1960 MGA Restoration

[hursst]

This weekend had perfect weather!  Got about 5 hours in today.  No work yesterday, as I went to the AACA Fredericksburg, VA region annual car show with my '74 Camaro.  Great show.

 

Put some filler in all the low spots on the body.  Was able to sand the back with no problems.  Will do one more quick round of sanding my work with 400 grit, then it will be ready for more primer (Photo 1).  I had some problems with the front.  Spent a lot of time sanding the front, but only got about 20% finished. I didn't use quite enough catalyst in the filler, so the filler was a little "moist" when I attempted to sand it and it took forever to make any progress, no matter the grit.  Will let it sit for a while, then finish sanding later after it dries a little more.

[hursst]

Time is getting more and more difficult to find for me for various reasons, so my MGA time becomes much more valuable and hard to come by.  Today, was able to spend quite a few hours sanding the front of the body and finishing the work I set up last week.  Completed sanding (Photo 1).  Turned out okay, but it was MUCH more sanding than I anticipated.

 

Tomorrow, will attempt to get some good layers of primer on the outside body again, depending on the weather, then then more sanding (although sanding with 400 grit to get it smooth is much easier than sanding filler).  I also have the 4 fenders ready for more primer as well, so if I have time, I will try to primer these pieces, too.  I'm really hoping I get everything right this time around, I think this will be my 4th round of filler, primer, and sanding with the fenders and my 2nd round with the body.  It's getting old and very expensive.  I think the price of primer goes up about $1 every day at this point, I really need to get the primer done and the whole thing ready for paint.  I just hit 6 years since I bought this hulk and it has been too long, I'm ready to get to the "fun" part which is reassembly.

 

Talked to the owner of a beautiful MGA at the Fredericksburg AACA show last weekend.  He had recently finished restoring his car.  I asked how long it took and he said "It took quite a while; a little over a year."  Ugh.

[John S.]

hursst, you do nice work. It will all pay off. I am enjoying the restoration the MG. John

[hursst]

Thanks!  Still a long way to go, but I'll get there eventually.

[JV Puleo]

On 6/11/2022 at 8:15 PM, hursst said:

Talked to the owner of a beautiful MGA at the Fredericksburg AACA show last weekend.  He had recently finished restoring his car.  I asked how long it took and he said "It took quite a while; a little over a year."  Ugh.

But, you've no idea what he started with and whether he approached it with the level of detail you've shown. I "restored" an MGA back when they were still cars you could find in a junk yard...in fact, I bought mine from a junk yard, only because a good friend who saw it there told me it was the most rust-free example he'd seen in years. It had hit something and the frame was bent. I found a body shop that did frame straightening and had it pulled out. We had another behind the dealership I worked at, up on it's side so the only fender that wasn't rusted to death was the one I needed...I got some other parts from our parts department, left over form when we'd been an MG dealer. It looked great when done but I assure you that yours will be MUCH better.

[hursst]

Oh, he had the book of photos to prove it.  He started with a car that was slightly worse than mine when I started.  He had MORE rust.  He hand-fabbed a new front shelf and replaced the trunk, all the rocker area, patched all fenders, and numerous misc body patches.  I also talked to a friend of his who said this guy was a master restorer.  I believe him, he had it all documented.  I think he was also retired, so he could work on it 8-10 hours a day every day, whereas I'm down to about 5 hours per week, on average, due to my work schedule and other commitments.  My car should look okay, but it's kind of Frankensteined together with my welding and efforts to try to save as much metal as possible.

 

Thanks either way, but my car won't be better, but it will be more authentic down to all the original details.  It's rare to see any MGA that isn't heavily modified, or just put together with fiberglass parts, vinyl seats, and hardware bolts.

[Luv2Wrench]

Yeah the dream is to be retired and be able to do this 8 hours a day without interruption.  Like yourself, when I get out to the garage a good chunk of my time is spent trying to remember what it was I was doing the last time I was out there.  Learning a skill and keeping it fresh is nearly impossibly with just a few hours separated by a week or more.

