1971 MGB GT - Door card sorted - albeit a bit bodged - see page 40

[chadders]

1 hour ago, Peter C said:

@LightBulbFun

My MGB feels perfectly civilised at a steady 55-60MPH and at those speeds, there is no need to crank up the sound system too high. However, those additional 10-15MPH make the experience of driving the MGB far less pleasant. The engine becomes more boomy and intrusive and the whole car feels like it is getting close to the limits of its abilities. Whilst driving slowly rewards me with great MPGs, I do feel like I am an obstacle and I tend to spend a lot of time looking in my rear view mirror at vehicles approaching much too quickly and getting much too close to the MGB's rump, simply because the drivers are not expecting a car to be driving that slowly on a motorway. 

The Mercedes Benz is a big (ish) and heavy (ish) car, with a 2.3 litre petrol engine, with mechanical fuel injection and a 5 speed manual 'box. The Sierra is smaller and lighter and has a smaller engine, however with its jelly mould styling, it's much more aerodynamical. Luckily, all three of my cars achieve high 30s MPG , although I can drive the Mercedes Benz and the Ford at closer to 70MPH to achieve those figures. 

Have you thought about bending the tubes in half?

I think something might be wrong with your car as this is not right in my experience, mine used to easily cruise at 85 plus before the scourge of speed cameras, that was just under 4,000 rpm. It was noisy but it's a soft top and was less so with the hood down.

[captain_70s]

I think it's a perspective thing.

I'll run the Dolly at 70mph on the motorway at 5,000rpm, but to anybody more familiar with modern motoring it'll feel like the car is about to disintegrate. The Volvo 740 is a spaceship by comparison, and that is an unrefined, noisy barge of a thing compared with anything built in the last 20 years.

50mph is more refined, the reduction in wind noise is a large aspect, but the sensation of being a rolling roadblock is unpleasant.

[Peter C]

@chadders

The day that I collected the MGB from the garage, post tune up and with a working overdrive, on route home I got it up to 80MPH and it managed it without any issues, however it feels much more relaxed and comfortable at 60MPH.

I respect old machinery and have plenty of sympathy for 55 year old engines and transmissions. I could probably drive the MGB at faster speeds but the engineer in me tells me not to.

[chadders]

2 minutes ago, Peter C said:

@chadders

The day that I collected the MGB from the garage, post tune up and with a working overdrive, on route home I got it up to 80MPH and it managed it without any issues, however it feels much more relaxed and comfortable at 60MPH.

I respect old machinery and have plenty of sympathy for 55 year old engines and transmissions. I could probably drive the MGB at faster speeds but the engineer in me tells me not to.

Maybe you bought the wrong car if you're uncomfortable driving it on the motorway.

[Peter C]

2 minutes ago, chadders said:

Maybe you bought the wrong car if you're uncomfortable driving it on the motorway.

Who said that I’m uncomfortable driving it on the motorway? I use the MGB whenever I can to visit my parents in London, its taken me to the Flower Farm meet, almost half way around the M25 and yesterday it took a 130 mile up and down the M40 in its stride. It just needs a bit more time to reach the destination.

[chadders]

7 minutes ago, Peter C said:

Who said that I’m uncomfortable driving it on the motorway? I use the MGB whenever I can to visit my parents in London, its taken me to the Flower Farm meet, almost half way around the M25 and yesterday it took a 130 mile up and down the M40 in its stride. It just needs a bit more time to reach the destination.

"My MGB feels perfectly civilised at a steady 55-60MPH and at those speeds, there is no need to crank up the sound system too high. However, those additional 10-15MPH make the experience of driving the MGB far less pleasant. The engine becomes more boomy and intrusive and the whole car feels like it is getting close to the limits of its abilities. Whilst driving slowly rewards me with great MPGs, I do feel like I am an obstacle and I tend to spend a lot of time looking in my rear view mirror at vehicles approaching much too quickly and getting much too close to the MGB's rump, simply because the drivers are not expecting a car to be driving that slowly on a motorway."

[warren t claim]

4 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

 going to the 1100 club gathering at the oxford bus museum a couple weeks back with my VDP1300, since I was setting out at silly-o-clock on a sunday, things where pretty quite, not that quiet mind, but I pretty much was had the outside lane of the M40 all to myself, and the few people who I encountered in the outside lane, or pulled in-front of me, curiously got out of the way quite quickly

maybe they could quite comprehend "Grandads old car" skipping along at a good 70-75Mph!

thats impressive! the VDP seems to get 25Mpg no matter what I do in terms of driving!

