interchange guides. Asking $240 + shipping costs via FedEx. Far cheaper than buying a core and having it rebuilt professionally. Call, text, or PM Chris 703-565-7476.
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Mike, thanks for the link. I will take a look as I can definitely use more tips on welding!
Chris
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Mike, ok, I'll experiment without the primer and try to get it better dialed in.
In the meantime, today, I painted the inner rocker with chassis black after I primered it a few days ago (Photo 2). Should give a little added protection and to reproduce the look of the original panel, which was a semi-gloss primer.
Then, I thought I could prep and tack in the outer rocker panel, but guess what? The repro outer rocker panel doesn't fit, as expected. Here's a shot of it at the bottom (Photo 1). The lower flange should be flush with the existing flange from the inner rocker panel that is already installed. It's not even close. I tried bending it at the center of the curved radius, but do not have the leverage to bend it by hand. I think what I'll have to do is tack it properly flush at the bottom, then try bending it from the top, enough to get some clamps in place at the top, then try to bend it from there. Should have more leverage with the bottom being tacked in. Still have more prep work to do on the outer rocker, but will try again in a few days. All these crappy repro parts are adding on so much wasted time to the restoration.
Still doing lots of smalls on the side, for when I get frustrated with the large stuff and need a break. Currently working on the inner front grille bars and their hardware. They may need some professional straightening. They are not too bad as is, but I don't think they are good enough.
I called the British car shop about my engine again yesterday, as it's been another month. They claim that the machine shop is finished and shipping the engine over to their shop and it should be there within 1 week. I don't think I believe a word of it, but I hope it's true. Once it gets back to their shop, I will supply them all the ancillary parts that I restored and they would build the engine on a test stand, run it and break it in, as part of the deal. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Today marks 3 years since I bought this heap. I can't imagine how all you other restorers finish your cars so quickly. I think I have another 3 years left at the pace I'm going.
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Mike,
I tried a flapper wheel and that worked better, thanks again for the tip.
I don't think the welding primer is an issue, I'd rather have it than not have it to try to prevent future rust forming, I think I just need to keep improving at welding. I think maybe my wire speed is not fast enough and I'm getting a lot of burning and heat, but not enough weld wire flow. Next round will be spot welding again, which is easier, but I still need to refine my technique.
Chistech,
I'm glad (glad isn't the right word!) that other folks are experiencing what I've been experiencing. I think the only solution is to find the right vendor, then always stay with them. My problem has been recently that I think I've found the right vendor and it works great for a while, but I get let down after a while and they are no longer anyone I want to do business with. I found the right mechanic, chrome vendor and tire vendor, but just about everyone else has failed or let me down at some point.
I long for the day where I can simply drive, enjoy, and maintain my old cars, not constantly have to repair them mainly due to other peoples' failings or business shortcomings. At least I'm learning a lot and slowly improving my own skills.
Have a great week everyone!
-Chris
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...next I made a third tab and repeated again, blending it into the rest of the contour of the patch panel. I then did the same idea on the left side where I bent the edge up flat, but didn't make any cuts (Photo 1). I then re-bent the edge so it matched up with the contours of the original fender. I will cut off the excess metal after I'm finished welding it on. Although this took me a few hours to complete, it went really really well, considering. I'll just need a little grinding and detail work to make it perfect. Everything matches up now just about perfectly.
Here's the original panel with the rot cut out (Photo 2). I then applied some weld-thru primer. Initially, the welding went okay, I stitch-welded it together, but I'm having issues with some minor burn-thru and not enough coverage. When I grind down the weld, I'm left with a lot of clumps of weld that look like islands, plus the act of grinding heats everything up and sinks the welded section down. I'm constantly trying to add more weld to fill in these small depressions around these weld islands, then fighting the warping during grinding. I got the right half looking pretty good, but the left half continues to suffer some burn-thru or this island-like weld clumping, which is not shown in the photo. I think the metal around the weld I'm applying is burning around the weld, leaving small depressions like a slightly sunken halo (there is a backing tab built into the patch panel, so the butt weld has this depressed tab behind it for better support). Here's where I am currently, I'm getting there, but it still needs more work (ready to grind again) (Photo 3). My welding skills have improved, but I think went went from a 2 to maybe a 3 on a scale of 1-10 since I started. I'll get it right, it will just take me a lot of extra time.
