Actually done some welding

So, its becoming a theme that I do not update this for ages, oh well really busy at the moment. So i'll start from where I last wrote, basically I have competely stripped the car including removing the rear axle. I have bought a welder to do the welding, however the gas regulator which was supplied with the welder was rubbish so ran out of the 3 bottles of gas which I had, so had to buy some more, also I have been given a large cylinder of CO2 gas but need to get regulator to work with this. One problem I have with the welder is that it is quite powerful and keeps on welding through tips, which is really annoying. I have found it quite difficult to weld, but I think I am getting the hang of it. I have removed both spring hangers and welded in the driver's side one, also removed the remainder of the boot floor. When I was cutting out the driver's spring hanger I found a load of rust on the underside and had to cut out the bottom of the spring hanger and weld in a new plate, which was really difficult because it's upside down. New panels I have are the boot floor, the rear valance, the passenger's side spring hanger is welded up, painted red oxide and ready to be put in, also have the driver's heelboard extension.

     Dad removed most of the heelboard extension on the driver's side, but nect to tackle is the passenger's spring hanger, then the boot floor, then the rear valance, then the heelboards. Then the rear wings need to be welded to the arches and the sills. But because I have bought all these new panels from Dave, I owe him about £200. The final phot is of all the panels I have recently sold, bonner, 2 doors, 2 tail gates and a wing for £6.

Update

Sorry, I havn't updated in a while, been very busy with school and stuff. Basically what has happened is that I moved the cars about a month and a half ago, so now the green car is in abbotskerswell and the red one is at my house.

With the red car I have removed most stuff now, which wasn't too much because it had already been mostly stripped, so the main things I have removed is the wiring harness, dashboard and all bolt on panels. I have also cut out the boot floor as this was extremely rusty and didn't look very nice. When removing stuff and taking a further look at the car, it seems that I will have to get somebody else to weld it. I have very little welding experience and it would take far too long for me to do all the welding and I would quite like a car to drive, however now I will be spraying it myself.

Having worked at modern motoring for a while now, Dave has given me a second hand tailgate, which has a screen in it, however it is slightly damaged so will need some bashing with a hammer. I have also been given a second hand recessed grill, which needs some work doing to it.

Bit of history with the red car, it has had 11 previous owners excluding modern motoring, and the owner before had it from '86 when he took it off the road in 1991, and Dave has had it since 1995. So between 1972 and 1986 the car has had 10 owners, which seems a bit strange.
I have also sold both rear wings I bought, but still need to sell both sills, which will raise more money for fixing the car.

Moving MG's

I have sorted out a date for moving the MG's it's this thursday, I'm really excited, I can't wait untill all of my exams are over and I can just get on and fix up the car

Update and plans chnage dramatically

Right, so I havn't updated this in a very long time, so I will start from where I last left you. Since I got the MG in the shed I have stripped it completely of all parts except axles. Last weekend I removed the engine, which was a pig to get out as it kept on getting caught on the engine mounts.

About a month ago I went down to the local MG garage (Modern Motoring) and asked if I could work there on wednesdays and saturdays, so I got the Job, which is brilliant because I will gain experience of how to actually restore cars, I am also getting paid in parts which will save me alot of money on the project.

The biggest bit of news since I last updated is that Dave(the guy I work for) came round and had a look at the car to see what he thought of it, he basically told me that it was nackered and that he has a 1971 GT which I could have for £400. So me and Dad went to see the new car, which has new sills, floor and rear wings, which will already save me alot of money plus I can sell the parts I have bought. The only major welding really needed on the car is on the rear outer wheel arches, boot floor and rear valence. The new car is red, has wire wheels, webasto sunroof (which will be great for the summer) and a motolita wooden steering wheel, plus it it tax exempt which will same me money over the years. The car was built as an automatic, but doesn't actually have an engine or gearbox so I'll put the green cars engine and gearbox in it though. Interestingly there is an overdrive switch on the dash, so it may have been fitted with a manual at one point, I'll check that out when I get it down to the workshop. As with the other car, well that is going to a mates barn, where it will sit untill I have finished the new car, and then it will come back home and be restored.

Here are some pictures, I'll put some up of the new car when I get it! (last picture is of the rust on the A post and passengers sill, which is why I'm not doing it yet, as I want a car to drice soonish and wanted a chrome bumper)

MG in the shed!

Finally moved the MG round from the garden and into the shed! Me and my brother moved it out of the space its been in for a few years, took a while bacause it was such a tight squeeze as the builders had moved a load of tiles in behind it. It took us ages to move it into the drive yesterday, due to dimming light we decided to postpone moving it untill this evening. After five years of talking to mates about doing this MG project, we finally moved the MG into its home for the duration of the restoration. Literally one of the happiest days for a long time. Watch this space......

Shed

Havn't updated on the shed recently, but a lot has gone on since the last time. I now have all of the roofing sheets fitted and the rear built which was very difficult because of the angles which the wall forms, also the wall is not level which was very complicated when doing the drainage. We put the new guttering on the exsting shed, which I think looks very smart, but we are unsure of what to do with the downpipe for it. I also painted the walls which looks alot better than befor although it took a while and a lot of paint. Last weekend saw the floor put in which makes it feel like we are coming to the end and I can finally get started on the MG.

 Jobs left to do are: paint the bottom of the walls, fit the ends of the plastic sheets and fit the drainpipe. On the MG side of things I had to free the front left hub as the calliper had siezed onto the disk, this was achieved by using Wd40, a piece of wood and a lump hammer, to great effect. I then put the wheels on and pumped them up, ready for it to be moved in the next week or so..

Shed Build Part 3

I spent monday and today building the shed with dad, we have put up five perlins and also put the cross beams that support the plastic sheeting. Today we put two of the plastic sheets in place, which means using a lot of the specially branded fixing screws which are really expensive, so now i'm off to search for some cheaper screws on the internet. So here are some pictures of the shed so far. Also got very wet doing this as it rained all day, but overall i'm quite happy with the work as we have put up about half of the perlins.

Parts for MG

Just purchased the sills for both sides of the MG and thought I would update as to what I have spent so far on the panels for the car:
Sills- (Both sides) - £240
offside rear wing(full)- £52
nearside rear wing(half) -£36
both doors - £125

So in total I have spent about £500, just on panels, and have not even bought all of them. Probably going to have to get a job.
Sills-

More shed build

Cemented the fence posts in that hold up the other side of the shed. We had a bit of a problem though because we put the post about 15cm in the wrong place, so we had to adjust where other things go slightly. Once the fence posts were in we put the cross beam on that will support the rafters that will hold the corrugated plastic roof. Finally we put the two end rafters in to see the size of the shed. Its huge! Dimensions are roughly 5m by 2.6m.

Shed Build

Spent most of friday figuring out how to build a lean-to shed to house the MG during the restoration, so put the wall plate up on the house and started digging a 60cm deep hole for the posts to support the other side on. The main problem with the space, where the shed is going is that it is by no means square, so its going to be a difficult build. So almost dug one hole, but then realised I would have to move about 1500 roof tiles to dig the second hole

MG pre-rust (2004)

MG pre-rust (2002)