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Thanks Jeff, it is getting done, a little at a time. There are some rust holes on both sides at the back of the trunk sides. There is also a lot of damage at the very upper trunk where it meets the bulkhead. Battery acid/gas got to it. I should be able to patch these areas up okay without having to do major surgery. All 4 fenders will need some patch panels at the lowers, but that should be it. No major structural rust anywhere, but quite a few minor rust outs that need attention. It will be a busy summer welding and priming.

Today I took the plunge and broke into my rocker panels. Here's the passenger side before (Photo 1) and after (Photo 2). Not having a proper spot weld remover, I just cut the metal as close as I could to the spot welded areas. I will either buy a spot weld driller-outer, or maybe just grind the other pieces out. Not sure yet. Here's the driver's side after I cut the rocker out there (Photo 3). The inner sills have rust holes, but it doesn't look too bad at first glance. My plan is to stop with the body, other than continuing to remove what's left of the paint, and wait until I can get it professionally blasted to bare metal. I think at that point, I'll be able to see the full extend of the damage. Right now, it looks like I could maybe put in some patch panels, as it looks fairly structurally sound, but the blasting may open up a whole can of worms. I don't have the expertise to replace the full sill assembly myself, I would not be able to keep the body in alignment. While winter continues, I'm still working on some smalls on the side. Was able to heat up the garage today and primer the rear number plate brackets and hardware. Should be able to sand and paint them up tomorrow. Picking up some chrome pieces later this week, and dropping more off. I also need to call the engine shop. It's been 4 months since I dropped it off and last I heard it was at the line bore shop. Starting to get a little antsy, they should be wrapping it up about now. Plenty of paint on the body still to strip. I could get back into the heater, that would be easy and consistent work. Probably shouldn't get too far ahead of myself, my credit card has been smoking other the last few months, it could probably use a break from car parts/services purchases.

I'l take it if it's still there. Please see PM.

Thanks for the encouragement, but I have at least another 2 years. All my parts need a LOT of work, nothing easy on this car.

Found a small indoor project to do this week, since it's so cold outside. Got the side curtain storage bag/trim from the parts pile and inspected and cleaned it up. Here's before and after (Photos 1 & 2). Being original, I want to save it if I can. Turns out, it's in quite good condition. I vacuumed out the inside and put on some 303 Protectant to clean the vinyl. Put a little chrome polish on the Lift-The-Dot fasteners as well. The piece has a few areas with some fading and there are two small tears, maybe 1/2" or so, on either end of the upper Lift-The-Dots, but otherwise, it looks good. I will reuse it. In the meantime, I bought two new buckets of garnet sand for the blaster, so I can properly start blasting the rest of the fenders, without using the recycled stuff. I think I can get away with using the recycled stuff on the inside of the fenders, or other places where they can't be seen. Media is not that cheap. I also think I'm going to remove the rocker panels this weekend. The both have large rust holes in them, so they are shot. I dug around in there and found some rust holes on the inner rockers as well, although it looked fairly minor so far, but it will need some surgery. Time to get in there and get it down. Have new outer rockers ready to go.

Great work. Still have to make progress on our projects, despite the cold.

Graham, I measured the width/diameter of my brake drum and mine is 7" across. Again, there may have been changes from the 30U to PA, but mine appears to be original. Although it's hard to get a good measurement since everything's attached to mine and I had to crawl under it, I see no evidence of tapering on mine. I would suspect that yours may be tapered due to wear. I don't know if you can get a photo to post, but that may help if others can take a quick look. -Chris

Hello Graham. I was just in Cape Town on Holiday a few months ago. Beautiful city. I have a '30 30U and I can check the dimensions on mine. Can't guarantee mine is correct since it's a 30U, although it was built in 1931. Mine may have wear and tear as well. Bare with me until I can get out of work and get to the garage to make some measurements. -Chris

"Prototype testing for the original concept for the Owens Magnetic had one minor flaw..."

