At 07:57 PM 1/2/2012 -0500, Thompson Allan wrote:
>....
>I have had a 1960 MGA .... I am wondering if anyone has a
>master-plan for a strip down to the frame and a full rebuild?
>....
As a more direct answer, here comes a proposed sequence for the
work. First thought is to take lots of pictures as you disassemble
things so you recall how it should go back together later.
Strip off all external trim, bumpers, lighting fixtures, interior
kick panels and windscreen. Remove bonnet, boot lid, front valance
panel, fenders and doors, keeping all door hinges and latch parts and
any shims in original order for later reassembly.
The next step assumes the frame is still solid enough to be straight
so it will serve as the alignment jig for the body. Get right into
removing rocker panels and cutting away any rusted sheet metal in the
body sills and lower door posts, as far up as necessary to get rid of
anything that is rusted thin or gone. Buy or make replacement sheet
metal parts, and rebuild the body sills and door posts and inner
fenders as required. This is dirty work. The essence of rebuilding
the MGA body is to start in the middle and build the body around the
doors. When repairing door posts, keep the doors close at hand to
assure proper construction and alignment of the posts so the doors
will ultimately fit and work properly. An important point here is
interface of four body mounting points, one each fore and aft of the
doors on each side. Find a complete section of my web site detailing
body sill replacement.
You may also need to rebuild the boot floor if necessary, and smooth
out the rear valance panel. If the heater shelf is rusted out, then
remove the engine for better access for that repair. If the front
end of the body needs work, then also do that while the body is still
on the chassis.
When you have a complete and solid main body shell, then you can
remove the body from the frame and set it on a pair of saw horses for
additional work. The main body shell weighs about 200 pounds, so it
is possible to lift off with two healthy people, and one person may
be able to tip it up on it side or set it down flat for subsequent
work. When the body sills and door posts are in good condition the
body is very strong and needs no bracing during handling. Pick it up
and handle it any way you like with any number of people or with a
hoist. Some people may piece together a body rotisserie, but it not
required, as the MGA body shell will sit nicely at 90 degrees on its
side sitting on the door posts. With the body off you can clean up
welds and other things inside and underneath the body. It will be
good to get at least as far as having the main body shell in primer paint.
At that point in time the body and chassis can be physically
separated into different premisses for independent work, and do
whichever you like first. Since there will be lots of dirt and dust
around for a long time, I suggest doing the chassis first so it is
finished and clean with a drop cloth over it before you are painting
the body. My advice here is to store the engine out of the way and
forget about it until near the end of the project. An engine rebuild
ties up a lot of money that doesn't need to be spent until later, and
a freshly rebuilt engine may not fare well if it sits around idle for
some years before it may be used. For my first restoration the
engine was the very last thing to be finished, and the day it was
reassembled and installed I took the car for its maiden run on the expressway.
Chassis restoration is fairly straight forward stuff, as it is mostly
structural and not much cosmetic. Maybe remove the floor and tunnel
and hand brake parts while the chassis is still on the
wheels. Gearbox, propshaft, rear axle and front suspension and all
service lines come off in about one day. At that point the bare
frame becomes a project of its own separate from the rest of the
chassis parts, and about this time you may wish you had a split
personality and could work on several things at once. You will spend
lots of time cleaning and painting things. Plan on lots of dirty work clothes.
The frame will likely need some welding work, especially around the
battery carriers, floor rails, and inboard surfaces next to the floor
boards. As said, structural work, cut it, weld it, clean the welds
up, and paint the thing. Suspension parts are mostly cleaning and
painting, replacing some bushings and rubber bits, and get it all
reassembled. If you think I'm trying to make it sound easy, I
am. It is mostly time consuming grunt work, but if you get into the
mode of trying to make everything perfectly beautiful for concours
show, all bets are off on calendar pages.
The gearbox is apart in half a day and back together in half a day
when you have the parts in hand (only a few hours total for
me). Propshaft is mostly clean and paint, and maybe replace a
U-joint or two. Rear axle will be clean and paint, replace seals and
gaskets, and maybe you need to replace differential thrust washers,
and install Speedy-Sleeves for the the hub seals. Leaf springs only
disassemble if you want to concours pretty with painting, other wise
replace bushings, clean and paint the springs. Rear shock absorbers
often need nothing more than clean and paint, and maybe replace the
link with the rubber inset ball joint. Reassemble rear axle and leaf
springs with new rubber pads and shackle bushings. Clean and paint
fuel tank and mounting straps, reinstall with new packing rubber,
fiddle with the fuel pump, fuel lines and brake pipes. Find all the
details on my web site.
Front suspension is a little more "tactical". Front shocks may need
to be rebuilt if they leak (farm it out, not a home shop
job). Swivel links may need new bi-metal bushings, some swivel links
or swivel pins might need to be replaced if badly worn (rusted in the
threads in a prior life). Cleaning, painting, new rubber seals,
repacking wheel bearings, and reassembly, all pretty simple
stuff. Rebuilding all of the brakes all around might be a day job or
a week, depending on condition and parts needed. The master cylinder
may or may not need to be sleeved. Steering rack usually only needs
clean, paint, new seals and 6 ounces of gear oil, sometimes a couple
of brass dampers and some shims, and maybe new tie rods ends. I am
somewhat optimistic about a lot of this, as I know the car was
previously in driving condition.