If you're only getting 25mpg out of a 1300 ADO16 then there's something seriously wrong with it.

[lesapandre]

Given it is an auto and used a lot in London and then taken at 70 on the M-Way I'd say 25mpg is probably average. 

[captain_70s]

Period reviews suggest 28-31mpg avg for the 1300 ADO16 derivatives, 35mpg on a run. So an auto around town is probably going to be low 20s.

[lesapandre]

28 minutes ago, captain_70s said:

Period reviews suggest 28-31mpg avg for the 1300 ADO16 derivatives, 35mpg on a run. So an auto around town is probably going to be low 20s.

A 1300 is kerb weight about 830kg - an MGBGT about 1050kg according t'web

Auto 1300 is quoted - but only up to 62mph. Urban could get as low as 23.1. Nothing quoted for additional lightbulbs.

[vtec-e]

I had several manual 1300's back in the day and would get around 38-40 mpg (measured by brimming the tank) on a long journey and cruising about 60-65 mph. I also had an auto 1300 estate, but that struggled to get over 30 mpg.

@Peter C following you back around the M25 from Flower Festival 4, we were cruising along at 60-65 according to the Clio's speedo, with the MGB seemingly having plenty in reserve to speed up into a gap for overtaking. At one point we were in the outside lane (lane 4) doing 70 without any problems.

[Westbay]

13 hours ago, lesapandre said:

There was a Crayford conversion of the ADO. Wonder if any VDPs were done? VDP might also have done a 1-off.

https://www.aronline.co.uk/the-converters/crayford/bmc-1100-estate/

I like the Creech best of the three (Crayford, Creech & Nomad)...

 

Interesting read 👍

[Mr Pastry]

14 minutes ago, Westbay said:

I like the Creech best of the three (Crayford, Creech & Nomad)...

 

Interesting read 👍

Yes and notable that the basic Crayford conversion cost £79.  Not excessive when the basic car cost around £700.*  BMC could surely have done it more cheaply in production, and they absolutely should have done.  The Mini also could and should have been a hatchback. 

I think the main reason they didn't do it was complacency - perhaps just snobbery.   They wanted to make nice saloons for nice middle class families.  Estate cars were for peasants, and tradesmen, and foreigners.   I have a lot of regard for BMC and their products, but they really should have woken up and noticed that the world was changing.

* My father's first 1100, in 1966, cost £644/7/11. in proper money.

[Marina door handles]

On 06/05/2026 at 19:41, Peter C said:

 

The first ever driveable XK8 Jag - I've lost count how many members here have enjoyed the same blue XK8 and who owns it now but I recall that @gm had it at some point.

 

Just before I got home, I brimmed the tank again.

 

I squeezed in 18 litres.

 

I've done 152 miles since the last fill up.

18 litres = 4 gallons.

152 miles divided by 4 gallons = 38MPG

Admittedly, most of these miles were clocked up on the M40 today, at 55-60MPH with no traffic whatsoever but that's still a great result.

More soon.

 

 

 

 

55-60mph? This is why I never really better'ed 25mpg! I don't think I ever cruised the Motorways of this fair isle at less than 80 in my original 24year old (at the time) BGT..... I don't think I had much mechanical sympathy when I was in my early twenties.

Oh I still have the forum XK8...

 

 

[Hertz]

£100 - Seems like a bargain for a spares stash if you have the room @Peter C

https://www.facebook.com/share/17xziTbjM8/

 

[Peter C]

47 minutes ago, Hertz said:

£100 - Seems like a bargain for a spares stash if you have the room @Peter C

https://www.facebook.com/share/17xziTbjM8/

 

Bloody hell, that is a bargain.

I've messaged the seller.

Thank you!

[Peter C]

The seller has seen my message but hasn’t responded. 

I suspect the bits sold very quickly.

[Peter C]

I went to the Beaulieu spring autojumble yesterday.

What did I see?

This is the third time I saw this sorry looking MGB GT for sale. The seller wants £2k for it, which is more or less what I paid for mine 18 months ago. This one has a lot of corrosion in places that are visible and I can only imagine how bad it is underneath. I have a suspicion that I will be seeing this car for the fourth time at the autumn autojumble.

This MGB GT looked better but the "corrosion free" description wasn't entire true looking at various plebs that were hiding beneath its shiny paint.