This weekend I broke out the clogmaster 2000 to clean up some parts. I started with the rear number plate assembly and two bumper brackets (Photo 1). They came out quite nicely, but do have some pitting. I think a good coat or two of build primer should get the job done. I also decided to try a fender (Photo 2). With paint remover, I took off what I thought was probably lead paint and left it with mostly primer, then finished up with the blaster outside. Ran out of media before I could finish everything. Unfortunately, there are a large amount of pinholes at the lower front of the fender, so it will need a patch. Will probably need to do a quick blast of it again, as I used "used" blast media, which I learned can force bad material back onto the bare metal. Thinking about trying out a mobile sandblast guy I just find out about through the forum. I figure that to do the body correctly, I'm going to need to use only fresh media only, which will add up in cost quite quickly. It may be cheaper or as expensive to hire this guy to blast it all at one time, plus he'll have a better and faster blaster. Still working on one of the doors (Photo 3). Didn't quite get enough filler in two spots, so had to add some more. No space for more photos today, but also cleaned up the original rear deck trim/side curtain bag as a side project. Overall, looks good and it's original to the car, but has a slight amount of discoloring and two small tears in the vinyl near two of the lift-the-dot fasteners. I think it's good enough to reuse.

I have a 943J on the car now. It's for a Chevy. Looking for the 943R to make it more correct.

Thanks again for all the pointers. The mobile service is fairly close to me, so I may give that a try for the body in the spring, when I can primer it right after. I tried blasting a fender today and it worked quite well. I have been recycling the media, so I should start using fresh media for now on for the important parts. Didn't even think about that. I think I'll hit that fender again quickly with fresh media in case I contaminated it. I blast outside only and have been using one of those "nice" 3M dust masks with the breather in the middle. My full respirator won't fit under the blast hood I wear. I'll have to rethink, maybe that's not good enough. I tested the original paint with a lead test today and did not get any lead, so it looks like the repaint has lead, but the original paint underneath it does not. I've been chemically stripping the repaint off as to limit any contamination.

Great, thanks for the info, I always wondered why in the parts book I have there were 2 types available. Now I know why. Then only looking for a 943R.

I looked at having it dipped, but there's not one near me, it's too cost prohibitive.

Thanks, but need 943 R or S. Still looking...

Need 30 Plymouth generator, 943 S or 943R.

Truly amazing work. I would say that your car is worth as much or more than a 1:1 scale version. I would also think, and hope, that 100 or 200 years from now, these pieces will be in the Louvre or The Henry Ford, or some other place of honor to be enjoyed by all next to all the other masterpieces. I don't think anyone in the world could match this work. Congratulations.

Thanks for the replies. I think I'm okay to do some sandblasting at home, then, now that I have some more information from all of you. I wire wheeled and sanded my last car, which did work, but took forever and physically destroyed me. It took way too long and was physically exhausting. Chemical paint stripping combined with sandblasting will be significantly faster, far less physical activity, and I do need to blast, as every portion of my car has surface rust and a few pin holes that need to be explored and a wire wheel and sanding will not get it down to perfect bare metal and remove all rust from these areas. Also, there are many nooks, crannies and corners on this car that a wire wheel will not fit into. Both the inside and outside surfaces of the entire body need to be stripped to bare metal.

Hello, I'm seeking some opinions regarding media blasting of steel fenders/body panels. I'm restoring a 1960 MGA and I'm at the point where I'm chemically stripping most of the paint off (top layer tested positive for lead) and it's more convenient when it's rainy and cold. However, most of the panels are rusty, especially on the insides of the fenders and body, although it's mostly light surface rust. Paint stripper won't help, it needs to be media blasted. (FYI, I hand stripped and sanded the aluminum doors, hood, and trunk). The opinion I'm seeking is how I should blast them. I have a home blaster and use garnet sand, but my main concern is heating up and warping the panels. I've heard this my whole life from various folks. I also went to my favorite blaster shop and they say that it's no problem and they blast cars all the time with no warping. I forgot ask which media they use. I will have to have the body blasted professionally, as it's too big and time consuming to do myself with my amateur equipment. I was thinking of blasting the detached fenders at home with garnet sand, then farming out the body to the shop. What are some opinions on whether or not I will warp my fenders if I do them at home and what are some opinions on which media should be used on the body when farmed out? Are there any other things to consider? Thanks! -Chris

I bought a lead test kit from the hardware store. The car has the original paint on it in between the rust, plus someone repainted parts of it later on.. I did a test of the paint on the rear bulkhead, which I know had been repainted prior to 1970, and it came up as positive for lead in the paint. Not sure if the original paint has lead in it, but I was pretty sure that the"new" paint has lead in it, so trying to be very careful with removing it and not creating and dust, wearing a full respirator. You may be right about original paint not having lead it in, however.