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Today I broke out my passenger side rear fender. I previously blasted it and found a lot of perforated metal at the bottom (Photo 1). I bought a patch panel a while ago and decided to install it today. Take a guess if it was a well designed good fitting patch panel. Answer: Not even close. When I line up the character line in the fender, here's how far off it is on either side (Photo 2). A real piece of garbage. I have no choice but to re-engineer it myself. So, I took the right hand side upper tab, bent it out and flattened it, then re-bent it to where it should be (Photo 3). I did the same thing with the second tab (Photo 4) in order to get a match to the contours of the original fender...
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I have the same setup on mine. I am using a large mobile compressor, which seems to be part of the problem, it creates a lot of moisture and is sensitive to humidity, since I have to have it outside when using the blaster.
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A little bit of progress today. Friday, I tried sandblasting my exhaust, but the clogmaster 2000 did it's job and clogged up about halfway thru, then it would last about 30 seconds before clogging again. Too much moisture in the system with the high humidity around here. Very frustrating. Finished it with a wire wheel and Dremel tool, which added a lot of extra time. Ended up with about 5 small holes in the muffler, and tried to fix them with fuel tank sealant. We'll see if it works or not. Then painted the whole thing with hi-heat exhaust paint (Photo 1). Turned out very nice, but looks like a painted exhaust, which is better than rust, but not as "authentic looking" as bare steel or an aluminized exhaust. Happy to have an original exhaust system either way.
Installed it on the car, but missing a rear exhaust clamp and the muffler is oriented about 45 degrees too far clockwise, so I'm going to have to try to unbolt the muffler on a 60-year old exhaust. Didn't know it was oriented incorrectly util I got it on the car.
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Starting to assemble some of the chrome bits. Here's my latest stash (Photo 1). Was able to put the grille shell together; very pleased with the chrome (Photo 2). The grille itself needs some minor straightening, some polishing, and some new hardware bits before it's ready. Luckily, no chrome work needed.
I was able to pick up some new welding wire last week, so I will be resuming welding the final portions of the inner rocker, where they connect to the door pillars, then I'll tackle the outer rocker. I'll have to try to hang the door to get the spacing correct. Will probably be a little tricky. After that, it will be time to start on the other side. Should be easier now that I know a little about what I'm doing.
Still working all the other bits on the side, like the new exhaust I bought, stripping paint off fenders, and working other bits and pieces. Once I get paint on the body, this thing should fly back together since I'll have most of he ancillary parts ready to go. Getting the body will not be fast, it's still quite a mess.
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Just got back from Carlisle, Pa (import nationals) and a mini holiday. Didn't find too much at Carlisle, but did get a few great items. I found a good original bumper to replace my original pretzelled bumper, which is beyond repair for a show car. Maybe could be straightened somewhat for a driver. Found a great repro heater inlet tube, and found a complete original exhaust system, with original muffler (Photo 1 & 2), which is a big deal, I think. Has some surface rust, I little pitting on the muffler, but should clean up quite well. I'll throw some high-quality exhaust paint on it and it should be good to go.
Was able to redo and install the accelerator pedal assembly from when I refinished it last week. Turned out perfectly (Photo 3).
Picked up a lot of really nice show chrome from Librandis while I was near Carlisle and dropped off the rear bumper, the front bumper ends, and the rest of the telescoping steering column assembly for re-chroming.
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I can probably find them at my local junkyard; he has thousands of hubcaps. I'll be going there June 7th. If you don't find a set before then, PM me as a reminder.
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The excuse I get back is that the machine shop gets in 100 small block Chevies to every MG-type engine, so they have the equipment set up to just do Chevies and every so often, they will do a run of "other" stuff, as they have to change out the machine settings. I think it's just laziness and they don't care. I'm at their mercy, I just have to tough it out. Luckily, I don't care too much, as I still have plenty of other work to do on the car in the meantime, so nothing is being held up...yet. We'll see if they can keep the current deadline of June 7th to get the machine work on the "new" engine finished.
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I ran out of welding wire (I will get some in a few days at the Carlisle, PA show, or at Eastwood), so I've moved back to stripping paint off the fenders again. I'm now doing the rear passenger fender. This fender was hit at some point. You can see crease lines on the inside of the fender, plus there is tons of bondo (Photo 1). When I bought this car, it had this monstrosity on it as a home-made tail light (Photo 2). Strange, as they did a fairly decent job pounding the fender back in shape, so getting a new tail light assembly wouldn't have been that tough. Here's what it should look like (Photo 3). I'll have to do some more hammer work with the bag to get the fender a little closer. They used too much bondo, but some will be required to get it perfect.
