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MG MGB Technical - Trunk (boot) lid question

Is the bottom edge of the trunk lid flush with the rear valance? I ask because my valance sticks out farther, so as you run your hand down the rear of the lid, you can feel the valance protruding ( about 1/4"!) I don't have another car to go by... Is this normal?

Scott
Scott Wooley

Back from the garage! The car is a compound curve at that point but the short answer is the boot lid and rear valance line up well as one curve. On my car the front edge has always been about 1/8" proud of the deck behind the cockpit but I think the hinges were forced a bit by the PO who restricted their movement by wooden blocks to stop it fouling the Bermuda hard top. The panel fit gap all round is very even, I imagine you must be able to adjust this on the hinge.
Stan Best

My rear edge is also flush, and the front edge raised particularly the left-hand side. This is possibly due to the prop being that side, especially if dumbos press down on the lid to close it instead of releasing the catch. I've put spacers between the hinge and surround that side to bring it more into line.
Paul Hunt

Boot lid fit, indeed all the other opening panels, was always a bit of a lottery, even when new! Further complicated by panel replacement. As Paul said, the boot and bonnet stay can affect the fit, as can the wrong boot seal, but with careful adjustment and the use of packers, you should be able to end up with a reasonable fit.
Allan

"you should be able to end up with a reasonable fit".

Unless the replacement boot lid is a different curvature from the body opening, as was the case on my car. The lid fitted fine top and bottom, but you could slide a finger under the edge midway between the two.
Mike Howlett

Three different boot lids mounted to my car resulted in three different qualities of fit. I don't think that the factory ever pressed two pieces of identical sheet metal during it's entire life time.
John H

'72 Roadster
My 'new' lid did not fit as well as the previous, especially where the rear panel protruded at least 5mm on the left whilst being pretty flush on the right. After much measuring I realised that the previous lid was not symetrical. I also realised that the car had had a shunt some time and the repairer had 'moved' the rear panel outwards on the left to accommodate the non-symetrical lid. A cutting disc and some well placed brute force and ignorance has restored things so that it all fits quite well...except for the front edge which is a bit high in the middle. Another story no doubt!
I would agree with John H. I have even found some of the dimensions of my two new Heritage wings are not the same.
Richard Coombs

I will second (third?) the view that these things never seem to fit. Mine has been dinged so much and repaired as well as the rear corner of the car I am pretty sure I will never getting it fitting right. That said I have been paying a lot of attention to other Bs I see and I am not sure I haver ever seen one fitting properly!

On mine the two corners nearest the centre of the car seemed to bend down. I CAREFULLY bent the lid slightly by putting it upside down on the ground and standing on it! That improved the fit a lot but I don't recommend trying it!

To answer the original question though I think the lid and valence should line up usually. How big the gap between them is might vary though.

Simon
Simon Jansen

My boot lid stuck out beyond the rear valance as per Scott's car but as i am restoring the car I placed the lid on a good block of wood and gently bent the lid lower edge to shape. It now fits very well

Steve
Steve Danson

They do need some pretty drastic treatment sometimes, I had to jack mine up while it had a piece of timber between the top of one wing and the garage roof to press it down so the creases lined up the length of the car, and cut and hammer the same wing around the grill opening as it was 1/2" further forward than the other.
Paul Hunt

Sometimes a BFH is the only way!
Simon Jansen

I think MG went through the entire world production of hammers and mallets, every year. Even my brand new Heritage shell had gross inaccuracies, the doors were different sizes for one!!
Allan

Allan
Of course you must know that MG did NOT make the MGB shell - it is Pressed Steel or later Pressed Steel Fisher to blame for the original inaccuracies.
MG did not even paint or trim the bodies - again down to Morris Bodies in Coventry (early roadsters)or Pressed Steel again either at Cowley or Swindon.
George
G R Wilder

Well, *Abingdon* didn't make the shells, but by that time MG, Morris Bodies, Pressed Steel etc. were all the same company. MG did only do final assembly, something they were very good at as their warranty claims were the lowest of the organisation by far. It's been calculated that Abingdon only put about £150 of cost into the completed car.
Paul Hunt

This thread was discussed between 27/09/2008 and 08/10/2008

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