[37ford4dr]

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.....
well getting ready to get serious on the 37


the accomplices.....

[37ford4dr]

work done to date....shovelled out crap from car, hosed down interior and exterior, pulled out center wooden floors,vaccumed car,oild windows and made them crank up and down, took out spark plugs and put 4ozs of auto trans fluid in each cylinder. oiled up valve train.....the oil in engine is clean and the oil in trans is clean, this is a good sign.... also unpacked all boxes of parts and they all look good the interior panel kit and upholstery looks fine....waiting for a sunny day to air it all out.

[cyclopsblown34]

I think the coupe looks better than the roadster. Excellent car to start with.

[Richiehd]

I just got a 1952 MG/TD running for my neighbor. It Was in storage since 1971. We changed fuel lines, tank, 2 new carbs, ignition coolant and oil. Runs like a top! Redid the brakes and wheel cylinders and hes having a ball with it. Got most of my stuff from Moss Motors. They have almost everything for those old MG's. Good luck with your project,

[37ford4dr]

yes will be my second MGA project and 5th British car bewteen '54-'69

heres the first MGA



well last night we finally got done vacuuming out all the nuts and mouse crap my lord there was more then imaginable....we got the motor to rotate by pushing it in gear and all the valves move and we went through all the gears...next we still have to air out all the carpeting and interior kit stuff and then repack it for later use....

[John long]

Is this going to be a restoration or modified? I know that rear window is going to be fun to find. Some one will post they just junked one last week. People are oh so cruel.......

John L

[malc]

Originally Posted by John long

Some one will post they just junked one last week.

Funny you should say that I .............................. ......just messin´.

37ford4dr, try signing up and asking here at Rods n Sods in the UK, someone might know someone who has one.

[Mojo56]

I'm kind of a TR guy myself but the A's hold a special place in my heart.

Back in the late 50's, when I was mere lad, my brother owned an XK140 and a TD... belonged to the local "furrin car club" and I got to ride along on many fun rallies, trips to Road America and other activities. Some of those excursions were in a black '58 MGA roadster.

My starter wife and I owned a '73 MGB for several years and she kept it after our split. She now has a '57 A coupe in light blue...

Good luck with the project.

[37ford4dr]

luckily the guy who bought the car to restore had purchased all the glass for it...so i have all the 3 pieces of rear glass and a new front windshield. the door glass and quarterlights are good. i have examinied the round rear qtr windows and they are good and I have eyeballed the flat center piece and front windshield but until i have better wrapping to put them in then what they are in now they will stay boxed as is. but they look good from my poking and prodding. the only thing i know that i am missing is the chrome/SS trim that is part of the rear windshield gasket.


we are not sure what we are going to do with it... we are still examining the car and its possibilities....once i have all the "new" stuff de-stinked and repacked we will put it up on jack stands and really go over it. i really like the metal working aspect of these projects....if i see a modified coupe that has big fender flares and racing stripes with knock off minilites it may just send me over the edge and i will make this into a "modified". i dont really care about originality and if i can find pictures of historic period modifications that float my boat i would do it in a minute..

bob

[1ownerT]

Originally Posted by 37ford4dr

luckily the guy who bought the car to restore had purchased all the glass for it...so i have all the 3 pieces of rear glass and a new front windshield. the door glass and quarterlights are good. i have examinied the round rear qtr windows and they are good and I have eyeballed the flat center piece and front windshield but until i have better wrapping to put them in then what they are in now they will stay boxed as is. but they look good from my poking and prodding. the only thing i know that i am missing is the chrome/SS trim that is part of the rear windshield gasket.


we are not sure what we are going to do with it... we are still examining the car and its possibilities....once i have all the "new" stuff de-stinked and repacked we will put it up on jack stands and really go over it. i really like the metal working aspect of these projects....if i see a modified coupe that has big fender flares and racing stripes with knock off minilites it may just send me over the edge and i will make this into a "modified". i dont really care about originality and if i can find pictures of historic period modifications that float my boat i would do it in a minute..

bob

https://www.google.com/search?q=1958...J8Pqggej3IGyCQ

[37ford4dr]

i liked those pictures but i didnt see any fender flares.....did some work today with the boys and we got all the fenders off, luckily we soaked all the fasteners with pb blaster a couple of days ago and they came off pretty easily. all in all its in better shape then my last MGA and we didnt find anything that surprised us unpleasantly. and the where the fenders meet is in great shape all the way around.

I unpacked all the glass and its all in great shape no problems what so ever.

[68NovaSS]

Looks like a major project, you should consider starting a project journal as well.

[37ford4dr]

picked some low hanging fruit today, pulled radiator and gas tank

started cutting out the rust to see what was left

[boatbob2]

While youre at it,see if you can figure out how to get rid of that POS lucas electrical system.......THAT was the only problems i had with those FURRIN cars.......(and motorcycles)

[37ford4dr]

the prince of darkness and I have made friends along time ago....

well my son Joe and I worked on the boot floor replacement tonight for a couple of hours

we cut out the rest of the floor to give a nice unified look



made a template out of carboard





cut it out and made template for bead roller






rolled the beads in the floor



bent the sides



and heres the mock up fit