Another chap had a pair of Sierra / Sapphire front seats, with L spec upholstery, the same as mine. The fabric was mostly in good condition but the seats must have been stored in a damp place for a long time because a lot of the metalwork was pitted and rusty. He wanted £100 for the pair. I don't really need a spare set of front seats, as mine are in good condition and I really didn't fancy making two trips up the hill back to the car park carrying the sodding things on my head. I gave them a miss.

So what did I buy?

I invested £0.50 in this.

And paid £2 each for these mags, which are great because they contain lots of articles and no advertisements. They're mint as well.

I got these mats for a tenner. They needed a good clean but they are so much better than the ones I had in my B.

Once cleaned, they went straight in.

I got these door cards for £20. MGB Hive sell new ones for £95 and Watford Classic Cars sell a shit pair for £60 but you have to cut your own holes for the handle fixings and the window winder. A mint pair would look odd in my patinated interior so these will do just fine. They needed a clean but are mostly in ok condition.

I wanted to replace my door cards because they have garish red piping and speakers fitted in the wrong place, directed at the side of the seats.

Unfortunately, my research revealed that it is not possible to fit speakers to the front bottom part of the door without cutting some metal out. Bugger.

Before the show I removed a length of fuel hose from the underside of my B and a T piece that connects fuel hoses by the carburettors and discovered that the two sets of pipes have different internal diameters. The plan was to extend a new hose from under the car, with an in-line filter somewhere along the way, extending to the engine bay, where I would split the hose using the existing T piece to each carburettor.

I took the bits with me to the show, hoping to buy a length of each hose and an adaptor to enable me to join the two together. Whilst various fuel hoses and filters were available, nobody had anything that would enable me to make the connection. I ended up buying a 2m length of the hose that fits around the carburettors and two filters.

This piece of braided hose is located along the central part of the engine bay.

I had to retain this hose as otherwise I would have had to cut the thread and connection off a piece of fuel pipe, which I really didn't want to do as I had a suspicion that the external diameter of the pipe is different to the new hose. My plan was to cut this hose in half and put the filter in the middle. Whilst the original T piece has the same external diameter as the connections on the fuel filter, the T piece slides further into the fuel hose, allowing for a secure and tight fitting. I was concerned that if I cut the fuel hose and find out that the filter won't fit properly, I won't be able to finish the job. 

In the end, I retained this hose and used the T piece to split the supply to the two carburettors.

One hose now extends alongside the bulkhead, with a filter hidden beneath the brake servo and connects to the rear carburettor.

The other hose follows the route of the original to the front carburettor and features a second filter.

To prevent movement and chaffing of the hoses, I secured them with cable ties. 

I fired up the engine and everything worked fine, with no sign of any fuel leaks. 

Now that I've slept on it, I have decided that I don't like the way the hose wraps around the air filter housing and I have another idea how to make the installation more aesthetically pleasing.

More soon.

 

 

 

[Peter C]

That’s better.

[N Dentressangle]

I find hardly any 60s & 70s cars cope really well with motorways. 4 speed boxes always mean the revs feel uncomfortably high to modern ears, plus narrow tyres and old suspension will not feel as stable as the low profile rubber and multi-link setup of any modern. And then there's wind noise... MGBs were designed well pre-motorway, so even with overdrive it's not their natural habitat, plus they're low and small compared with moderns and feel rather vulnerable.

My first 'real' car was a Saab 96V4. I did a lot of miles in it, including plenty on motorways. 70mph was well over 4k revs, and it would sit at an indicated 80 but that felt cruel.

Maybe the expensive 70s stuff is happier at speed, but I wouldn't want to do the motorway miles in the Saab these days. In comparison the 924 is fine in the outside lane at an indicated 80 (true 73ish) - that's a relatively expensive car (at the time) and a 5spd box for you.

[Peter C]

I fitted the door cards that I bought at Beaulieu today.

Not a major job but there were a couple of awkward moments.

The driver's side door card is bowed between the window winder and the door lever, enough to cause the winder to rub on the surface of the vinyl. If I leave it like this, the vinyl will wear prematurely. I propose to remove the door card, make a backing panel from a leftover steel sheet and rivet it to the back of the door card. The rivet heads will be silver to match the other decorative details inside the B's cabin.

I re-fitted the arm rest as it provides much needed support for my right arm on longer drives. I know it looks shit but without it I would struggle to stay comfortable on high speed motorway runs.

