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MG MGB GT V8 Factory Originals Technical - Fiberglass Flares

Who has the best fitting Sebring kit stateside? Anyone know? Thanks
Jarrod Hills

Well Jarrod,according to eachcompany that makes/supplies the kits say that theirs is the best.They claim to fit,look and install better than the others.Don't kid yourself,installing a Sebring kit and making it look good is a difficult job.Even worse if you have little body/fiberglass experience.I built my Sebring car 7 years ago,and for the most part has held up fairly well.I re-restored the car 2 years ago to update the car and change the color and had to attend to some minor stress cracking and flaws from the first time.I don't care what adheisive is used to bond the quarters on,when there are dissimilar materials involved,there will be some blemishes after a few years of hot/cold expansion/contraction.
There is a reason that there are so few Sebring replicas out there,it is a tough,messy,time consuming job.I guess my car came out pretty well,it does fairly well at shows and I did get to take it on the track at Sebring.I attended the V8 MG meet there in March.Good luck on your project.
Dave Deerson

Dave, do you have any photos? I'm looking into a similar thing for my V8 MGBGT conversion. Sometimes I think I'll go for what I call the Haffaker style that I've seen on some Stateside conversions and sometimes I think I'll go for a Sebring for which a kit exists in the UK which would probably take less effort.

Alan
Alan Boother

Sorry Alan,at this time I am still behind the times as far as having a digital camera.I can borrow one and send you some in a few days.Or if you e-mail your address I could snail-mail some extra pics that might show more detail than an attached file could.
Dave D
Dave Deerson

I realize that putting the flares on the rear will be the biggest part but, as far as I know, the fronts in the kit are complete front fenders ready to be bolted on. I have heard some stories about the fronts being so poorly made that they take exhausting modifications to make them fit. That is why I am wondering if anyone has bought any from a certain source that had front ones that didnt require too much fitting. On the rears, I think that I am going to give my local body shop the instructions and the flares and tell them to get to work as I dont feel comfortable chopping up my new rear fenders and I sure cant do any fiberglass work as I have never done any before.
Jarrod Hills

Jarrod,
There is a company in Florida that makes the Sebring kit in Fiberglass. I understand that you don't have experience in working with fiberglass but you can talk to some people that have done that before and it is realy not that difficult. Chemicals have much improved in the last years and I might give it a try. I am away from home but will try to find the address in Florida.
Good luck with your conversion
Werner
Werner Van Clapdurp

Thank you very much
Jarrod Hills

Give Moss motors a call, they also have the Sebring kits in stock, they just don't show it on the catalog due to the amount of work it takes to install them, their tech lines would be busy all the time.
Call Moss Motors in Santa Barbara Ca. Ask for Kelvin Dodd He has done the work on one of his GT's

R/Bill
Bill Guzman

I know I'm on the wrong side of the pond here but I got my parts from MGB Hive here in the UK. The quality of the panels was good but they took a lot of time and effort to fit. I have a couple of pics of the completed car, e-mail me if you would like copies.

George
George Bowick

Guys,anytime you try to make fiberglass panels fit up to a metal door,then back to a fiberglass rear quarter,there is going to be MUCH time spent on getting acceptable panel fit.The car should be built in the summer,so the door to front fender clearence can be checked.Trust me,it does matter.The body will grow and move with temp changes,any fiberglass car goes through this,even my '71 Vette.If you are going to have a body shopdo the rear quarters,make sure they extend the outer inner wheelhouses correctly.Otherwise water and debris will end up in the trunk.It will not be inexpensive,there is alot of time involved and time=money at pro body shops.Also,they are more interrested in insurence crash jobs instead of custom/restoration work.
As to my kit,I bought it from Brit-Tek in Mass..Put it this way,out of the box I had to cut the right fender into 3 pieces and glass them back together just to get it on the car.Any kit has the potential to be a nightmare,it depends upon who did the glass lay-up,how long did they get to cure in a stable mold,etc...... Good luck, Dave
Dave Deerson

This thread was discussed between 12/11/2001 and 15/11/2001

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