Moving on....

I decided it would save both time and money if a created a project plan! So out came MS Project 2003 and i dumped all i could think of into it, including hours and costs. Looks like with all the parts ready i could finish within 2/3 months - a rolling chassis that is.


With this in mind Ive started work on the passenger side. The drivers side is all but complete, just need to finish the a-post cover there.

I have learnt from my mistakes on the drivers side and wont remove more than one or

two rusty panels at a time! I started by patching the front of the foot well. The panel is mostly sound except a small area to the top left and a strip where the floor attaches - this will be patched when the floor goes in. The usual process applied, measure and cut a patch then stitch in. I had to extinguish a few small fires as the under seal caught lite!

Next i removed the foot well side, i simply cut around the existing flanges. I left the foot well section behind the a-post for now, this isn't rusted so i may cut my new panel to suit this area. A previous repair was very badly done and I'm sure it made any rust in this area far worse. With the foot well side removed i can see the inner shell is shot. Not unexpected.

Focusing on the passenger side it seems there is less work than on the drivers side, but its a bit more tricky. The rear arch is rusted through and without spending hundreds on a new wing section i will have to make one. Some say a Mk1 Ford Fiesta rear arch is a very good replacement, but as i want to flair the arches i will try and fab my own.

The front suspension support section (triangle gusset) is corroded on both sides. With this i am planning to cut it all out and replace with a 2" box section structure. This should be stronger but also give more access and not trap crud!

A Historical Supprise...

Tralling a few spridget pages today i came accross a photo i recognised. It was a picture of the hard top i bought with LMG 5K. Without knowing it i had allowed a website to publish the photo!

www.williamsandpritchardregister.co.uk

It turns out its quite a rare hard top. The Finlay Panorama was produced in the late 60's by Twyford Auto Conversions and is largley unknown!

Made me smile!

Paint shop...

A few coats of paint later and the back plates and brake drums are done! They will probably need a few more coats but they're looking good so far!





Ive been thinking about a side exit exhaust system similar to this one by Rob Thomas. I would have to make my own manifold and the system would probably exit just above the sill through a slot in the front wing.

new bearings...

After cleaning up the hubs and painting, i pressed in the oil seal. I didn't really press it in, more tapped it in with a hammer and blunt screwdriver, but it went in well and undamaged. Next i pushed in the o-ring seal with the help of a squirt of WD-40.

The bearing kit came with a sachet of grease, so about 1/3 of this was applied to the back side of the bearing and a little smeared around the inside of the hub to aid in fitting. I aligned the new bearing over the hub and placed the old bearing on top. Starting with a rubber mallet i tapped the old bearing, working in circles to push the new bearing into the hub. Later, i switched to a steel headed hammer and things went a little quicker! The bearing went in smoothly and is flush with the hub. I was a little confused to see space between the bearing and the oil seal when looking from the back, but this is correct and the bearing is sitting home.

The remaining bearing grease was loaded into the bearing and squished in!

I started cleaning one of the brake drums so that i could test my "Yellow" paint. It will take a few more coats before it looks bright enough, but i think it will look good against the black of the axle and diff. The back plates will be painted too.

I have just ordered new screws for the half shafts and drums as i destroyed the head of the old ones.

I have also bought a replacement hub as i had to drill out a screw from the old and ruined the thread!

more axle...

Removing the hub nuts was particularly difficult, until i asked for help! The hub nuts have opposite threads, the left has a left hand thread, the right a right hand thread to prevent them working loose with the wheel rotation etc. Removal requires a 1.7/8" socket, or the easier cheaper method, a metal chisel and hammer!

I was at a loss as to how to remove the nuts without the correct socket so i called upon the knowledge and experience of Team Neaves Racing whom i met through the MG BBS and Forums. Local to me, they were happy to help me out. 60 seconds with a chisel and hammer loosened the nuts. It would have taken me hours to do this myself simply because i didn't know the easiest method!


Team Neaves Racing is a family team based near Dunsfold near Godalming Surrey. Blaine, Ollie and Dan are very friendly guys preparing their MGB's, powered by VHPD K-series, for the Peter Best Insurance Challenge this year with their first race at Brands Hatch at the end of May.