I didn't realise that MGBs had different size door handles. Whatever car the door cards came from, must have had wider door handles than mine. I made a new hole to fit my handle and filled the redundant hole with a rivet. 

The passenger side door card is in satisfactory condition.

What's really nice is the silver detailing that complements the B's interior. Red piping is right at home in a 1980s MG Metro but has no place in a '70s MGB. The lack of modern speakers on show is also a bonus.

By removing the old door cards, I lost two out of eleven speakers that form part of my B's ICE. That wouldn't be acceptable.

I stripped down an old set of PYE speakers and will little modification, I fitted the JVC speakers that came out with the old door cards into period enclosures. Nice.

On the passenger side, I had to remove the map storage pocket to make the speaker fit. A shame really but I care more about ICE than old maps.

On the driver side, the speaker fitted just below the windscreen wiper motor.

Despite what you might expect, the speaker does not interfere with my driving position, my foot comfortably fits well behind the speaker and my knee can still rest on the door card.

I did a little sound check and the front speakers probably sound better than before, now they are positioned towards the centre of the cabin rather than towards the side of the seats.

I'm off to the Enfield Pageant on Saturday. I wonder what trinkets I will find next.

More soon.

[Mr Pastry]

8 minutes ago, Peter C said:

The driver's side door card is bowed

If it's made of hardboard you can flatten it, at least to some extent, by soaking it with water and leaving to dry with a hefty weight on top.

[stuboy]

i am liking the lil hunny of an MGB GT @Peter C

[danthecapriman]

If the door card won’t straighten out by wetting it and putting a heavy weight on, get a strip/square of aluminium or steel sheet (stiff enough to not bend with the door card) and use contact adhesive to bond it to the door card back side. Ideally across the bent bit as much as possible. Once the things glued on it won’t come off without a serious fight! And no need for the rivet heads then.

[Bmwdumptruck]

10 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

If the door card won’t straighten out by wetting it and putting a heavy weight on, get a strip/square of aluminium or steel sheet (stiff enough to not bend with the door card) and use contact adhesive to bond it to the door card back side. Ideally across the bent bit as much as possible. Once the things glued on it won’t come off without a serious fight! And no need for the rivet heads then.

Sounds like a better option.  
I’ll be going to Enfield but on the Sunday with my Nephew and his boss.  Apparently I mustn’t mention us going last year to his boss as he’ll not be happy he wasn’t invited!!  

[Peter C]

The hardboard backing has become bowed due to long term exposure to moisture. The surface has become a bit fluffy.

@danthecapriman

The section of door card that is bowed is fairly small but the bow is significant and the hardboard has gone very stiff. I’m not sure that wetting it and using contact adhesive is going to work.

Are you sure that contact adhesive is going to bond to old and weathered hardboard? I’m looking for a permanent solution and I suspect that half a dozen strategically placed rivets may do the job better than contact adhesive. 

[danthecapriman]

23 minutes ago, Peter C said:

The hardboard backing has become bowed due to long term exposure to moisture. The surface has become a bit fluffy.

@danthecapriman

The section of door card that is bowed is fairly small but the bow is significant and the hardboard has gone very stiff. I’m not sure that wetting it and using contact adhesive is going to work.

Are you sure that contact adhesive is going to bond to old and weathered hardboard? I’m looking for a permanent solution and I suspect that half a dozen strategically placed rivets may do the job better than contact adhesive. 

It will need to be completely dry before you use contact adhesive.

You could try wetting it first then putting a heavy weight on it overnight and letting it dry out. That might fix it or at least help straighten it.

If that doesn’t work leave it somewhere warm to dry out completely then try the metal sheet and contact adhesive. I’ve done it before on a very badly warped door card and it worked fine. 
Make sure it’s dry and clean. No dust etc. Contact adhesive in a tin and applied with an old brush is the best way. Brush the glue onto the door card where the metal sheet will sit and also brush on a layer or glue onto one side of the metal sheet. Leave it to go tacky for a few minutes. Then align the metal sheet with the door card and press it down into place. You’ll only get one shot at it though so make sure it’s right! 
Press the two firmly together against a hard flat surface and then put some heavy weight on top and leave it to set for at least a few hours. Or overnight is probably best.

You could go all out and make a really nice fitting piece of metal with a hole for the window winder to pass through etc etc so it fits completely around the warped bit. Depends how far you want to go and how much metal you’ve got.