Clean and paint the tunnel parts, some of which may need a little
rust cutting and welding repair. Buy or make new floor boards (find
templates on my web site), sealed and painted, and get them installed
(and sealed to the frame), along with the hand brake on the
tunnel. Gearbox and propshaft install any time, before or after the
tunnel (but do put the rear mount bolt in from the correct side so it
can be removed with tunnel in place). You have some pedal parts to
attend to whenever you get around to it.
Back to the body, go after repairs of fenders and other outer body
panels, replacement of the outer rocker panel to match the door
alignment. Remember again, doors first, then match up the rocker
panels and then mate the fenders for proper door gaps. A huge part
of appearance and impression of an MGA is fit and function of the
doors, so take plenty of time to get it right.
Get all of the outer body panel repair work done so the body is test
assembled before you even think about painting anything. Most of the
possible quality of a final paint job starts with the quality of
preparation, surface finishing and primer of the outer body
panels. No cheating here. Do not bondo over any rust or cracks. Be
sure the front grill fits well on the body nose before you transition
from welding to priming. Ditto for all of the exterior lighting
fixtures and trim parts that will touch the paint.
Most people, with enough time and patience, can do a decent job of
outer body panel repair and surface finishing. This is mostly a
matter of deciding early on that you want a good job, and don't leave
big dents and lots of bondo. When you are getting close to final
smooth, it is time to decide if your personal skills are good enough
for your expectations and desired final results. Otherwise farm out
the final surface finishing work and painting to a pro shop.
Up to this point, most of the restoration involves lots of grunt work
and sweat equity, and not a lot of out of pocket expense. Figure a
couple hundred dollars for gearbox parts, a hundred (or two) for
front suspension and steering parts, a couple hundred dollars in
chassis paint (unless you going for powder coating everything), a few
hundred dollars in cutting, welding and cleaning supplies, and
anywhere from a double saw buck ($20) to a thousand dollars for inner
body sheet metal (depending on whether you buy panels of form your
own). A body nose surround panel or a new fender would kill your
tight budget. But if you do it right, you may have a rolling chassis
less engine and a body in primer paint for under $5000 in restoration
cost. The tab for me leading up to 1986 was about $2000 (and six
hundred hours of grunt work).
After this you will need a fatter check book to pay for body
painting, engine rebuilding, lots of interior and exterior trim parts
required for reassembly (and I know I didn't mention side curtains),
wheels and tires. A huge portion of the expense comes after the
chassis is rolling and the body is in primer, when you are about to
reassemble it.
While the body is out for paint you may have time to restore the
heater box, pedal box and pedal parts, and anything else that goes
into the engine bay or in the cockpit. Dash instruments and switches
may want a touch up or repair. Dash panel, splash panels, lower body
trim strips, fuel tank and mounting parts and other little bits need
painting by someone. Decide what you will do about wheels (and tires
later). Time to rebuild the seats? You really couldn't be everywhere at once.
Around the time that the body will be back from the paint shop, it
may be time to disassemble the engine and send the component parts
out for machine work. As long as you're dealing with a pushrod
engine the machining work should be done in a few weeks, parts are
readily available, and it can be reassembled promptly. Find a series
of articles on my web site about engine rebuilding.
Reassembly is the fun part, and you can wear white gloves much of the
time if you like. Clean the shop well as a treat. Engine may be
installed any time, before or after the body.
The body may be almost entirely assembled on the sawhorses, including
most of the wiring harness (side harness goes under the frame),
lighting fixtures (not the grille yet). Or drop the bare inner body
onto the frame first (two people), followed by installation of the
outer panels and external fixtures and trim. Body goes onto the
chassis with appropriate packing, some caulking, and a couple dozen
bolts in one day.
After body is assembled and on the chassis, you get to install any
interior insulation, under dash pad (recommended), carpet padding,
carpeting, battery cover, spare tire cover(s), boot carpeting
(optional but nice). Be prepared to get a little sticky with glue
for a day or two. Center arm rest is supposed to be part of the
tunnel rear carpet section.
Install any electrical devices that get screwed to the firewall,
including the heater and wiper drive parts. Pedal assemblies might
wait until after carpeting. The windscreen needs to be installed
before the front kick panels. Rear splash panels and cockpit trim
rolls need to be installed before the rear kick panels, rag top frame
after the rear kick panels, and side curtain stowage bag along with
the rear trim roll. Door top trim rolls need to be installed before
door pockets and door panels, and side curtain attachment plates
after door panels.
After carpeting, install the dash assembly (and after front trim roll
for convenience). The dash can be assembled and 3/4 wired on the
work bench. Then sit on the tunnel with dash on your knees while
doing the main harness connections to the dash. Install dash to body
with three top screws and four bottom braces. Include heater control
(if fitted), other control cables, and finally the safety gauge which
requires lines run through the firewall. Install seats and steering
column, side curtains, tonneau cover, convertible top.
Somewhere near the end, install oil cooler (if fitted) and
horn(s). Be sure the bonnet latch works before final installation of
the grille, then the front valance panel and all bumper parts (while
you curse a lot). If not done earlier, the engine may be installed
last. A new engine will require a cam run-in session of 20 minutes
at 2500 rpm, followed by re-torque the cylinder head and readjust valve lash.
If you have done it all right, you may take your number one squeeze
along for the test drive. For me the first time out of the garage
was once around the block to be sure everything works, followed by a
20 mile loop on the expressway and a stop for breakfast (after the
all night session to install the engine).
Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA with an attitude
http://MGAguru.com
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