With hub nuts off and the loan of Team Neaves hub puller i was able to remove the hubs and strip out the bearings and oil sills. The back plates could then be removed.




With the axle casing now bare i stripped it back using a combination of wire wheel
in a drill and flap wheel in the grinder. Not all rust was removed, but i painted in Hammerite Direct to Rust paint so it should be fine. I chose hammered black as the finish should smooth out the rough bits. The hubs were also painted. I am going to paint the brake drums and back plates in Hammerite Yellow as highlights.

I bought new hub nuts as the old ones were damaged whilst being removed, and new lock washers to keep it all safe. The new bearings will be pushed in to the hubs with new oil seals today and the back plates and remaining parts will be cleaned up and painted.

A drop of paint...

An hour to clean up the diff housing with a wire brush allowed me to give it a quick coat of Hammerite Hammered Black paint! Looks a treat now! Just got to do the rest of the axle when i get hold of a 1 7/8" socket to take the hubs off!

steering cross member box repair...

While working on the chassis rail repair, i noticed the box section under the steering cross member, between the chassis rails was badly dented and corroded. So i decided to replace it.

I began by measuring the piece i needed to replace. it was roughly 18cm by 27.5cm. I then cut out and ground clean the damaged section. I measured up and cut the patch
from a scrap foot well side i had to had. This is a nice thick gauge steel and should hold up well. It was a good job i decided to do this as there was a lot of soggy rust in the box sextion!


I punched four holes each side along the length of the patch and plug welded it in place. I then seam welded to shorter lengths. It was then ground smooth and primed. Not bad work and it took less than an hour! :)

Chassis rail repair...

Another job on the list for this bank holiday weekend was the RH chassis rail. It has corroded badly and had plenty of holes! A new chassis rail panel was bought from Sussex Classic Car. Its the complete front from the steering cross member forward.


First step was to measure up, mark and cut the old chassis rail. I left 1/4" flanges extending from the steering cross member to weld the new rail to. On trial fitting the new rail was too long by 1/4", so it was trimmed and re trial fitted. I held it in place and tack welded. It needed some persuasion with the mallet to keep it straight.


Once fully seam welded all round, i ground it smooth and primed.

gaskets, seals and bearings...

With the diff rebuilt, i bought the required gaskets seals and bearings to put the axle back together. I bought the correct wheel bearing kits which include the bearing, oil seals, spacer. They include a sachet of bearing grease too, which is nice. They don't include the hub gaskets, so these were bought individually. I also bought a new diff to housing gasket.

I carefully put the diff gasket over the housing studs, but a small tear appeared. This isn't much of an issue as the gasket still formed around the stud.

The diff was then carefully lowered onto the studs and bolted down using the original spring washers and nuts. I then started to clean up the diff housing. Next task is to remove the hub nuts and hubs to replace the wheel bearings. These are notoriously hard to remove. The left hand hub nut has a left hand thread, the right a right hand thread, important to remember when undoing them!

thrust washers...

It took me well over 2 hours to remove the cross pin which holds the roll pin in place. i had to drill out the peening holding the pin in and drive the pin out with a 1/8" parallel drift, which ended up bent! I also had to remove both the bearing retainers to get a clean line on the pin. This is risky as the crown and pinion mesh i accuratley set and not easily reset when disturbed! Hopefuly i kept it good!

With the pin out, the roll pin drifted out smoothly and was in great condition. I .was then able to walk the planet gears out along with their washers. The old brass thrust washers were very warn and had a sever lip and were substantially thinner than the new. The picture shows old left and new right thrust washers

The sun gears cam out easily with nothing in their way. There was only one thrust washer on one side! The other had either completely warn away or was not installed originally! I placed new Tufnol washers on the sun gears and put them back in the diff.

Inserting the planet gears with new washer is much more difficult! Because all the new washers are so much thicker than the warn old ones, there is no play or movement to get the gears in. Both planet gears have to be inserted at the same time, from opposite sides of the diff. It took me another two hours, but with both planet gears part meshed and their washers tucked in a little further, i inserted one half shaft and gave it hard twist...bingo! Both gears rotated in and lined up. The washers needed a little encouragement into position.