Next, I ran out of paint stripper, so I went back to the to-do parts pile and pulled out the accelerator pedal assembly. This piece can actually go back on the car now, although I'll have to move it a little to get the engine/trans back in. Was able to strip the rust off and get it in primer. Seems like I'm past the half-way point now, the body is about 15% there, the engine should be ready in a little over a month, and I've really done quite a few of the small and misc pieces on the side, they are starting to add up. There is now space in my to-do parts piles as pieces get finished.
This week, I'll be picking up some pieces I had chromed, dropping off more pieces to get chromed, then going to the Carlisle Import Nationals to buy more parts for the car that are missing or damaged beyond repair. Should be a productive week.
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Does the top have any rips in it? If not, any chance of just cleaning the inside? How fragile is it? It looks to be in amazing shape from the exterior, but old and dirty on the inside. Would be a shame to replace something that original, but I do see how the inside would not work with the rest of the car being perfect.
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Took the last two days off as "mental health" days. Nothing is better than not working, especially during the week. Got a little time in with the MGA, but mostly worked on house repairs, appointments, and other nonsense.
I finished the inner rocker panel spot welding and continued to clean it up with a lot of grinding and filling in some problem areas I created, then I ran out of wire. No problem, I'll be getting some more in a few days.
I decided to break out my new spray gun that I've never used. I bought a mid-level kit from Eastwood and it seems pretty good, even though it's made in Taiwan. I got some high-quality etching primer with activator, some good degreaser, and went to work on the rear door pillar finishing pieces and the battery cover. When I first started, I was shooting out what looked like silly string, so that was a disaster. Eventually, I was able to dial in the correct pattern, pressure, and paint flow, and got it fairly well dialed in. I even guessed the right amount of primer in the container so I almost wasted zero of it., as we all know, these materials are incredibly expensive. Here are the finished results (Photos 1 & 2). I will have to go back and remove some of the primer to fill in some pitting at some point, but good to have these pieces sealed. I think I'll continue to do 2-3 pieces at a time as side projects, then do the body at the end of it. I'd love to have the whole car in etching primer by the end of the year so I don't have to worry about bare metal and rust anymore.
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Eastwood used to have part of its company in the UK, but no more. They've expanded greatly in the US since I started using them 30 years ago. I think you're in luck, though, try this place:
https://www.frost.co.uk/brands/eastwood.html
Eastwood makes just about every restoration product you can think of.
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Mike,
Thanks for the encouragement. I hope to get some more productive days in over the next 2 weeks.
I haven't have any issues with the weld-thru primer, it seems to do its job. I use the Eastwood brand.
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Been working 10-11 hour days (not on the MG, just regular boring job), even had to work two hours on Easter to catch up. Really tired of it. Only had to work 9 hours today so forced my way out to the garage to get most of the spot welding done on the inner rocker (Photo 1). I completed 95% of it, roughly replicating where the factory spot welds were (Photo 2). Had a few instances where I burned right thru both layers of metal and a few that didn't quite go thru both, so will have to do some grinding, filling, and double checking, but overall, still pleased with the spot weld adapter tool. I made a small mistake, I should have shored up the attachment points under the door pillars first, but kind of forgot about it, so there needs to be some adjustments under the front pillar. May have to cut a little and weld in a few small pieces to make it right. A rookie mistake, but it's not a huge concern since none of this will be seen and it doesn't affect placement of any of the outer panels, so if it's a little sloppy, so be it. I also test-fitted the outer rocker (Photo 3). Actually seems to fit quite well for an aftermarket part.
I still have to spot weld the two far-end tabs on the inner rocker, then clean all the welds up a little, then tackle the door pillar attachments. The more I think about it, I will probably cut out all the tabs at the bottom of both pillars and weld in new tabs, as what's left is quite bent up and rusty, plus I'll be able to fill in the gap I made under the front pillar. Tired of getting so behind on the project, it's been almost 3 years. I think I'll feel caught up when I can get the rockers finished, get the body blasted, and get it in etching primer so I can do the rest of the bodywork.
