Christmas Gifts...

I'm really pleased to see that five people find my posts worth following - its great to know its being read! Happy Christmas to all 5 of you!

I received some really useful gifts this year, as i do most years! I was in dire need of tool storage; my small plastic tool box (a Christmas gift 2 years ago) has gone to tool box heaven so currently the Midget boot is the most convenient, yet unorganised box!

My wife, I mean Santa, bought me a Halfords Professional 4 draw chest with a top box and a Stanley heavy duty portable workshop tool case - its a huge heavy duty thing on wheels!

My Father-in-law bought me something which i have had my eye on ever since i saw it on a TV add; Black and Decker Auto Wrench. Its a powered adjustable wrench! Its really useful and a quality tool. Its powered by 2 AAA batteries and adjusts to the correct size in about a second!

I'm planning to get out to the garage on Friday 2nd January to put on the outer sill, a-post cover, arch to sill repair and the arch to lamp repair. All in a day.

More Triangles...

The front inner wheel arch was rusted through and needed replacing. I bought a replacement arch, but i didn't come with the inner most sloped section, so i will have to fabricate that.

I cut away the arch and too it back to a straight line just under the sloped section - hard to explain but you can see from the pictures.

The triangular brace between the foot well top and the inside of the arch area had also rusted through, so i cut that out. I took a small piece of steel and cut it to size. I made it with three flanges and folded one side down, one up and left the other straight. This mimics the original. The straight flange was welded to the foot well top, the upward welded to the inner whee larch and the downward facing toward the wheel which gives the brace its strength.

Things still to do are: Fabricate front inner arch sloped section, Weld on front inner arch, outer sill, a-post cover, rear arch to sill repair, rear arch to lamp repair. That should sort most of the RH side. The boot floor needs replacing as do the braces between the boot floor and the bulkhead.

I've Got The Power...

I managed to buy a tired Rover 218 Coupe with a 1.8 VVC K-series. Its high milage and the car is worn out, but with a rebuild the engine will be fine. I had to collect the car from Peterborough and fit a new alternator before driving it home. For £180 i was not bothered.

I spent a few days removing bits and peices and disconnecting things, it was all good fun and it grazed a few knuckles. A few months later i hired an engine crane from HSS for under £30 for the weekend and took the engine out. With the gearbox attached its big and heavy! But ive seem them in midgets, so i know it fits!

One of the rubber mounting brackets was really stubborn and i could not get it off. The light was fading and i could not leave an engine half out hangning on one mount! With it being rubber i though heat would sort it. I took out my Butane blow torch and burnt the sucker for 5 minutes. Soon after the rubber seperated itself and the engine was free.
the next day storage became an issue in my single garage en bloc! I had a pallett i took from a large delivery of computers at work, so i decided i would string this up to the rafters of the garage and load it with light(ish) parts to get them out ofthe way.

So far it hasnt fallen and im still alive!

The passing of my birthday enabled me to get a nice engine stand. With the help of a good friend, a two man lift saw the engine mounted on the stand, with the gearbox off! Another few days tinkering saw most of the ancillaries removed and the engine looking much smaller.

I managed to sell the remains of the Rover Coupe for £100 to a bloke who was going to turn it into a drag racer! But not before i removed the engine loom, ecu and immobaliser!

Doors...

My search for a replacement door found me a re-skinned surface rust only door. It was fairly cheap, i cant quite remember now how much, but not a lot. As previously mentioned there were a few pin holes, ill repair these later, but for now i took it back to bright metal with a flap wheel on the grinder and covered in a good few layers of etch primer.

Its funny how primer makes everything look great! I love it! I need to be careful not to spray everything before its done!

With the new door looking good i hung it on the newly fitted a-post and adjusted the hinges for best fit. The gaps look good, but i may have issues with the fit of the a-post cover as the gap between a-post and door is not huge. Ill overcome it somehow.

I was concerned over the angle at which the new door meets the scuttle. It looked to protrude way out. A quick question on the MG BBS informed me that it was actually fine and the wind shield when installed would line up to the protrusion and make a nice seal with the door. A relief!

All in i was pleased to see new panels covered with primer and it gives me hope! I love this picture and take great pride in showing it!
So far the panels i have replaced include: RH Floor Pan, RH Cross Member, RH Foot Well Front, RH Foot well Side, RH A-post, RH Inner Sill, RH Door!

Not a bad effort for just over a years work occasional weekends. Roll on summer!

The Sum of All Fears...

The title kind of gives away my feelings about replacing the a-post. I was scared, very scared. If i get the a-post wrong, the door wont fit, the doors gaps will be out and it will ruin the look of the car. But i decided nothing is beyond replacing, so if i do it wrong, ill do it again.