More diff work...

I took an hour to finish the axle strip last night. Once the half shafts were removed the diff case could be worked out slowly. Having not seen a half shaft or diff before it was all suddenly de-mystified!



Using a flat screwdriver i tested the planet gears for play, and there was plenty of it meaning the thrust washers are warn. Replacing these is not difficult once you get to them and it makes sense to replace the sun gear washers at the same time.



In order to get the planet gears and get to the washers you need to drive out the cross pin holding them in place. The cross pin is secured with a roll pin which is peen ed over on one end. In order to remove the cross pin, the roll pin has to be driven out; its hard to find a replacement for these so care must be taken if you want to reuse it - I'm not sure if its safe to reuse it yet!

£25.00 will buy me all the replacement bearings, gaskets and washers i need to rebuild the diff and put it all back together.

Axle strip cont...

Last night was sunny so i move the axle into the garden. It was very nice to work outside, only i kept forgetting tools so was running in and out of the garage!




The plan is to strip the axle, de-rust and then paint it and re-construct. The first thing to do, i thought, was to remove the diff. After an hour of trying to prise the thing out i decided to check the Haynes. It turns out the first thing to do is remove the half shafts!


I started removing the brake drum on one side. I removed the drum, shoes and handbrake mech and then undid the hub retaining screw holding the hub in. A little prising and it came out most of the way. It didn't come all the way out and was getting stuck on something. More research in the Haynes is needed!

rear axle...

The rear axle is in a bit of a state. It covered in surface rust and i can feel play or slop in the differential. It needs a strip and rebuild. I will try to re-use as many components as i can, but all seals, washers, and gaskets will be replaced. Bearings will be assessed and most likely replaced.


First off were the springs, this took all the remaining time i had, so that's all that got done!






Here a nice shot of all the new metal on the drivers side.






I rolled the shell back on its side again to give more space and access to the boot floor which will soon come out.

more b-post... than b-fore...

Following on from seam welding the b-post repair in place i have ground the welds smooth trying not to grin too far and cut through. There are a few pin holes, but i think this is due to low penetration from the welds rather than over-grinding.



A lot of grinding with the flap wheel later and a coat of primer shows the two or three small holes the need welding, these should get done in the next day or so. There seems to be a little overlap are the arch end which wasn't evident until the primer was on. I'm hoping i can smooth this out with the grinder and build up with weld if needed. Else it will be a filler job when prepping for paint.

Looking back a year or so to an old photo is often a real encouragement. Look at the state of the b-post and bulkhead!

I'm often working on the car in the evenings after work now that there is more daylight, but once it passes half seven-ish i don't want to make much noise, so i have started to work on things like the rear axle.

B-post reapir...

While i wait to buy the new a-post skin panel i moved on to the lower b-post repair. There was some major rust in this area originally and it was one of the first things i cut out when i stripped the car. Its good to be putting something back in!

The repair panel from Sussex Classic Car seemed a good fit and was well formed. I offered it up to the b-post and marked a cut line. I cut 1/2" lower than the marked line to allow some over lap and margin for error.

Some further trimming was needed and i ended up trimming to my original cut line for a flush fit. I positioned the new panel and checked alignment from and rear. I closed the door several times to check the door gap was equal all the way down. The rear of the panel did not follow the arch perfectly top and bottom so i aligned it to match the top and will build up and smooth out the bottom join later. The panel was tacked in place.

5mm holes were made in the door shut flange and these were plug welded to the inner flange. This method meant there could still be some adjustment in the panel, which was needed!

Once securely tacked in place, i seam welded the lower joint; this decision was made some time ago when i decided i want a seamless look on the a and b posts. Traditionally there is a visible seam here. To avoid distortion, i welded about 1" at a time alternating ends. The top seam was stitch welded, again to avoid heat build up and distortion. Every few welds i closed the door to check the gap again!

Door gaps are very important to the finished look of the car!