MG-Cars.info

Welcome to our Site for MG, Triumph and Austin-Healey Car Information.

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG TD TF 1500 - TF 1414 rear quarter repair

The project commences focusing on sheet metal repair. Passenger side rear quarter needing the most attention to the inner wheel arch. Lots of drilling out of the Factory spot welds, measuring, cutting, double checked twice and three times using the old pieces as a guide. Finally got it done today. Remaining front left and right quarter panels need repair where the running board joins the tub. Should be a lot easier since we had good practice doing this. Thankfully the driver's side is in much better condition.

Frank Cronin

2

Frank Cronin

3

Frank Cronin

4

Frank Cronin

5

Frank Cronin

6

Frank Cronin

7

Frank Cronin

8

Frank Cronin

Nice job! Which spot welder do you have? Did you make the cages for the captive nuts or did you buy them? I painstaking made mine, I have not found any source for them.
You have the patience and skill for a great restoration.
David
D. Sander

Hi Frank,

Oh Yes! So nice to see correct detailed work.
Congratulations.

Cheers
Rob Grantham
TF3719("Aramis"),TF9177("Athos").
R GRANTHAM

I am jealous of you guys who know how to work metal!
Straightening nails is about my limit.

Matthew.
M Magilton

Frank, very nice job! Looks great! I have one of those spot welders also and they sure come in handy. PJ
Paul S Jennings

Very nice work!

When I got my tub back from the media blaster the wheel wells were a disappointing mess of Swiss cheese and previous repairs that had been covered in bondo. I opted for new arches from Hutson that fit surprisingly well. The quarter panel was a little thin but good enough to work with. Hutson uses a more modern captive nut, not the square nut captive by a tab.
JE Carroll

Thanks everyone for the kind words. Time wise this took about a day and a half. There was no room for error otherwise the rear wing would be all crooked.

What took the longest was trying to figure out how the rotary sheet metal former worked. No directions on which dies were for. Finally found some directions online and went to a sheet metal shop in Lowell to see one in action. Pain in the ass...

Dave - used a Miller in the shop and used my step dad's Dayton that was really handy when he built his Custom. Reused the Factory cage nuts and welded. There is a person on Ebay located in the UK selling selling them. Item #170853699450. I just came across this a few days ago.

I hope the weather holds up so I can spray some epoxy primer.

Frank Cronin

Dayton

Frank Cronin

3


Frank Cronin

4


Frank Cronin

Front quarter panels are done.

Maybe the tub and all the wings and body panels can be tested for fit before the end of the year?

I'm almost to the top of the mountain of this restoration and then I can focus on paint.

Frank

Frank Cronin

2


Frank Cronin

3. Tried three times to post this....

Frank Cronin

It's all done now but putting the inner fender wells into the quarter panel before putting the quarter panel on to the car may prove to be troublesoum.
It was with my rebuild.
I used after market inner fender well assemblies.
The lower half of my rear fender wells were remade and welded on. I did not have enough inner fender wells left for a dimension.
I remember thinking, at the time, That I was guessing on the dimension.

That distance is critical for a strain free install.

I would up with tremendous strain on the vertical part of the quarter panel causing buckling.
Unfortunately my panels were finish painted and I have yet to commit to doing it over.
The buckles could come out with some heat and then cold water. This would destroy the paint however.

If you look at the u-tube video of the body build at Hutson; about 26 minutes into the film,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEqpqZj8FPw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

you will see that the inner fender wells are first put into the welding jig before the side panels are in the welding jig.

I hope you have better luck than I did.

Anyhow you do good work.

Jim B
JA Benjamin

You will notice from the film the outer rear 1/4 panel is pop riveted to the inner fender well as it cannot be spot welded together on the wooden frame.

We have always spot welded them together before fitting onto the wooden frame but test fitted them as separate panels on the frame and marked the weld lap positions first.

They can be fitted as a unit, The image shows an original TF set of outer panels that we always test fit to each new wooden frame before fitting its own set.



Rod Brayshaw

Great recommendation Rod. Wish I thought of that.

As for me... We'll get to see how it goes all together I guess and find out.

Frank Cronin

This thread was discussed between 22/08/2014 and 19/10/2014

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archives. Join the live MG TD TF 1500 BBS now