With a new foot well side and inner sill in place there was enough strength to allow me to clamp in the a-post and hang the door to get a good position. I also clamped on the outer sill and the a-post cover. This should give me an idea of the gaps i would get and allow me to play around with the hinges and a-post positioning.

With the door closed and the gaps looking OK, i marked up the position of the a-post. After removing all the clamped on panels i made a few holes for plug welds, in the a-post.

After filling in the plug welds i also ran some beads of weld along the edges to make extra sure it was secure.


Although i love the look of a concourse MG Midget, mine is going to be some what modified to compliment the K-series engine going in it. It will have fibreglass panels on the front, either one piece or separate wings/bonnet. I'm also going to weld the seam between a-post cover and sill, grind it down and make it smooth. The same on the rear. I think this makes the car look more substantial and crisp, if that makes sense!

It was evident that a new door was required. I investigated the option of repairing, but a new skin and a lower section repair would be costly and time consuming, so i began searching for a replacement. I soon found a reasonable door that had been re-skinned. It has some pin holes, but in not concerned with that at this time.

Inner Sill...

I often see "Sill" written as "Seal" and im not sure which is correct, but i prefer "Sill" so thats what i use!

I left the inner sill clamped in position over night. The next day i went out to the garage and found it had fallen off and cut straight through my power cable, which by the way, runs some 60 meters from my first floor maisonet around to my garage en bloc! Fortunately it didnt happen whilst i was working, and i have an RCD on the socket end!

Anyway, with the inner sill clamped in place for several trial fits i was trying my best to get it straight and level. Without the doors on, and no hope of refitting them as the a-post had also gone, i could not check the door gaps were correct before welding. I had to rely on the bracing that was put in place before the cutting began.

Using my Joggler/Hole Punch i made a series of holes along the bottom edge of the sill and around the end flanges of the crossmember and along where the sill meets the footwell side. With the inner sill in the best position i could get it, and level, i plug welded all the holes alternatly so as to not distort the panel.

The inner sill instantly gave the shell a little more strength, but no where near enough. I resisted the temptation to stand in the car and test my work!

Its really starting to look like its coming back together again, the drivers side at least. All this has to bee repeated on the passengers side, which will no doubt turn out much better being that i will have already done it once!

Triangles and Sides...

Next up was the toe board. I righted the shell and supported it back on axle stands, with a large block of wood underneath, near the tunnel to help support the door gaps.

I followed in Ray McCaLeb's footsteps and decided to box in the toe board with a triangle patch. It seemed like a good idea!

I cut a panel to match the toe board dimensions and a small triangle to fill in the end.

Once welded on i moved on to the foot well side panel. Ive actually replaced this twice as the first attempted failed miserably and was way out of place! So i bought a new panel and did it properly

The sidewall was simply lined up to the foot well top and front, and the scuttle/a-post area.

I lined it up with the scuttle and tacked it on, then tacked it to the triangle of the toe board before slowly seam welding the join to the front and top of the foot well.

Its all starting to feel like I'm making progress. Its always a relief to get new metal back on, especially when you don't know what your doing like me!

An invaluable resource throughout my project has been the MG BBS. There's a great bunch of guys how really know their stuff and seem mostly willing to help!

Floor time...

Now that there was some good metal to weld to, it was time to trial fit and eventually weld the floor in place.


Using a handheld joggler with a hole punch on the other side i made a series of holes along the cross member flanges, bulkhead flange and foot well front. This will allow me to plug weld the floor in place.

The floor pan was offered up and tested for fit. It wasn't too bad but needed some bashing with a malet around the foot well front patches where they had warped.
It seemed to line up well with the spring hanger, which gave me a little more confidence, but again, i cant be sure its right. The bolt holes were slightly off, but I'm not too worried as they should pull in - i think.

With the floor now in place im starting to get a little more confident, and also realising the work thats yet to come.

I think at this point i have had the car a year and reflecting on what i have or havent achieved is interesting. Ive gone from a guy with no experiance in welding or mechanics, to someone who has stripped an entire car, removed lots of panels and replaced a few. Ive learnt to weld, but it still needs improving and im slowly building a collection of useful tools!

Chop Shop...

Having replaced a little of what i have now removed, it feels more like a chop shop than anything else in my garage!

Moving on from the bulkhead i decided the next logical step was the floor pan. In order to get good metal to weld the floor too i decided the next bit to replace was the front of the foot well.

I proceeded to chop out the rusty section. I added a large oversize patch to allow me to trim it back to size when securely tacked on. By this time i had also cleaned up the inner side of the foot well and spraid in primer.