[JV Puleo]

37 minutes ago, Luv2Wrench said:

Yeah the dream is to be retired and be able to do this 8 hours a day without interruption.  Like yourself, when I get out to the garage a good chunk of my time is spent trying to remember what it was I was doing the last time I was out there.  Learning a skill and keeping it fresh is nearly impossibly with just a few hours separated by a week or more.

Sure...but when you get to retirement age sometimes you can't remember what you were doing the next day...

I find that when I start something I'd better finish it. If I put it aside for "later" I'll completely forget what I had planned and have to figure it out all over again.

[Mike Macartney]

What is the next day??!

[hursst]

Quick update for today.  Last Sunday it rained in the AM, then I had 2 appointments in the afternoon, so no primer on the car.

 

Today we have perfect weather, so I got the body and two fenders primered up early on.  Unfortunately, there was some wind, which blew a little garbage into my primer job, so I'm hoping I can sand out some of the imperfections.  Most likely, I will have to do more touch up on it at a future date, but we'll see after I do some sanding, starting tomorrow to let the primer cure.  No photos, as it's just more of the same.

[hursst]

Today was another day with perfect weather, so hit the MG again.  Got in a good 5+ hours of sanding.  Luckily, the garbage that blew into my primer job had zero effect at all, it must have been much less than I thought.  Overall, the sanding turned out much better than I thought it would, considering all the filler work I had to do the last round.  Last round, only about 40% of the area came out okay, with me having to apply filler to low spots.  This round, about 95% of it turned out well, 5% was some burn thru to metal on high spots and on some edges, and there were a few low spots that should just need more layers of primer, no filler, but I'll re-evaluate before I'm ready for the next round of primer (Photo 1- low and high spot that will need additional work).  Although I wish I could just get it 100% the first try, I'm pleased with the results.  The next round should get me to 100% finished with the primarily seen portion of the body.  I still need to lightly sand all the areas that can't be seen, then I'll focus on the trunk, cowl horizontal panel, and rockers, areas that not as easily seen, but will be seen when the hood and trunk are up.

 

Also got about 1/2 way through sanding the driver's rear fender, where I had earlier done more low spot filler work and additional sanding.  So far, it is coming out perfectly.  Getting closer and closer for being ready for paint.

 

Side activity: had to stop on the MG about 1pm in order to work on the '97 Saab, which I plan on taking to Hershey to enter in the DPC class.  Ended up shredding the serpentine belt yesterday, so had to spend about 30 minutes removing the remnants that were wrapped around the crank pulley, then another hour installing the new one.  Had to reference 3 different "correct" schematics on the routing of the belt before I found the correct on one line.  Don't trust Haynes manuals.  Point of this is that my hands were covered in old thick black oil after getting in there to do the job, so no way I could go back to the MG and risk getting my oily hands anywhere near those panels.

[hursst]

Been out of town visiting family and friends, plus working a million hours, so zero time on the MG for almost a month.  Finally got back to the garage today.

 

Finished sanding the driver's side rear fender, most of it turned out really well, but still had some problems at the top with two low areas.  Added a layer of some filler, but still wasn't quite right, so added a little more to try to get it just right (Photo 1).  This area had two medium sized and deep dents at one point, so this has been tricky to get perfectly smooth. 

 

The other area with which I have a lot of problems is the driver's side rocker panel.  This panel, a repro, was wildly off when new.  I had to do a lot of cutting and shaping, but the radius of the whole piece was just WAY off.  I had to bend it around a tree in order to get it somewhat close.  It ended up with some minor creasing, so I've been doing a lot of hammering and now filling in order to get it reasonable.  Unfortunately, this area will probably end up with more filler than is preferred, but there isn't much of a way around it at this point.  It should be acceptable when complete (Photo 2).

 

Tomorrow should be a nice day with no rain and lower humidity, so I will try to get the body out to respray the bad areas from round 1 of priming the body.

