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Resto tutorial on my 1958 MGA Coupe

191K views 1K replies 43 participants last post by  37ford4dr 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hello again the 37 is gone but something new has found its way in the garage....follow along as we eat the elephant one bite at a time....hasnt run in over 27 yrs....heres the deal we bought it from a 79 yr old gentleman who bought the car in 1985 from a neighbors yard, he had restored one in 1965 and was going to restore this one but never got around to it....he did buy new bumpers, leather seat kit, complete carpet set, deluxe panel set, headliner and complete rubber kit and it came with an extra MGA transmission and extra Triumph spitfire: engine, trans and set of seats...

heres the thread on the 37 so you can know what to expect.....
http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/well-getting-ready-get-serious-37-a-84877-5.html


the accomplices.....






















 
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#166 ·
since the neighbor had a birthday party I decided to have quiet time in the garage.... I spent some time organizing and drilled out the last bolts, and removed the tail light plinths





and this is how you know you have done this too many times....its drilled right down the middle

 
#170 ·
thks JP there is no paint left any where on the external side when i am done sanding them, very labor intensive but bare metal is a good thing!

about 2 hrs tonight finishing the sanding on both sides and priming it.








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i didnt do any of the body work to this that will come later, just wanted to get it to the point where it wouldnt flash rust on me



 
#176 ·
another 90 mins tonight....believe it or not but i havent really poked around this frame too much in the last year but this frame is in way better shape then i thought it was in.

the grinder will let you know when you are cutting good metal as opposed to thinner metal you can feel the resistance








you can see the sacrificial tail that i use to hold it in place

 
#177 ·
you are making really good progress on this beauty....

Do you plan to somehow treat the inside of the frame or just seal it up and keep it garaged?...I have a few places in the trailer that Im concerned about....I dont have a blaster...but I guess its in my future...What do you do with a long frame like that?

JP
 
#178 ·
I probably will do nothing to the inside of the frame just leave it alone. its had no love over the last 56 yrs and the inside of the frame where its not rusted through still measures a true 14 ga. for the rest of this coupes life i am sure it will be in a garage more then it is outside. For the outside i will just use a wire brush on the out side and then paint it with a rust converter. and then paint it. I suppose i could drill some holes in the frame and spray a rust converter soloution into it and then pop a cover into the holes. I have the material and the tools to do that. let me think about that for a while. i guess i could even do that now as i repair the rusted out sections.
 
#179 ·
Im impressed. Where you didnt have rust through the metal is actually okay...thats great...good to know...Im not so paranoid now about the trailer in some of those inaccessible spots.....

oh, meant to ask you...what are you using for rust converter and is that a magnet (not a magnate, thats a rich dude), that holds your ground clamp?

was that you with the clever idea to use a length of copper wire under the ground clamp also for a better ground?

good stuff.

JP
 
#182 ·
the weld wire is called "the best ground trick " or something like that and is just copper battery cable stripped and folded over and held in a vise and then just wound tight, you wrap the ends in tape so you dont get poked and i got the idea from the internet and it works great. the idea is that there is so many different heights within the coiled wire tha you are guaranteed to get a good ground. that rust converter is called jasco from lowes $7 a qt.

and yes that is ground magnet from HF for $8 or something like that, it has a floating ground with a spring on it. it works great for areas like trunk floors that have no area to ground them
 
#190 · (Edited)
thks guys remember i really like the metal fabrication aspects. the frame is 14 gauge steel totally boxed and very strong these areas that are rusted out are typical on the MGA and very easily repairable, compared to some this is not much damage at all. mostly the rust areas are on the floor board supports which were 16 ga and are not structural at all. the floor board supports hold the plywood flooring.... yes plywood flooring. i dont think i saw many spots on the outside frame rails that are a problem. i guess the other thing to consider is that all the rust happend over the 30 yrs that the car was just sitting around ...so its not like the frame has been flexed from driving around and has distorted. other British cars of this era used 16 ga steel for frames which is really thin 50 yrs later...remember these cars are also really light
 
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