I'm not sure how long it'll take to get the job done, but I figured I'd start a thread on gettin' er done, bit by bit by bit, And the more public I make it, the more people I'll have goading me into continued progress

will really kick it off. I figured I'd use YouTube and pictures to showcase it all. And I hope I get a lot of advice - it's my first A.

Oh yeah - after going through all the stuff I have, I've got what looks to be a more or less complete 1500 engine and transmission as spares. I'm about 99% sure I'll be replacing the current engine with an MGB one for more power, so that spare is free to the first person who comes for it. Look in the for sale section - I just posted a thread for it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2016-10-14 08:20 PM by Grubeguy.

Excellent! We'll be watching your progress. Looks like a pretty great candidate. Start spraying the fender bolts and splash guard fasteners with some PB blaster. If there's any rust on the sills, and there's always some, you won't see it until you expose them. Hopefully it will be minimal.

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"Time flies like an arrow......Fruit flies like a banana"

I will take the engine,trans and extra stuff I sent you a PM when a good time to pick it up?


the video looks nice, you have a nice project ahead lots of people around here to help you out



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2016-10-15 09:53 AM by bobs77vet.

Looks to be a great project car and I wish you the best of luck! With the MGA, you really don't know exactly what you've got until you dismantle it, a multitude of sins can lurk beneath the surface, particularly if it's been previously poorly restored, so be prepared for some surprises!
Looking forward to seeing more pics of your progress.
Bill
mgarestoration.com

I'm at the Marriot Crystal City right now. You don't have an extra gearbox do you?

I do have an extra gearbox, but it's been spoken for, regrettably...

Got under the car for a good look. I see no structural rust - lots of surface rust, but nothing structural. Very very happy

looks nice. does the engine spin and turn over?

Engine spins and turns over, but not by my hand. The PO states he started it a year ago with a bottle of gas and clear lines.

I'm waffling between a B engine, or a supercharger kit from Moss to be honest. I'd hate to put a blower on a tired or retired engine, and I've never rebuilt an engine on my own... I've got time to go through this and land on a final answer,

I spent the evening reading one of the restoration guides I have, and what caught my eye was the rigs some folks put up to keep the body straight during a restoration's pieces-parts removal. The lesson I took from the section of the book is "woe betide anyone who doesn't keep the body straight when removing if from the frame, else the doors and wings shall never fit properly." I have time to negotiate through this as well ...

Research research research

My body was rust-free and straight. Since I was going to use it as a nice driver, I opted to leave the body on. I haven't regretted my decision. I saved a lot of time, money, and frustration.

Leave the body on through any structural repair. The chassis is your jig. If you have sill rot and have to repair them, do this with the body on! Can't stress this enough. After repairs, you can run some braces across the top of the cockpit and pull the body. Lots of threads on this. Also Barneys site.

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"Time flies like an arrow......Fruit flies like a banana"

i would try and get that engine running and then do a compression test and a leak down test. that will tell you the strength of the engine and give you some valuable info on the distributor, carbs, generator. you can use a motorcycle test tank and gravity feed.

None of your undercar video shows where MGAs rust the most. Between the frame and the rocker panels. I suspect that the dogleg area of the rear fender is hiding rust. The front fender rusts just behind the inner fender panel. The inner sill is usually pretty rusty also.
The front valance on this car is in better shape than many. The are usually better fixed than replaced. Metal replacements are costly and plastic ones are plastic.

RJBrown is right on. You're better off repairing your valance. Also correct in that the rust prone areas can not be seen until the wings, splash panels and outer (curved) rocker panel is off. There are three components to the sill. The vertical flat piece which can barely be seen in the small gap between it and the frame, the long inner sill which can not be seen at all, and the outer curved rocker panel. The long sill member also has the A and B pillars attached to it.

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"Time flies like an arrow......Fruit flies like a banana"

If you want to see what can lurk under a seemingly good body, take a look at the 'dismantling' section of my website, which shows what I was faced with.
mgarestoration.com
I hope your's turns out to be as good as you hope.
Pretty well all U.K. cars have suffered serious corrosion at some point due to the damp climate and sea air and have by now been restored or if not, rotten.
You have the advantage of your 'dry' states, so I guess the chances of a clean car are that much higher.
Fingers crossed.