Sunday, 15 December 2013

1978 MGB Restoration

Not all restorations are a down to the shell 'nut and bolt' job, but are more a case of a thorough recommission.
This late MGB roadster was in reasonable order as it was on the road and working. However it was a little tired, with a few dodgy previous repairs, multi coloured paint and in need of some mechanical work.
Both the rear wing/sills had been badly patched and filled in the past. Both sides were cut out, the ends of the sill repaired, and the the lower portion of the wing re-made. A few small repairs were needed to the passenger door, and the drivers door was replaced with a new item. A few other small areas received attention, but on the whole the shell was in amazingly good condition. The car was then stripped of its glass, trim, lights and external items and was re-painted in its original colour.
The engine bay had been painted with underseal at some point in its life, and generally looked a mess. All sundry components were removed, cleaned and painted, wiring tidied and repaired, and the engine bay stripped and repainted back to body colour. The engine was partially rebuilt, with a modified head, new fast road camshaft, followers and timing chain. The carburettors were rebuilt with needles to suit and k&n filters and a new sports exhaust system was fitted. The before and after pictures speak for themselves.


The interior was re-fitted with new carpets and new sports seats, and all new trim panels. All exterior components were cleaned and/or painted before being re-fitted and new stainless side trims were used.
The suspension and brakes were checked and rebuilt with new parts as needed. Finally the car was extensively injected with cavity wax, and the underside coated with a high quality under body sealant to hopefully keep things good for years to come.

New Workshop

For anyone who has noticed the lack of posts recently, this has been down to it being a very busy year, rather than lack of things to write about.
One big piece of news is that I have moved to a bigger workshop located on the same site (so the address on the website still applies).
As well as being larger, the new workshop has a divided area to keep the cutting, grinding and messier activities separated from the cleaner jobs.