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MG MGB Technical - Wing fit

When I bought my 66 roadster, the seller told me the car had been involved in a slight crash involving the right front wing and bonnet.
The wing had been replace and painted, but the bonnet still had a dent on the outer edge. I noticed the bonnet to wng fit was not right, but I thought I could adjust it easily. After getting it home I noticed the wing was as far towards the inner wing as possible.
How do I go about adjusting the inner wing further in so my outer wing can fit with a tighter bonnet to wing joint?
My wing to bonnet joint on the right is about half an inch!


Cleve Crews

Image of wing to bonnet joint with bonnet closed

Cleve Crews

Crumbs that's some way out!
What's the other side like?

To be that far out I would expect the other side to be very tight as the distance between the inners is set by the length of the slam and radiator panels. If these don't show any issues ie joins stretched, the the only thing left is to remove the wing and reset the inner but that is likely to be a challenge.

Best of....
MGmike
M McAndrew

How far back does that gap extend? Is the rear bonnet to scuttle gap parallel or could 'centralisation' of the bonnet remove some more?

You might be able to remove 1/4" or so by ovalling the holes in the wing down the bonnet channel. I had to do that with the holes behind the grill to get the front of the wing to sit back flush with the grille face like the other side. I've not had a wing off though so don't know if there are other pieces of metalwork that govern how far the wings can be moved apart and pushed together.
Paul Hunt

If the wings are tight against the scuttle at the rear then the bonnet gap should be fine at the rear. As Paul says the only thing that you can then do is file out the holes a bit to allow the wing to go further in. Unfortunately you will have to remove the wing to get the clearance to file out the holes.
Iain MacKintosh

Before you start into trying any adjustment, I would strongly advise taking the car to a body shop with a frame rack. They can check to see if the frame is straight.

If it is not, they can pull it back to factory specifications. My 67 B GT had a dent in the jacking point on the passengers side. That dent changed the alignment of the door. A $100 fix by the body shop brought everything back into being straight.
Bruce Cunha

I took some measurements of the vertical lip of the inner wing at the arrows to the other corresponding side.

The white arrow measures the exact same at the radiator support as my 74, 73 and 78 B's. The measurement taken at the red arrow is 1/2 inch MORE than the corresponding measurement on the 74, 73 and 78 B's.

So, as you can see in the pic, the outer wing flange that has the bolt holes is almost flush against the vertical portion of the inner wing. There is certainly not a 1/2 inch more I can push it medially up against the vertical piece. Elongating the bolt holes will not give me any more room to push the wing in, if it is already touching the vertical piece of the inner wing.

I also measured at the hood latch panel location and the measurement was a 1/2 inch too much. I don't understand how the vertical portion of the inner can be spread out if the hood latch panel is there to hold it in place.


Cleve Crews

Unless, by sighting along the bonnet channel, the inner wing flange suddenly takes an outward bend, I don't really see how the spacing can be correct at the radiator mounting panel but 1/2" more at the slam panel. The problem for us is that we can only see a tiny portion of bonnet opening.

It's the spacing between the outer wing sides of the bonnet channel that is important, not the flanges on the inner wing, which can be quite variable and not matter. My 73 measures a fraction over 35" immediately in front of the channel in the radiator diaphragm panel that takes the rubber seal to the bonnet, and 31" at the very front corners of the wings. If you trimmed the edges off the wings that sit against the vertical inner wing flange that would allow you to push the wings closer together. Mine have significant gaps there.

And how about the bonnet widths at your measuring points, how do they compare?
Paul Hunt

Paul,
I'm certainly not a body man, but I would think the inner wing vertical piece dimensions should be similar on all cars. It is on my other three.
I have included two more pics so you can see there is no sudden bends in the inner wing.
I just bought this car a few months back and have not done anything to it except store it in the garage, but I'm thinking about pulling the wing off.


Cleve Crews

Paul,
Here is another pic. As you can see there are a few wing bolts missing.
Would it be acceptable to remove the wing and shave off some metal to allow the wing to be pushed more towards the center of the car and the vertical piece of the inner wing?

Cleve Crews

Cleve,

You asked:
"Would it be acceptable to remove the wing and shave off some metal to allow the wing to be pushed more towards the center of the car and the vertical piece of the inner wing?"

In his previous post Paul said:
"If you trimmed the edges off the wings that sit against the vertical inner wing flange that would allow you to push the wings closer together."

Charley
C R Huff

I don't see how one dimensions can suddenly gain 1/2" on just one car when the two measurement points are only inches apart. The channels do taper in towards each other as they go towards the front, are you sure the two measurements you took are the same distance apart on all three cars, i.e. don't simply go by the bolt heads, radiator mounting panel or slam panel. I agree they shouldn't be far out from car to car, but this is 60s British fabrication we are talking about, and the rear axle being 1/2" closer to the left-hand wing than the right-hand wing is very common.

And yes, I see nothing wrong in shaving the edge of the wing(s) to allow them to sit closer together - fettling.
Paul Hunt

Cleve,
A useful indicator would be the fit of the grill in the aperture. They are usually a pretty close fit.
Secondly, like Paul I fail to see how the "opening" can gain 1/2" in so short a distance without an obvious bend. Worth looking at though are signs of repair to the inner wing "gutter".(the flange with the captive bolts). These often rust out and end up being repaired/replaced and this could be where the discrepency has occurred. i.e., inaccurate repair.
Allan Reeling

Measure your diagonals from rear wing bolt on one side to front bolt on the other side and vice versa. The measurements should be the same. If they are not (and I'm betting against it) then there is some twist in the engine box which is throwing the fit out. Is the gap along the rear of the bonnet parallel to the scuttle?
Max Irvine

Max,
That was a great idea and I thought it was going to be the answer, but they measure the same 57 inches. I measured my 74 and it too is 57 inches.
I'm almost to the point of pulling off the wing.
C
Cleve Crews

FINALLY!!!
I have figured it out! I took all the measurements as suggested and they came out right, so it had to be somewhere else.
With the glossy paint, it's hard to notice, but if a person looks from the grill end up the drip channel, it is obvious that the wing panel is not shaped correctly at a portion from the radiator brace on down.
I have included a crude drawing that shows what pictures didn't make obvious.
Instead of the drip channel making a square angle coming off the wing top, it is obtuse and therefore widening the wing from the center to the outside.
Oh brother. Now I have to remove the wing for sure and try and bend the drip portion without chipping the paint.
I'll let you know how that turns out.

Cleve Crews

Oh well, I lost that bet. At least you now know that there is no major damage. Good luck with repairing the wing. try and get another pair of hands to help you.
Max Irvine

If you are saying it is the *outer* wing that is that shape, not the vertical flange on the inner wing, then correcting that should indeed make a difference. Good luck with the paint, getting it hot may help.

However I do have to wonder how your measurements indicated that it was the *inner* wing that was at fault, going by the arrows on your drawing.
Paul Hunt

Ditto Paul!??
Allan Reeling

You guys may be right. I may have two problems. The outer wing channel for sure needs to be corrected. I'll have to remove the wing to fix that, so I'll check out the inner wing while I'm at it.

I left my windows down on my 78 last night and we had a huge rainstorm just before dawn. Ugh!!!
Cleve Crews

This thread was discussed between 19/12/2014 and 28/12/2014

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