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MG MGB Technical - MGB Restoration

Hi All.
I am use to the MGA forum as I have a 1600 A since 1968, but am now rebuilding my son's 1964 MGB roadster. I need some guidance regarding bodywork. I have new front wings but need to replace the splash panels, seals and support metalwork. Looking at parts books there seems to be 2 brackets to support the splash panels which are welded to the inner wing. Can anyone advise the best fit panels. I have noticed a firm supplying Steelcraft panels. Are these a good quality/fit or are there alternatives that are better fit?
Thanks for your help Brian
Brian Paddon

Generally speaking Heritage panels are the best as they are supposed to be made on the original jigs. But most panels will need some fettling to fit depending on how much work has been done in that area in the past, and under the wing it's out of sight.
paulh4

Steelcraft:-


Dave O'Neill 2

Another option--
and these are really top quality metal bits--and really good guys to deal with-

http://www.kas-kilmartin.com.au/MG%20Description%20List.htm
William Revit

Here's a BIG vote for Kilmartin panels from me!

My experience may help you.
After 55 years and 250,000 miles on the road, I had to replace my 1965 MGB boot floor a couple of years ago.
Unfortunately this was one panel Kilmartin didn't supply.

First we looked at a Steelcraft boot floor.
The swages that reinforce the front of the floor where the floor turns up are not present in the Steelcraft panel. Instead there are square raised stamped impressions at the front of the floor that serve no purpose, other than cosmetic, that are simply meant to vaguely resemble the original stiffening swages. They certainly did not stiffen the fold at the front as the original swages do..
But (see below) at least the spare wheel bracket was in the correct location, though the bracket is not the same as the original.

So we purchased a British Motor Heritage floor.
This was much better as the swages were there, but the floor was not without issues.
1) The swages were wrinkled from them being turned up. This needed sanding and filling to obtain a nice finish.
2) The spare wheel mount bracket was in the wrong place, mounted too far forward, by about 1". It was going to be impossible to secure the spare wheel/tyre.
We had to drill out the spot welds and move the bracket back into its correct location.
3) The spare wheel bracket wasn't the same as the original. Not a huge problem. Not better or worse, just visibly not the same.
Since we had to drill to remove the spare wheel mount bracket anyway, I cleaned up my original bracket, and this was welded into the correct location instead of the one that was welded to the BMH floor.

The good news: The BMH boot floor fitted perfectly.

So there's no perfect solution here. As far as a boot floor is concerned, a BMH floor is the best choice, though still not as good as the original, despite being "formed on the original tooling".
But personally I would be buying Kilmartin panels wherever they were able to supply.

Photo 1 is the Steelcraft boot floor.
Photo 2 is the end result. Very good indeed, but not a simple
remove/ replace.
While this is to be expected in this sort of work with these cars (they are not a Toyota), there was still work needing to be done that I don't think should have been necessary.





T Aczel

I bought a pair of Steelcraft lower rear wings from Moss (my welder said go somewhere reputable, as there'll be less fitting issues). However, he said he still had a fair amount of fettling to make them fit. One might expect the BMH ones to be better, as they use original press tools.

BTW, I was quite taken aback to see the current cost of a new bodyshell. Admittedly, the new ones now come complete with wings and doors, but there's been quite a hike. I seem to recall £1,500 originally, but they now seem to be about £12K.
Peter Allen

This thread was discussed between 28/04/2022 and 29/04/2022

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