 

 

[hursst]

Today was able to get the body out and respray about 90% of it with more primer.  More perfect weather with lower humidity.  Laid down a good smooth clean coat of primer.  I'm hoping this is the end for the main body and that I can sand it out to perfection.  I am still working on the rocker panels and the fender discussed yesterday, so these were not resprayed yet, but I'm hoping I can get them sanded Saturday and primed Sunday.  Other than that, more and more sanding to come.

[hursst]

Found about an hour and half after work today.  Was able to sand the back of the body to 400 grit.  Not perfect, but compared to the last round where I resprayed 85% of the body, this time I'll only have to respray about 5%.  There's one area where I still have a slight high spot, some sand thru to metal on the edge and a little body work "ghosting" seen thru some thin primer.  I will be able to touch these up when I respray the top of the driver's side fender (after I finish sanding it).  I will move on to the front of the body when I get time and hope for the same success or better.

 

Edited July 13, 2022 by hursst (see edit history)

[hursst]

Was able to sand out the rest of the body today.  Have two small problem areas that need a respray and about 3 very small areas where I sanded thru to metal on the edges yet again.  Here's the area in the front that was low (Photo 1).    Still, drastic improvement over the first round where I had to respray most of the body.  Still haven't finished the rocker yet.

 

Moved on to the driver's rear fender again.  This area has given me so many problems, but I seem to be getting closer.  Going to try another round of primer and see if I can get it smooth this time (Photo 2).  

 

Will probably shoot for tomorrow AM to respray these areas, as long as the weather is reasonable, then attack the rocker a little later.  Now been maybe two years of painfully slow progress on the body, but I think I'm about 90% of the way to being ready for paint.  I think by the time I get the body 100% ready for paint, it will be October with the amount of time I have available to work on the car (very little).   I'll spend winter assembling the car again, double checking all gaps and fitment, then thorough cleaning of the garage, cleaning of chassis and body, then build a de facto paint booth and spray it in early spring, the moment it is warm enough.

 

 

[hursst]

Continued work on the MGA today.  Weather was hot and humid, but mostly cloudy, so got it out for more primer.  Primer didn't go on as smoothly as last time, was a little thick, but flowed well once applied and filled in okay.  Resprayed the reworked parts of the body and the driver's side rear fender.  When I got the body out in the sunlight, I did notice a few areas that needed some more sanding with a few small pinholes containing guide coat.  Should be fine, but may have to finish sanding outside so I have better lighting.

 

Did a very small side project.  When I originally removed the accelerator cable from the car, I could not pull the actual metal cable itself out from inside the car, as the end was kinked and would not go thru the cable housing without a lot of force.  If I was able to get it out from the housing, there was no way it was going back in.  I could not pull it from inside the engine bay, as there was that little metal tang at the end of the cable that would not allow it to go forward, so I had to snip off the tang at the end, which enabled me to remove the whole cable assembly as a unit.  Now that it's back in the car, of course, there is nothing holding the cable to the accelerator rod mechanism on the end from inside the car.  So, I bought some metal rod stock from the hardware store, same diameter at the original tang that was at the end of the cable, cut it to size and drilled a hole thru it, as original.  I then put some weld at the end of it to weld the tang to the cable, to ensure it will not come loose (Photo 1).  One more small step done towards completion, plus I saved some money and was able to keep the original accelerator cable works.

[hursst]

102 degrees outside, but about 78 to 80 in my garage, so kept the doors down and got to work.  Another boring post, for those that are interested.  Round two billion on sanding the body and fenders.  Looks like incremental progress will be the measure of success.  First, I resanded the entire body with just a glancing pass or two to knock down the overspray "dust" from the last round of primer.  I then got some really good light on it and saw a lot of small pinholes that needed some additional sanding, mostly near the edges, so I sanded those out.  Next, I went to the areas where I put on some heavy respray.  Went well, but I'm still not there yet.  Still have a high spot on the front driver's side of the body (Photo 1).  This looks much better than the previous round, but will still need another round of primer.  On to my driver's side rear fender, again, looks much much better than the mess from a few weeks ago, but still has a few high and low spots that need to be addressed (Photo 2).  There is also a lot of body filler ghosting thru the primer here, so it will need a few layers more of primer around the entire top of the fender. A small amount of filler should raise those low spots and we'll try again.  I moved on to inspecting the other fenders I had already mostly completed and found a few minor blemishes I will address, but overall, I'm about 95% finished with sanding the main outside body panels.  I still have to sand the inner fenders, all the interior of the body, etc., but that should take maybe one day to do all of it, as most of it won't be seen so I don't need nearly the effort.  I still have to finish the rockers; haven't touched them this week.

