project 1968 MG Midget - Bodywork repair and welding

[N Dentressangle]

Makes perfect sense. I always find the right cars turn up in the wrong colour.

Having said that, the paint job looks much better than mine. I can't tell what colour that blue Spit was originally, whereas anywhere they could get away with on mine is still white - behind the door trims, for example.

BUT!

DVLA have that blue Spit down as red! The numberplate is your destiny... 🤣

[Mally]

Red, it's Blue!

Best to confirm the Reg, engine number and chassis number with the V5 then.

Mind you I've swapped a few engines in the past. 

Lost the carb linkage is a little csuspect. I'd say it won't run well.

There's not much to them though, they fly.     Spitfire geddit?

Here's one I  built and flew earlier. Carb linkage worked on that.

!

[SiC]

2 hours ago, N Dentressangle said:

Having said that, the paint job looks much better than mine.

C&C have higher resolution images.

https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1547445

FB images definitely makes it look better than it is. That said it doesn't look too bad, just some rust breaking back through. Seats and dash don't look as good condition though.

Hard to say no but as it would be above what I wanted to pay, I'm probably going to be more picky. If it suddenly lost 1.5k on their asking price things may change though 🤣

[N Dentressangle]

26 minutes ago, SiC said:

 If it suddenly lost 1.5k on their asking price things may change though 🤣

Mine lost £2400 on what he was originally asking 

[SiC]

18 minutes ago, N Dentressangle said:

Mine lost £2400 on what he was originally asking 

I think there are a lot of over priced examples about. It's why I'm not too much in a rush as there isn't many for sale at the moment. But when they start popping up for spring, it'll take a month of slow sales to pull prices down. 

Or not!

Depending what the classic market is doing. But won't really know until the season starts. 

[artdjones]

55 minutes ago, SiC said:

C&C have higher resolution images.

https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1547445

FB images definitely makes it look better than it is. That said it doesn't look too bad, just some rust breaking back through. Seats and dash don't look as good condition though.

Hard to say no but as it would be above what I wanted to pay, I'm probably going to be more picky. If it suddenly lost 1.5k on their asking price things may change though 🤣

The throttle linkage is missing, but don't worry, he's seen a video of the engine running.🤪

[N Dentressangle]

Definitely needs a little tickle on the bulkhead:

Knowing @SiC's methods, we'd be buckling in and doors to manual for a full body-off rebuild within days 😉

[EmmaJNation]

23 hours ago, SiC said:

Now time to be off to the local cheap carvery for some food!

Once ground down the welds, it'll be time to fit that outer cover piece. Then the front is done! (Actually not true as I have been poking and found some hole that need patching in the arch)

I don’t know if you’ve got round to not forgetting to weld the floor yet, but now’s the ideal time to consider a small modification - I had a go in a Midget where they’d lowered the well part of the floor and for a small change in the floor ~1”, it made a huge difference to how roomy it felt, for those of us with long legs/big feet.

[SiC]

3 hours ago, EmmaJNation said:

I don’t know if you’ve got round to not forgetting to weld the floor yet, but now’s the ideal time to consider a small modification - I had a go in a Midget where they’d lowered the well part of the floor and for a small change in the floor ~1”, it made a huge difference to how roomy it felt, for those of us with long legs/big feet.

I'm not particularly tall, so thankfully I fit in perfectly! Welding the floor is more re-welding the shoddy welds already there 😱

[SiC]

One of @dollywobbler recent videos came up the other day on my subscription feed with this modified Spridget.
I don't usually like aftermarket kits on cars as I find them invariably naff. However I love the look of this a lot.
I did ponder about getting the kit for this but I've put so much new metal in the back, it seems a bit wrong to cut it all out and fibreglass it. Maybe once I've finished this one, I'll buy another to modify?

As mentioned in the video, it's not a Lenham front end. That is a happier looking thing and is a nice alternative take on the Frogeye. Happy looking cars are cool imo. 

I'm off to see a car show on Weston seafront this morning. Hopefully if the weather holds out, I plan to tidy up the garage so I can start back on this Midget. Currently it's covered in Dolomite parts from the scrapper Dolomite, bits of broken Rover P4 parts and I've even managed to knock an old oil filter over making a right mess.

Enthusiasm has been rebuilt to get on with this car but I've managed to stop myself from being able to work on it with my usual mess and disorganisation...

 

[SiC]

Hello. It's been a while


Life, fixing Spitfire/TT, more life, holidays and plenty of work are the usual excuses of not touching this for months. Not much has happened since the last update except a flurry of work this weekend.

Last month I fitted the outer cover on the a-pillar by welding the edge that goes under the wing and sprayed some paint on.



Yesterday I banged the lip over. This isn't welded and is just bent in place.



Bought a new bottle of gas this morning as I knew I'd run out by the end of the day. Decided to bite the bullet and go for a larger bottle this time. Costs are higher but works out cheaper as more gas. Let's face it, I'll end up using it. Just friggin' heavy to push about on the welding cart.