Afterwards though, make sure you fit polythene sheet over the inside of the door! It’ll warp again in other places if you don’t as damp and moisture will get to the back of the door card without the polythene membrane. The hardboard used for most door cards acts like a sponge and just soaks the moisture up, then it warps and eventually disintegrates.

[Bmwdumptruck]

CT1 silicone would stick it I’d bet.  Bloody stuff is amazing, can even use it underwater so they say, never needed to try though. I did add a heal pad cut from an old VW rubber mat to the drivers mat in my Combo van, glueing the rubber to the carpet surface with ct1,  it’s never moved. 

[Peter C]

Yesterday I removed the bowed door card. The hardboard really is quite fucked.

The levels are all over the place.

I sprayed some contact adhesive on the flattest part of the hardboard, placed a metal sheet offcut over the adhesive and left it on my workshop floor for 24 hours with approx 25kg of plywood and hydraulic jack squishing the lot together. 

I inspected my efforts this afternoon, only to reveal that the contact adhesive was barely attached to the steel plate.

The contact adhesive I used is good stuff. I used it to stick the rear panel carpets in place in the back of the MG as well as any floor panels that became debonded in my workshop. Unfortunately, it didn't do the trick on the door card.

So, back to Plan A.

I cut two sections of steel because I was certain that one wouldn't have been rigid enough to keep the door card straight.

I rivetted the two panels together so they wouldn't move around whilst I was drilling holes  through the door card and into the steel panels.

Unfortunately, none of my rivets were long enough to pass through the door card and two layers of steel sheet. So I drilled out the rivets and secured just one steel sheet to the back of the door card. The rivets were just long enough to work.

Re-fitting revealed that the reinforced door card was still bowed as fuck. Evidently, one sheet of steel wasn't enough to keep the bowed hardboard straight. 

By now I was getting a bit fucked off with the whole thing. 

I put a self-tapping screw through the door card and into the inner door skin, which pulled the bow inwards enough for the window winder to clear it.

I also painted the rivet heads as the door panel looked like it had acne. 

And this is what I've ended up with. 

The bodged panel still looks better than the old one, even if the repair didn't work quite as well as I had hoped. 

I think I will keep the door cards on my shopping list but next time I find a set, I will make sure that they are straight. Fortunately, I'm only twenty quid down.

To celebrate, I enjoyed an apple with peanut butter afternoon snack whilst listening to BBC Radio 5 on the old wireless. 

I put all my tools away, cleaned the workshop floor and was ready to put the MG back in the garage. I turned the ignition key but nothing happened - complete power failure. I had this before and my auto electrician friend diagnosed a dodgy connection on the starter motor. 

I jacked up the MG and squeezed in underneath.

All I did was touch the +12V feed to the starter motor. I wouldn't describe what I did as a wiggle, it was merely the lightest touch and that was all that was needed for power to be restored.

Just in case, I tugged and wiggled all the connections and renewed the insulation tape where a new and old cable have been soldered together.

The MG started at the first turn of the key and made its way to the garage.

Don't you just love old cars?

More soon.

 

[danthecapriman]

Worth a shot with the door cards. Ideally you need a tin of the contact glue and apply with a brush to both surfaces as you can get a nice thick layer on. I’ve found the spray adhesive is ok on light stuff like carpet trim but anything more and it doesn’t seem to grip so well.

I’ve done a headlining board made out of hardboard and severely water damaged, it was literally sodden and just tore up like wet paper. Let it dry over several days then used fibreglass and resin to repair. Then trim over the top. Wasn’t 100% perfect but worked.

Heres a huge transformation though. Done by a pro trimmer. 
Original Capri base model door card. Absolutely fu**ed. Water damage, bottom edge disintegrated and the vinyl warping and torn. 
Unfortunately these are completely unobtainable now unless you get insanely lucky and find a good set used but you could be searching for donkeys years.

 
This is that same door card being repaired!

All the vinyl is the original material with the heat imprinted stitch effect. Centre plastic trims are original too. The rips were fixed by carefully stretching and gluing the vinyl back down with off cuts of black vinyl underneath to disguise the joins. 
Back boards were beyond repair so they were replaced by hand cut plywood replacements using the original ones as a template.

 
Theres loads of ways to fix these things but sometimes you need to think about it a bit. Likewise it’s also worth remembering these things are over half a century old and weren’t expected to last much more than a decade so sometimes you have to make do and compromise.

Yours look and work far better than they did before so I wouldn’t worry too much about those rivets, especially if you paint them black👍