 

Between hating my everyday job and between a lot of number crunching and scenario running, it looks like I will be able to retire, so I have set a hoped-for date of Oct 14th.  It will be a long two+ months to get there, but it looks like it should happen, which means I should be able to get four full days a week in on the MGA from there on.  I will need one day a week just to maintain and repair my other cars and I will probably get a fun side job for some extra cash to insure I'm fully covered, at least for a little while, otherwise it would be seven days a week.  Can't wait to get there and can't wait to start prepping this car for paint.

 

[STEVE POLLARD]

1 hour ago, hursst said:

it looks like I will be able to retire, so I have set a hoped-for date of Oct 14th

Congrats Chris ! 

[Luv2Wrench]

Congrats Chris, that's fantastic!!  I was going to retire end of this year but market isn't cooperating.  It isn't the worst news and I'll probably cut down on the hours so  will have more time next year.

The car is really coming together, looks great!

 

[Andy J]

Not boring at all.I have probably spent more time sanding on my car than anything else.You will be pleased with the extra effort when you see the paint go on and it comes out slick.

 

As for jobs,I loved all the jobs I ever had. Fireman for 39 years,side jobs as a carpenter,plumber,and vinyl siding installer for 38 of those 39 years. I had to work until 65 to get on Medicare because I couldn't afford health insurance.I invested well,so I am comfortable today.

 

I hate to tell you,but don't count on 4 full days a week to work on your car.You will be busy with other things that come up and you'll be wondering how you even had time to work.Anyway,give it your best shot.

[hursst]

Andy, I'm sure you're right. about being busy!

[hursst]

For some reason, we had heavy cloud cover from about 8-9:30am, with no rain, so I had a nice, cool window to get the body out for more primer.  Was able to apply more primer to the needed areas of the body and the passenger side rear fender, which I haven't touched in a while.  The rest of the day was about 100 degrees.

 

Was able to sand down the affected areas and had no further problems.  I still have a couple small pin holes (Probably air bubbles) which I can't sand away, so I will try to clean those out and fill them with primer by had then sand them level. 

 

Next, I worked on the driver's side fender again and got it ready for more primer.  As you can see from the photo, the low spots were all right next to the bolt holes for fender attachment, which means maybe the bolts were torqued slightly too much and warped the metal, or maybe it's just age and stress related? (Photo 1).

 

Next, I went back to the passenger side rocker, which is a real mess.  Did some more grinding to try to get the metal level, then applied another coat of filler, which I will soon sand down and see how it looks (Photo 2).  Definitely getting closer, most of the issue is towards the rear, I think the front will be good to go after this round of sanding.

 

Thanks for the well wishes, I'm really looking forward to having the time needed to really make progress on this car and get it back on the road after over 50 years.

Edited July 24, 2022 by hursst (see edit history)

[hursst]

Perfect weather again, so got back out to the garage today.  Sprayed primer and sanded the driver's side fender.  I think it's ready to go now, turned out well (Photo 1).  Also worked on the rocker panel yet again.  Got it sanded to a reasonable level, so it's now ready for a first layer of primer (Photo 2).  It will definitely need more work after primer, but it's to the point that it needs primer so I can tell where more work will be needed.