Cut some rough work out. I don't have a proper before picture but there was a large patch welded over. As often is the case with this car, that didn't actually hold on with a screwdriver. Also covered a large area that actually wasn't holed. This is before I finish the bottom.


This bit was covered by the top of the patch. I made a few repair pieces that I welded in. Tbh I probably should have just cut the arch off and replaced it. Cheap to get a panel and it's not structural. But then it's hidden under the wing anyway.


I'm a bit short of photos of before and after. I thought I took them but I must have got too carried away.
While I was busy, Mrs SiC came to vacuum my cars out. Not sure why today of all days but I shouldn't complain. Except I had to be careful to not give her arc eye. Anyway have a picture of Mrs SiC bent over in the boot. I'm sure she'll love me posting this photo.

Tbh I should be cleaning the body of my Boxster as I need to get it up for sale really.


This bottom I did take a few pictures of though.


There is a closing panel that fits on here. Makes it a lot easier to finish off.


The edge I puddle welded. Then after this picture I seam welded around where the screwdriver holding it in place.


After that, a lot of grinding and then I used an out of date tube of polyurethane sealant as a seam sealer. I've found out of date silicone sealant doesn't set, so I'm hoping this does. Tbh I should have just tried a small area but I got a bit carried away. I'll spray this if it does dry. If it doesn't then it'll be a lot of work to remove and redo...


Chuffed with finishing this front section, I cleared and vacuumed up.
Then I realised I haven't quite finished this front as I forgot to finish welding this up. Also I think the hole is too small. I'll have to grab the windscreen from storage and if necessary make this hole bigger.


That's for another day though. Hopefully not another few months before I get a chance on this again.

[Dick Longbridge]

Neat work. Just an  observation, but aren't you supposed to paint the panel first before slathering the seam sealer on? 

It would be great to see you give a Frogeye the resto treatment once you've finished this Sprite. 

[SiC]

Views seem to be mixed on that. Some say seam sealer first, others say paint first. The proper tin of seam sealer I have says it's over paintable. 

The seam sealer I scraped off the TT seemed to be over primer. Body colour was on top of the seam sealer.

I ended up doing both as I'd already red oxide some of it when I attached that a-pillar cover. 

[High Jetter]

Primer first, to protect. Then sealer, lastly paint.

[SiC]

3M PU seam sealer says can be applied to bare metal

https://www.3m.co.uk/3M/en_GB/p/d/b40066975/#

Many primers still absorb water, so I don't know how applying on them will be any different to directly on bare metal. 

[SiC]

I'll also add that there is a good chance it won't set being as it's 2 years out of date and been roasted a few times in the garage with 30c+ heat! No doubt will be wire wheel splattered around my garage and redone with something else. 

However as I already had the tube and it would go in the bin otherwise, I thought I'd give it a go. 

[purplebargeken]

Rude not to try...

[SiC]

This evening I was supposed to be washing and polishing the Boxster but every time I try, it chucks it down with rain. Maybe a sign that I shouldn't be selling it?

Instead I cracked on with finishing the front of this.

Blue lines are areas where the join is and needed a bead running over as some pin holes.


Easy enough and a fair bit of precision grinding after to clean up.


Then several rounds of filler and sand. This panel is damaged a bit from when folding the edge over. So needed a thin skim of filler to finish it. Likewise at the top to round off where I bent out the metal to enlarge the corner slightly.


Left a mess that looked like I was on the Columbian Marching Powder. Messy stuff is filler. Perhaps I should learn to lead load instead.


Then red oxide to protect.


This front corner is now pretty much done.


Except the paint will need to be rectified before the body colour goes on from the rather bad paint runs. I don't get on with the Simonz paint nozzle on these cans I get from my local car part shop. Also doesn't help that I'm crap with paint too.


The drivers floor needs a few fresh beads putting down as the current ones are a bit suspect. Then I'll refit the door to check alignments. From there I can work backwards again to fix the rear arch and outer wing panel.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

[purplebargeken]

Nice work Si. Good to see you cracking on with it. A few runs... pffft.

[Matty]

Hopefully when your finished summer will finally start

[GingerNuttz]

Starting to come together Sic, keep forgetting you're working on this 🤣

[SiC]

22 minutes ago, GingerNuttz said:

keep forgetting you're working on this 🤣

So do I!

[SiC]

I've been doing some stuff. 

Hole here. Actually smaller but I cleaned up to be a square. They're easier to make out of sheet metal.

Welded piece on. Good simple bit to start getting practice welds back on again.

This goes here.

Underneath a bit scruffy

Cleaned up to make a patch

Decided that section is a bit complicated to make. Also the bit by the inner membrane is already a replacement bit 

So cut that out to make another easy rectangle. Fresh paint to protect the inside while I'm here. Cheap Lidl green metal paint. Not exactly going to use this on anything else visible so perfect for this hidden area.

New piece in. Welds look crappy...

...which is fine as the grinder makes me the welder I ain't.

Refit this piece for size.

Decided it could be cut down a bit to make it neater with much less overlap.