Next i trimmed the patch to size, seam welded and spraid. Its obvious that more patches will be required to complete the foot well front, and a small patch strip to the top, right of the pedal aperture.



A small patch was added top right of the front and then a long strip top right of the top, completing the patchwork for the front and top of the foot well. It seems so easy typing it out, but in real life this took me a good day! Remember, to this point, id had no experience welding or with any car bodywork, so I'm a rank amateur! But it seems to be going OK.

There was some warping with the patchwork, i think mainly from long sections of seam welding. I shall try and avoid long welds in the future. Hopefully i can work with the warp, if not, it'll have to stay that way

Feeling brave...

It a great feeling getting the first piece of new metal on! Feeling brave i then tackled the bulkhead.

Reading up on the method for repair i became very concerned that i could screw up the geometry of the car as the suspension spring hangers are in the bulkhead and getting these out of place would be bad! As yet i don't know if I've done it right, but I'm going on "if it looks right, it might just be right"! I could be wrong.

I decided the car wasn't going anywhere as it was, so i might as well try!



I started by cutting out the crap! Years and years of rust had destroyed the drivers side of the bulkhead and spring hanger. So with the car still on its side i cut it out. Before i cut, i marked it up with the new repair panel and left a little excess to weld to. I also purchased a new spring hanger and the triangle brace that goes inside.


I replaced the rear of the bulkhead first, followed by the brace and the spring hanger, making a best effort to get them in the right place. I'll only know when its driven if they are or not!




I then tacked the front bulkhead panel in place, seam welded then ground smooth.

A coat of primer inside and out makes it look a lot better!

Brace yourself...

After a lot of careful research and several conversations on the MG BBS i realised before doing anything, i needed to brace the shell to prevent it sagging when i removed rust. Sadly before i knew this i had removed the doors! I later found out that this was not a great move as i couldn't now tell if the shell had sagged or not. The hinges we so rusted i could not get them back on. In the scheme of things its not a major issue, but brace before you remove the doors!

So, with the doors off, i braced the door gaps using a length of angle. I then diagonally braced the bulkheads with the main length of the old exhaust!

Assessing the rust, i researched where best to start work. There are many different views on where to start, but the order is really down to you. I chose to start with the floor and cross member on the drivers side, but i ended up cutting out the complete sill, floor, cross member and foot well, later realising that i may have been a little carried away! This left me with almost no point of reference for aligning new panels.

To best remove the floor rolled the car on its side! I decided this would not damage anything more than tin worm already had! I rolled the car by hand on my own. I was surprised how light it was, but I'm not a small man!


I decided it best to replace the cross member first, getting it straight and level. This would give me a good reference point for later panels.

Using a half cross member repair panel i marked the old with a cut line, leaving excess to allow something to weld to. I cut off the old cross member and made to small cuts in the end to allow me to shape it to fit inside the new cross member. This seemed to work well, but I'm not sure if its an advised method! I drilled two or three holes and plug welded the new onto the old cross member. I then seam welded all the way around. I was please with the results.


These were my first ever welds and they just so happen to be on a major structural section!

In the begining....

In the beginning there was my son. Now my son had just been born. Not, you may think, a great time to fulfill a 10 year dream of owning a classic car!

At the age of 3 weeks, Isaac's father was the proud owner of a very rusty, round wheel arch MG Midget - LMG 5K.

Over the next few days the enormity of the project became apparent, and the bad timing became even more so. A car is an inanimate object, a wife isn't! She was not pleased. Slowly over the last year or so i think Ive proved to her that it means a lot to me and I'm committed to it, as i am to her and my son, and i will finish it!

The weeks rolled on and April turned into August; the car turned into a shell and a pile of parts. After reviewing several engine options, i decided it would cost similar amounts to rework the A-Series as to convert to a more modern Rover K-series. The A-series and gearbox work promptly sold on, recouping good portion of the purchase price!

Stripped bare of its components, the 70's sports car looked a little sad. The list of areas needing work was impressive, but maily due to ignorance, i was not detered.

I should mention until this point i had no tools. I have very little mechanical knowledge or experiance, but i do have an aptitude for mechanics, the willingness and drive to learn, and a goal - a classic sports car with kick-ass power!

Back to the start...

Early April 2007 I started a project to restore a 1972 MG Midget, and convert it to Rover K-series power. I built a website to record my progress and keep a photo diary of every step, but, it became very high maintenance and eventually i stopped updating it and closed my hosting account.

30 minutes ago i decided i needed to keep some form of web presence, if only as a personal record of the project.

So, this is me going back to the start and re-blogging the project!