Today, I stripped a large part of the pass rear fender (Photo 1). Needs a little more work, but the goal is to get rid of the white paint at least, so I can safely have it blasted, due to lead in the paint. Found a few more dents now that the fenders are a little more clean, but no big deal. Also decided to start stripping the body, too (Photo 2). Will probably try to do most of the accessible areas on top, but I'll have a professional blast the car clean. Not sure if I'll make a dolly for the body or what at this point. Will also be removing the rocker panels soon, as they are shot. Want to give plenty of access for the blasting later this year. Fairly productive 3 day weekend, but very cold. Didn't work as much as I could have, but decided to take it easy later in the afternoons. Can't wait for spring.

Thanks Jeff. It's nice to be able to do things yourself and learn new skills, especially when the going labor rate in my area for just about any car work is $120/hr. Thanks for the tips about the body hammers and dollies, I can really feel the difference when I'm using the "real" tools. Now back to the garage...

Did more this morning, but took the afternoon off to do other things. I finished sanding the doors/hood/trunk and added a little glazing putty to some spots, but those pieces are effectively done for that phase. I moved on to the passenger side rear fender. It had a big whamo in it at the top. It looked like someone dropped something big and heavy on top of it (Photo 1). Kind of hard to see, but that shinny part is light from above it. It's dented in quite a bit. Was able to easily hammer it out with a sand bag, rubber mallet, and some fine tuning with the body hammers (Photo 2). Turned out quite straight, overall. It will still need some final work, but it's about 95% done. The rest of the car body is mostly dent free. I then went back to the front valance panel and finished the welding. It was really tough working with the thin metal trying to butt weld it all, but it came out well for my skill level (Photo 3). I ground it down to a reasonable level to get general contours before I start fine tuning it. Glad I was able to save this piece. It still has some thin metal and minor rust outs at the bottom lip, so may have to weld in a few small patch panels. Also finished restoring the nuts and bolts for my back number plate brackets and assembly on the side. Overall, quite happy with the progress I've made on the body work, didn't know if I could do it, having very little experience. I think I'm going to move on to the 4 steel fenders and start chemically stripping the lead paint and get it ready for sandblasting. The rear fenders look quite good, rust wise, but the fronts will need a little work at the lower front. One has some rust holes and will need replacement patches, while the other is just rusty at the extreme lower part and will need some very small patches.

Have a 3 day weekend, so plan to make the most of it with the MGA. Today I attempted to get the hood, both doors, and trunk finished with a preliminary application of body filler where needed and sanded at an 80 grit level. Almost got there, but there were a few additional low spots to fill. Here's a door and the hood, finished with 80 grit (Photos 1&2). Next will be moving on to a higher grit, probably 220 with the long board, to try to get these prepped for primer in the spring. NOS door was a mess with dings everywhere from poor storage, but not a spec of corrosion. Front of door needed a lot of filler due to it being a little lower than the edge of the door, where the skin is crimped. Really tough to get to this area, because of inner door framing. It's quite shallow, but big. I will probably rethink it and try a little more withe the slapper and see if I an get it closer before the next round of sanding. Hood was really good, too, only two spots that needed filler. I would have hammered them out, but they are behind bracing and I couldn't get a good angle. While waiting for filler to cure, I blew apart my rear bumper assembly (Photo 3). It was a mess, but is starting to clean up okay, and I will be able to reuse most of he parts. I will probably need a new bumper and definitely new bumper bolts, as most of them spun in place and I had to more or less pull them thru the bumper to free everything. One of the bumper guards was hit, but I was able to get it mostly back into shape. The bumper has been hit, twisted, and buckled, so it will be difficult to repair. I will probably look for a replacement, but keep this in case I can't find a good one. Took a break from welding the torn valance panel, so it will sit for a couple days (Also in Photo 3).

In what part of the country do you live? I think there's one of these in a yard in Central Virginia.