Then welded that in. Top welds super crappy as I should have cleaned the red oxide paint off first. That doesn't weld properly as the fumes from the burning paint buggers the weld.

I'll clean that up another day when it's not too late to be grinding.

These holes are from the original trim on the outer wing. 

Also there are gouges from going a bit too deep with the grinder.

So ran a quick few welds to fill them up.

[SiC]

Next job (after cleaning the above welds) is to get this piece into place that the outer wing sits on. Fiddly as it needs to be in exactly the right place to fit the contours of the outer wing. Get it wrong and that won't sit correctly. I did the other side by putting tacks in place and then placing the outer panel on to check for alignment.

Then this gap will need filling. It'll mostly get covered when I bash the excess repair section back over. At least that's how I did the other side.

Likewise the backside will need the same treatment. Any excess area not covered by bending it over will be sorted by a rectangle repair piece. Maybe cutting any curved bits to be straight and making it easier to fit. Also templates are easy to make out of cardboard when it's just filling a hole.

 

Once that is done, the outer wing can go on. Then the arse end needs a new panel. But once that wing is on, it will actually start feeling like the end is in sight for bodywork. 

There is loads of small areas that will need doing/redoing. Especially any suspect welds from the previous restoration. E.g. the passenger compartment floor needs new beads all the way around. Boot floor has a half inch gap from the other panels. Not figured what I'm doing with that yet. Maybe cutting out and letting gravity locate it properly in place.

Anyway still this rear arch to finish.

[N Dentressangle]

11 hours ago, SiC said:

it will actually start feeling like the end is in sight for bodywork. 

That will be an immense relief.

In hindsight, would you have looked for a better shell to start with?

[SiC]

1 hour ago, N Dentressangle said:

That will be an immense relief.

In hindsight, would you have looked for a better shell to start with?

From memory I think I paid £2850 for the car with shipping. I stopped counting when it owed me £4k total.

For £4k or slightly more you can get a road ready Spridget quite easily! Yes it might have had hidden grot but I've had this nearly 2 years now and it's only been driven on the public road once. Where as I could have at least got one season out of the above - maybe more if I didn't poke.

So yeah, it probably hasn't been my best purchases 🙃

It was only supposed to be a quick mechanical refresh! If I seen it in person I wouldn't have bought it tbh. The bubbling paint and V5 in the last owners name should have been enough reason to walk away if seen in person. 

But I didn't and so had to deal with the consequences. Which I failed again on 🫣 (financially at least) as I should have just stripped it for parts and got most of my money back. Probably would have cleared £2k quite easily without too much trouble. Just I feel guilty for doing that on a viable car. Plus the fact it was on the front cover of Practical Classics sold it to me in the first place which gives it a cool, rare back story. 

I think I've learnt my lesson finally now. Don't buy a classic sight unseen and don't get too carried away with its history versus size of project. It has taught me a lot though on project car estimation (especially bodywork) and how to spot dubious previous restorations attempts. Walking around car shows has made my eye much sharper on spotting shiny sheds. 

TL;DR I made all the wrong decisions 🤣

[Matty]

10 minutes ago, SiC said:

From memory I think I paid £2850 for the car with shipping. I stopped counting when it owed me £4k total.

For £4k or slightly more you can get a road ready Spridget quite easily! Yes it might have had hidden grot but I've had this nearly 2 years now and it's only been driven on the public road once. Where as I could have at least got one season out of the above - maybe more if I didn't poke.

So yeah, it probably hasn't been my best purchases 🙃

It was only supposed to be a quick mechanical refresh! If I seen it in person I wouldn't have bought it tbh. The bubbling paint and V5 in the last owners name should have been enough reason to walk away if seen in person. 

But I didn't and so had to deal with the consequences. Which I failed again on 🫣 (financially at least) as I should have just stripped it for parts and got most of my money back. Probably would have cleared £2k quite easily without too much trouble. Just I feel guilty for doing that on a viable car. Plus the fact it was on the front cover of Practical Classics sold it to me in the first place which gives it a cool, rare back story. 

I think I've learnt my lesson finally now. Don't buy a classic sight unseen and don't get too carried away with its history versus size of project. It has taught me a lot though on project car estimation (especially bodywork) and how to spot dubious previous restorations attempts. Walking around car shows has made my eye much sharper on spotting shiny sheds. 

TL;DR I made all the wrong decisions 🤣

General Hindsight never lost a war Si. I'm sure the pride on completion will more than make up for it 👍

[N Dentressangle]

Agreed - it was very pretty.

I'd have bought it too, especially had I not seen it in real life. Almost all old cars look better in photos than they really are.

[purplebargeken]

Cracking progress mate.

[SiC]

Tbf if the welds had penetration and didn't pop off with a screwdriver, I'd have not needed to redo so much. They were so easy to remove that they actually turned into a benefit as it made it really easy to remove all the restoration repairs it had.

The welds didn't even look awful. I'm sure at the time when most people weren't on the internet or even really connected, with knowledge only from manuals/books, the welds probably seemed perfectly adequate to someone who was still learning.