 

I'm now at the point where I'm bringing out all the panels into the sunlight, sanding minor imperfections and looking for any sand-thru to filler or metal.  Of course, every panel has a few small problems and will need a quick touch-up here and there, mostly on edges of panels.  No big deal, I should be able to spray all the problem areas plus both rocker panels tomorrow, as long as the weather holds up.  After another round of primer touch-up and sanding, I'll do another once-over to look for any low or high points by going over each panel with my hands.  Last step will be to see if I can get my friend who's done many cars and much bodywork to see if I can get his final approval to paint. 

 

...Not that that means it's going to be painted yet, I will still have to assemble the car and make sure everything still lines up.  The main portion will be clamping the fenders to the rocker lip area, drilling remaining holes for mounting of the fenders, bolting the fenders up, and hoping everything looks good.  Next, I'll have to drill additional holes and mount the rocker panel trim on each side, and only then will the car be ready for paint.  Well...Still won't be ready, as next step will be moving EVERYTHING out of the garage and giving it a thorough cleaning, then setting up one side of the garage as a de facto paint booth. I have 6 years of sanding dust, rust dust, and who knows what else built up in the garage. I expect the car to be ready for paint maybe around December, but of course, I will have to wait for proper weather to actually paint the car.  At this point, hoping for paint to be complete in early spring.

 

Bad news on my side work with my '97 Saab.  Had a serpentine belt break, shred, and wrap around the crank pulley.  Of course, this damaged the crank seal and who knows what else, and an oil leak developed.  I replaced the belt, tried to drive it to the repair shop, as the leak did not seem too bad, got about 2/3 of the way there and the engine seized.  Whatever the leak was opened up much larger, evidently, and I lost all my oil.  Of course, the oil pressure light bulb was burned out, so I had no notice when I ran out of oil until it was too late; not something I noticed yet in my refurbishment of the car.  So, have to buy a "new" used engine.  Luckily, found a replacement with 89k miles to replace my original with about 125k.  Just the thing I need is what will become a $10k Saab that will be worth about $4k.  But it's not about the money with us AACA folks...

[Luv2Wrench]

Wow.. the oil pressure warning lamp burned out.  Dang, that's just brutal.  I would have never, ever thought to check something like that.  Hopefully the "new" engine will have plenty more miles left on it.  Also... wouldn't be surprised if that belt shredded because something else on the loop seized.  I replaced a belt once only to find the reason it went bad was the water pump seized... fortunately I didn't get out of the driveway before I realized it.

[hursst]

Was able to spray primer on both rockers and do touch up on all the panels today.  Avoided the rain.

 

Haven't started sanding the rockers yet, but they look good so far.  Here's the passenger side that was so messed up after some primer (Photo 1).  Was able to sand both rear fenders and both doors.  One of the doors needs some more touch up due to some thin primer.  The front fenders needed some minor respray around the headlight apertures, so this should be easy to sand and finish.

 

Looks like I'll still need to spend time sanding the rest of the body and inner portions of doors and fenders as well, so plenty more sanding to do, but getting very near the end.  Probably won't have much time over the next 3 weeks, as I have many other things I need to take care of, but hope to get some time here and there in the afternoons after work.

[hursst]

Got about an hour today to do more sanding.  Sanded most of the outside body portion that won't been seen.  Also sanded both rockers.  They came out better than the last round, but still not quite there.  The passenger side needs a small amount of filler up front to make it perfectly flat, the rest is good and ready for paint.  The driver's side still has quite a few high spots, but nothing major.  I think one last round of primer will do it (Photo 1).  

 

Will be a slow next week and a half, will not have much time to work on it.  September will have very few days available as well, but should open up greatly in late Sep.

[hursst]

Finally made it out to the garage for about 4 hours today.  Got the rockers primered yet again, but this time was the charm.  Sanded out perfectly (Photos 1 & 2).

 

Next will be continuing to sand the rest of the car, meaning all the inside/underside panels of the body, doors, and fenders.  So far so good with that, I'm maybe 15% finished, but having trouble with nooks and crannies, and sanding the primer off sharp edges and corners, imperfect welds, and dealing with a generally light and "dusty" spray pattern in some of the remote areas that I could not get a great angle on with the spray gun.  Most of it shouldn't matter, since it will be hidden and the paint will be purely for protection rather than looks, but I may have to respray some areas like the trunk and engine bay/cowl shelf, since they will be the most visible and will probably need some more detailed sanding to correct minor filler/lead issues.

