Paul:
Sorry for the delay. I was out watching MGS playing submersible out in
Virginia.
Great racing, 76 MGs on the grid for the all MG race. Fascinating seeing
MGTCs through an MGB GT V8 with quad webers zipping around in the pouring
rain.
Please note, there are at least two versions of both the front and rear
valences. I have not got a recomendation of one over the other. Both of
these pieces are made in the UK and vary in fit and finish. They are a lot
better than starting from scratch, but definitely are not the finest hand
laid workmanship. I would love to have quality pieces made up by some of
the boat builders around here, but I don't think many would ante up for the
cost. If you want to have the Sebring look, buying these bits is the way to
go.
Front Valence: Pretty straightforward, it directly replaces the bolted on
original steel valence. It does look better if it is spaced forward so it
is flush with the external sheet metal rather than being recessed as the
original was. I have seen a number of ways of doing this, washers or
plastic shims. I have also seen the junction piped with vinyl piping. The
coolest set up I have seen mounted the valence to a subframe that had a new
mounting lip in front of the original. The subrame had reinforcing going
back to the frame and the valence was mounted with dzus fasteners. This
would be really trick if you decided to also mount driving lights in the
valence as the factory did. BTW. There is a cool picture in the Robinson
MGC book of the factory lamp mountings with the valence removed. On the
Sebring C, the back mount lamps mounted to brackets behind the valence, not
to the valence itself. One note, some of the front valences have too thin
of a central bar in the oil cooler duct. I would suggest reinforcing this
if you are going to use the piece for the street.
Rear Valence: This is a bit trickier. On mine, I wanted to make it
removable, so I could run bumpers at some point. I used self tapping screws
that go through the lip inside the trunk into the lip of the spoiler. I
used a bolt into a captive nut under each taillamp. It works, but I don't
recomend it. Most people permanently mount the rear valence which would be
easiest using fiberglass bonding glue (see any Corvette web site) and pop
rivets. It does take some playing with to make the valence fit properly,
the piece has a general similarity to being the right part but each car is
going to be different. I have heard of someone having to section the middle
of the rear valence to make it fit, but that does not appear to be common.
Neither of these parts is designed to work with the Sebring MGC GTS fender
flare kit, so have no worries there. Both valences are designed to fit MGBs
with stock fender lines.
hope this helps
Kelvin.
>
> A search of the archives turned up little, so I'm
> wondering if anyone has installed a set of the Sebring
> front and rear valances on their MGB. The Moss
> catalog description comes with the caveat: "Fitting
> these takes a great deal of skill and patience..."
>
> I have decent skill but far less patience.
>
> What's involved? I imagine the front one bolts on
> much like the stock valance, but the rear? Does it
> get bonded on or something? Am I going to have to cut
> them at all?
>
> If anyone has done this, or knows what I'm in for, I'd
> love to hear it. Note that I am definitely NOT going
> to install the fender flares, if that makes any
> difference to how they fit up...
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> =====
> Paul Misencik
> 1971 MGB Tourer - Blaze
>
> Huntersville, NC USA
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