As a side project, I finished the firewall metal piece that attaches above the floorboards and below the goalpost. Was able to restore all the parts and hardware, just added new felt gaskets (Photo 4). Missing the rubber grommet for the steering column, but will get or make one soon..
Got an update on the engine, the new block seemed to have checked out quite well, but it will need to be bored .060 over. The shop says the engine should be back from the machine shop in one month, which really means two months. At that point, we can put all the ancillary parts on and get it on a test stand. If that works out, it will end up being about a year. If everything works out right, I can throw the engine on the chassis, then move the body towards the front of the garage and put the chassis in the back on the garage until it's ready for the body, giving me more room to work and easy access to moving the body from the garage.
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Only had to work 10 hours today, so took an hour to mess around in the garage. Have to make the time. Was able to rough-test fit the inner rocker panel today (Photo 1). Seems like a reasonable fit so far, but still needs some minor adjustments. The door pillar bottoms will need some more attention, they are a little bent up now from the work I had to to remove the original rockers (maybe the bottom 1/2", so not too bad). Overall, pretty pleased. I figure if I can do the inner and outer rockers myself I'll save a good $5k-$6k with the insane rates they charge nowadays. Just hoping I get it right. Will use the other side to measure everything and make sure it's as close as possible before I commit to welding anything. I'll have to tack on the outer rocker and throw the doors back on, I suspect the repro outer rocker may need some adjustment for proper fit.
I fired the engraver yesterday. No apology or anything, he just gave me my heater tag and I left. I'm sorry I was a burden to him by trying to give him money to do him to do 15 minutes worth of work. I found another guy up the street, so we'll see how he does. He says 7 business days.
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I got my Eastwood spot weld adapter on Friday and was able to use it today. I was very pleased with it. It said in the instructions that for my particular welder, I do not need to drill holes in one of the panels, which will save me hours of time. I used the adapter kit to spot weld the two overlapping sections on the vertical rocker support panel and it worked quite well. It took me a few tries to get the settings right, but by the second section, I was getting fairly consistent welds and full penetration. Nothing nearly as nice as the factory, but again, no one will see these particular welds (Photo 1). With a few minor adjustments, I should get some nice welds for the actual rocker panel, although right now, the welds are too wide. Speaking of the rocker, I was able to remove the factory primer on the inner tabs and spray them with weld-thru primer, in preparation for welding them on. Hopefully next weekend I can get the repro inner rocker fitted, if not actually welded on.
As a side project, I started on the goal-post upper panel. This is where the tops of the floor boards and the trans tunnel attach, then the panel itself bolts onto the main goal post (Photo 2). I also started on the defroster tubes and vents that come out of the heater. Here's the newly-painted versions of the vents and panel (Photo 3). I'm zinc-plating the hardware and will be applying new damper felt.
My engraver keeps saying "I have other work, but give me 24 hours" for my Smiths heater tag. He's given me this line 3 times now, still hasn't done the engraving after over a month. I'll be picking it up tomorrow and taking my business elsewhere.
No word on my engine, either. I should hear something any time now, but I don't expect to hear anything unless I contact them. I get a feeling from many shops that I deal with in general that customers are a burden and a low priority. They have so many customers that it doesn't matter to them if they take their business elsewhere, there will always be another customer. It's always up to me to contact these businesses to try to figure out when they will have things finished, they never contact me and they never come close to meeting their deadlines. This is becoming quite a long restoration with many delays. Glad to see the progress on everyone else's cars.
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1960 MGA Restoration
in Our Cars & Restoration Projects
Posted
Have had zero time over the last two weeks, but will have this weekend available, although it will be about 96 degrees. The only thing to report is that the terrible machine shop has finished boring my "new" engine, but the only other guy they have is ill and is getting surgery, so the only work left, the honing of the cylinders and the possible planing of the cylinder head would be another 1-2 months, because they are down to one guy left. Who knows if any of this is true, but I'm incredibly frustrated. So, the British car place I'm dealing with found other shop in Maryland to do this work, so they have to pick up the pieces from the old shop and take everything to the new shop. They say should be finished in one more month. Seems like I've heard this before. That will put me at 10 months to get cylinders bored, honing, and possible decking I couldn't be more ticked off. I really have no choice but to try to ride it out. At least I don't need the engine anytime soon, but it would be nice to have it back to build up the rest of the chassis and focus only on the body. More progress later this weekend.