 

Less than a month and a half until retirement!  I'm thinking about how great it will be to be able to work on the MG just about every day.  Hopefully I can move this thing along and get it ready for paint before November, which will probably be too cold for additional primer.  I can clean everything up and clean out my garage and make a spray booth in winter, but I have to have all the sanding complete so I don't soil the garage again.  Of course, all of my other cars need some maintenance and attention as well, but I will try to focus on the MG primarily.

 

Really looking forward to another Hershey this year!  Going to being my '97 Saab to DPC class.  I'll be the guy driving up the entrance route into the show who looks like some shlub who couldn't find spectator parking in the virtually new car.  Hard to believe a 1997 car now qualifies, but how many '97 cars do you see on the road anymore (I still see a lot of trucks this age or older).  I also hope to see many more of our European friends this year, as well.

[keiser31]

FANTASTIC!

 

[Randiego]

Hursst,

Wow !  A familiar project.   Back in 2005, I took my 1960 Mark II 1600 to the shell and started a year long concour restoration here in San Diego.   The body had similar "rot" in the areas that you are addressing with your car.  The body prep and urethane paint took several months to complete but when it was done, it was.......perfection!  When I was finished, I had a 100 point car. 

 

I opted to keep the car as original as possible and ended up only replacing the steering wheel (from Moss Motors)  Back in the early 2000s the parts from Moss were not that good.  Example; we took every fastener off of the MGA and sent them to Los Angeles and had them re cad plated.  I had a local chrome shop here in San Diego do my brightwoork.  (All of the chrome shops here are now gone).  This way, there was very little that I had to repplace. 

 

Moss's floor boards (plywood) was inferior junk and did not fit properly, so I took the originals and traced them onto Marine grade ply, cut them out and then sealed them with epoxy on both sides and edges.  Then I painted them with a good exterior paint to match the OEM finish, only better.  Can you imagine what Morris Garage used back in the late 50's early 60's?  We sourced OEM leather for the seats and console. We sourced and installed OEM carpeting to finish the interior. 

 

One of my contacts in the local car restoration business sourced original Cal License plates and tags.  The envalope that they came in had "California Penal System,, Edmund G. Brown, Governor" printed on it.  I had all of the original tools, jack, handle, books, auto log and receipts dating back to the original sale date.   So.....all of the provenanace was presented with the car and I took 2nd at the La Jolla Concours Motorcar Classic here in La Jolla, CA in 2007.  I got beat out by a freshly restored Jaguar XK 120.  😞   

 

All of the work that you are doing here takes me way back.  I will watch your progress on the car.  If you have any questions please feel free to drop me an email;     randy@americanarbortreeservice.com   I will be happy to commiserate, er,  chat with you regarding your MGA. 

[Randiego]

Hursst,

Here are some more shots of my MGA. 

 

Randy 

[Randiego]

Hursst,

 

I changed the original painted wire wheels for these.  Much stronger and with the chrome finish, they are a better way to go.   Notice the floorboards (in the previous pics) that are the marine grade that I was talking about in the previous post?  Being back East, I don't know how much winter driving you will be doing but that is the best insurance policy to prevent any future "rot".  

[Randiego]

Hursst,

 

I am now working on two Fiat 124 Spiders, a 1978  and a 1973.  I recently (last week) de trimmed the car and it is now in the paint shop.  I am sending out my bumpers and windshield frame to be replated.  The shop here sends them to Tijuana where they do not have to deal with "The California Air Resources Board".  A bunch of Nazis.   Now our local shops cannot spray with spirit (laquer based) paint.  They use water based urethane !     In Tijuana, I can get "show quality" chromium done.  They do excellent work and at a fraction of the cost here stateside.

