Bigpower

Right, this has been far to long in the making, I bought the Midget as a birthday present in my early 20s drove it as my only car for about 3 years and as a Sunday car for a couple of years more, then it went off the road for a few bits to be done. That was 2002. Funny how time passes you by, but little people came along and needed a lot of time, a few years messing about with Nissans too, but it really is time to pull my finger out and get on and fix it.

Spent the weekend emptying out all the old 200sx bits out of the shed and taking them to the tip. Apparently car parts are "restricted" I successfully argued that it was only 1 cars worth, but I think when i took a whole dashboard out of the boot he may have thought I was taking the piss.

Any way here it is:



Most of the rear end is stripped but I made the mistake of trying to do it bit by bit, the plan now is to strip it all down properly. Put it on a spit and do all the welding in one go.

The rusty areas are the trailing edge of the boot floor, the OSR arch (done), the NSR arch, and some little bits around the front of the sills + whatever the strip-down reveals.



Filler dust everywhere. Some of the filler on the rear of the car was over 10mm thick, god knows my panel beating and welding isn't perfect but I've never welded anything in so far out it needed more than a 2mm skim :/ Not to mention bits of chicken wire, brazing, fibreglass and all sorts over other crap that I dug out from under it.



Yup, 2002 tax disc. Scary.



My Ashley hard top (Yes I know its a different colour to the rest of the car) in a half empty shed, plenty of space now to stack panels.



And that's how it stood by mid day Saturday.

Since then I have stripped off the doors (Which required drilling off I bolt head), removed the bonnet, emptied the coolant, removed the exhaust & carbs, and begun to remove the dash. Pics to follow.

I should be able to spend the evenings cleaning up and repairing the little parts and work on the shell at the weekends.

And with a thread on here, perhaps I'll be too embarrassed to leave it for another 12 years.

So youtube would have you beleive that the trick to restoring chrome brightwork is to rub it with Aluminium foil and coke. I think they've been taking coke, but never one to rule something out with out putting it to the test here goes:





and afterwards....
























as I suspected, internet myth, nothing is going to but the chrome back where its missing.

With rechroming looking more expensive than new bumpers, I'm toying with the idea of powder coating the old brightwork black, not sure it'd go down well with the purists in the MG club, but it might work.

I think if you got the colour contrast with the main bodywork spot on, black powder coated bumpers etc. could look really nice and tasteful on any classic MG.

and I wouldn't worry too much about what the MG Club purists think, what's the worst that can happen....they don't speak to you ever again?

I'm sure you could find somebody else to talk tweed and cravats with

I'd go for a discreet carbon wrap and stick a new age engine in it to tie in.
Love all the old school British stuff, I've been getting misty eyed about MGBGT's recently.

I see where you went wrong. You used 'coke zero' and not just 'coke', only jesting

Seriously though, how the hell do you manage to keep a car stored for 12 years. I mean come on at 3 years of age a kid can rub down the bodywork and change wheels.

Looking forward to seeing how this progresses.

pablo wrote:
Seriously though, how the hell do you manage to keep a car stored for 12 years. I mean come on at 3 years of age a kid can rub down the bodywork and change wheels.

Looking forward to seeing how this progresses.

No idea, I blinked and 12 years had passed. Crazy. Kids'll do that to you. And my minions were kept busy working on the Nissan

Nice project Maffster

You mean you bought it and grew to the right age to be driving it

RX7 wrote:Nice project Maffster

You mean you bought it and grew to the right age to be driving it

God, dont remind me, 2 more years and it'll start with a 4 :/

Progress!

3 2 1 Manifold which was one of the few mods I had done before it went of the road, removed.

I even remember the clonk as the brick laying in the middle of the road bounced up and hit it back in 2003, leaving that lovely dent.

Bonnet and Doors safely tucked away


Dash off, most of the clocks and switches disconnected and safely stored away.


The offending bolt that had to be beheaded to get the passenger door off.

Plenty of meat left on it, with any luck I should be able to get the welder in and tag a nut on the end of it, to help wind it out, if nothing else I've found zapping things with the mig puts enough heat through them to not need an oxy torch at home.

The little A-Series with zorst and carbs removed.


Hopefully on Saturday I can get the car out and turn it 180 ready to have a nice flat garage floor to use the engine crane on, and finish removing the dash.

The chrome is still there, it's just oxidised (or appears to be). Something like Britemax twins may sort that out but it will require a fair amount of elbow grease. Where are you these days? I may be able to swing passed and help/show you.

East Runton, not too far away I'd appreciate some pointers.