 

The 73 has had all of the body and paint work done several years ago but I have not had time to work on it until recently.  It is sitting on my lift, covered up in my shop.  I am finishing the performance 1608 engine this week.  I will be tackling the 73 as soon as I get my 78 finished.  It will be show quality when I am done with it. I have attached two pics before the damage to the 78.

 

Because the 1973 is smog exempt, I am pulling out all stops with the engine.  I will post pictures of the car later on.  

 

Randy

[hursst]

Great cars Randy!  Beautiful work.  I'll be curious to see how mine turns out, since it will be my first time painting a car.  So far so good.  I'll hit you up if I have any questions as I continue the project.

 

Most of my floorboards were original, so I reused them.  The few that were rotted were replaced with Moss wood, which needed a little minor reshaping, but were excellent quality.  I've had to use quite a few Moss parts and I'd say 90% of them are good quality nowadays.  I will never by driving my car in inclement weather, not with all the years of effort I'm putting into this one.  I used a special wood sealer and black paint, as original.  

 

-Chris

[Randiego]

Chris,

I've heard that Moss has improved the parts that they sell now.  Not restoring any English cars today I would not know but from one of my sources who restores English cars, he has contacts in the UK and gets a lot of parts out of England.  Good luck and I will be watching.  You are doing it right and I am sure that your MGA will be a very nice one.

[hursst]

I found 1.5 hrs after work today to continue sanding the body.  Pretty easy work, but realizing that there are more areas than I thought that will/can be seen and these areas need a lot of attention.  Mostly pitting that I have not filled in, but a few sloppy areas in the trunk and front cowl shelf that at least need a little more evening out.  I'd say 85% of it can be filled with some glazing putty, the rest will need some body filler.

[Rivguy]

Good to see you making progress. Gives more motivation for my projects.

[hursst]

Had today off.  Got a decent amount of time in the garage.  Filled in the bad spots in the trunk, mostly pitting, but a few pin holes and sanding marks that I missed earlier.  Here's after I filled the spots (Photo 1).   I've since sanded down about 70% of it.  Of course, some of it was too deep for glazing putty, so I'm adding some more filler to the deeper spots.  I have to add a small amount of seam sealer to a couple areas before it's ready for more primer again.  Will add another thick coat of primer when it's all sanded out.    

 

Also sanded out more of the front cowl shelf.  It's better than I thought it was when I looked last week.  Will need one or two small additions of filler, but should be okay.  I've also added glazing putty to the lower inner fenders within the body/engine area.  Those areas have some pitting as well and could be seen whilst looking in the engine bay, so low level of effort, why not clean it up.  Will continue chasing these small cleanup areas for a while, while also doing a detailed look at the doors, fenders, hood, and trunk to finish sanding the inner portions of the panels.

 

So slow and tedious, but not too difficult at this point.  I couldn't imagine farming this out to a shop, all the bodywork on this former scrapheap would probably be around $50,000 at $130/hr around where I live.

 

No posts for probably the next 3 weeks...going into another crazy busy period.  Have a good September.

[keiser31]

That sure is looking sweet!

[hursst]

I'm back from a 3-week vacation to London and a tour of Scotland, which is why no reports for a while.  Had a great time.  My sympathies to our Commonwealth friends upon the Queen's passing.

 

Made it back into the garage today to continue on the MG.  I finished re-sanding the trunk, adding more filler for the pitting, and sanding again (Photo 1). Before I went on my trip, I redid the two bracing areas next to the rear battery cover due to pitting and some strange striations that occurred after sandblasting (Photos 2 & 3).  Looks pretty good now.  Last today, I moved on to the lower inner fenders, both inside and out, as they have a lot of pitting as well and they may be able to be seen, so I've filled the pits there as well (Photos 4 & 5).  I still need to sand the filler down.  Next step will be to hope for another weekend day that is above 65 degrees and rain-free, so I can apply primer (again) to these places).  Incredibly slow progress, but progress none the less.

 

 

[STEVE POLLARD]

Looking great Chris !