Project MG Midget

After what seems like months of destruction, we can finally start building the Midget back up by welding in new sill panels on the nearside.

We finally get to start building strength back into our Midget, with new inner and outer sills on the nearside, and more.

I’ve said before that once you start digging into a project car, the one thing you can be certain of is that things will get a whole lot worse before they start getting any better. We had already seen a nearside sill repair balloon into new inner and outer sills on both sides of the car, plus all the concomitant repair work around the wheelarches and A-posts. We also found some past damage to the front panel, and decided the best way forward would be to replace this entirely and effect any other repairs that this process revealed.

This quickly grew into removing the engine and gearbox, which proved to be a blessing in disguise as it revealed a number of mechanical issues to be addressed, not least the fact that the clutch plate had worn down to its rivets. It is never nice to discover more work that needs doing, but it is certainly preferable to discover it on a dismantled car in the workshop rather than at the side of the M4 on a dark and wet Friday evening rush hour.

The pictures this issue show how Alan Denne put strength back into the nearside, welding in new inner and outer sills, plus the closing panels at either end. We knew that we would have to repeat this on the offside, but you always want to do one side of the car at a time, particularly on a convertible which has very little holding the front and back together once the sills have been removed.

However, things were about to grow once again, and personally I blame Colin Peachey for that! Colin is currently part way through the truly massive restoration of a VW campervan in Alan’s workshop. On this project he has not cut any corners, and he wasn’t going to let me do so on the Midget. It wasn’t that he told me what to do, just that he acted as my conscience, pointing out every now and then that there was a right way and a wrong way to do things, then leaving it up to me to choose the virtuous path.

I may joke about it, but I am grateful to Colin because while magazine projects can sometimes be massaged primarily to look good in print and to tell a desired story, I would never have been happy with the finished result on the Midget if we had taken any short cuts. Unfortunately this does mean that costs are beginning to spiral, not yet quite out of control but certainly beyond any level I could hope to recuperate by selling the finished article. But then again you can’t take it with you...

The big problem here was that the Midget had previously been repainted from orange to a bright red. This had not been a total bare metal respray, just all the outer panels and, for some reason, inside the boot as well. The original colour remained behind the dash and under the carpet, which I could live with happily enough. However, the engine bay was the real problem as lifting the bonnet really let down the rest of the car.

Colin reckoned that I should take this opportunity to return the Midget to its original colour, but I was not keen on doing this. For one thing it would have increased the work load further still, and

for another while I don’t mind the orange, I do think the red looks nicer and will certainly appeal more to any potential buyers further down the line. After all, this is never going to be a concours car where originality is the primary concern – I like my cars to be reasonably standard, but I am not obsessive about originality. Besides, Colin has chosen to paint his VW a non-standard metallic red, so I said that until and unless he agrees to paint that its original sludge brown, the Midget will be staying red!

So now, having removed the engine to tackle some mechanical issues and also to tidy up some previous bodywork repairs, it made sense to prep the bay for red paint too. Unfortunately, there were cables, wiring, grommets, pipes and more getting in the way. Masking them off and painting around them would have taken an eternity and still ended up looking terrible, and I was not clear how I would be able to clean back to sound metal around so many obstructions anyway. So I started removing them. Metal straps and brackets were taken home for cleaning up and painting black by hand, cables and wiring were pushed back through the

bulkhead into the cabin, and the steering column was removed. That meant we could lower the dash for better access, and Alan also took the screen and the wiper mechanism off to clear the top of the front bulkhead for painting.

I then started on the engine bay panels with wire brushes in the angle grinder. This is never pleasant work, but it was good to see that no new problems emerged and everything cleaned back to bright metal. The tops of the inner wings were a little pitted, but

nothing a little rust converter couldn’t sort. Getting into all the corners with the angle grinder was tricky though, and I was not convinced that I was getting everything clean enough for the new paint to adhere properly. Colin lent me a small DIY grit blaster to try, something he’d bought from one of the discount supermarkets such as Lidl or Aldi but not yet used. This seemed to clean back to bare metal in short bursts, but not reliably so. It also created a huge amount of mess. So we put the kettle on and had a rethink.

Contemplating the whole engine bay and gearbox tunnel, the only way I could see of doing the job properly was to have it professionally grit blasted. However, that would require the front suspension and steering to be removed so that we could clean properly around the dampers and rack, plus the brake and fuel lines would have to come off so that no grime could lurk behind them. But we didn’t want to remove the front suspension while the offside sill had been cut away as this could later cause us problems with alignment.

The conclusion was that I could put away the wire brushes for now and Alan would complete the welding on the offside to the same standard as he had already done on the nearside, all the time keeping the car on its four wheels. We could then strip the front end entirely, put a dolly under it and wheel it outside. Hopefully, a mobile blaster could then take it back to bare metal ready for paint – always assuming this didn’t reveal more rust.

So that is where we left it, as I returned home to start tapping on the keyboard, Alan got out his welder and girded his loins to tackle a rusty spring hanger, and Colin returned to his Volkswagen.

1 Having finally cut out all the rust around the nearside sill and into the rear wheelarch to reach solid metal, Alan could at last break out the MIG welder and start building the panel edges back up.

2 The flange on the end of the crossmember (around the jacking point you can see protruding) had disappeared along with the remains of the old inner sill, so Alan cut some strips of metal...

3 ...and welded them on three sides, flush with the flange on the edge of the floorpan. The new inner sill panel will be welded to these flanges using plug welds.

5 Since so much of the supporting metal was about to be cut away, Alan put a body jack between the floor and the dash to stop this sagging, with an axle stand below the floorpan to take the weight.

4 With the new inner sill clamped temporarily in place, Alan marked along the top edge where it met the side of the footwell, which could then be cut an inch below that line.

7 The bottom corners of the inner wheelarches (both front and rear) had also been repaired. Notice that the plug welds on the inner sill have now been ground flat flush with the panel...

6 The last of the old inner sill was then cut away, holes punched in the new panel to coincide with where there would be flanges behind it, and then plug welds used to join everything together.

9 Once the outer sill was clamped in place, the doors were refitted so that the alignment could be checked before any welding. This is the rear wheelarch bottom corner after its repairs.

8 ...because the new outer sill has to be clamped firmly over the top and then plug-welded in place. You can see here the holes that Alan has punched in the outer sill in readiness.

13 With the filler sanded back and once Alan was happy that everything was lined up perfectly, he applied a coat of paint to protect the finish until it was time for the respray.

10 And here is the bottom of the A- post, repaired and welded to the new sill, together with the plug welds against the passenger footwell which have been ground flat for neatness.

12 The A- post skin needed a little tweaking with a hammer and dolly to get the panel gap right, then finally a thin skim of filler was used over the welded repairs.

11 Seam sealer was used as the name suggests – to ensure that no moisture could work its way into any of the panel joints. Once this has cured, it can be overpainted.

15 Not only has brazing been illegal for structural repairs since the 1980s (and this one had cracked anyway), one of the hanger mounting bolts was missing – another MoT fail.

14 A lot of the work to be carried out on the offside sill was similar, but there was an added problem by the heel board behind the driver’s seat, where the front spring hanger mounting area had been repaired with braze.

19 We also noted how a fixing bolt at each end joining the steering rack to the crossmember had been omitted. This had not been noticeable from behind the wheel!

17 Also on the offside, note how Alan has left a section of the inner sill connecting the A- post to the floorpan. This will be removed once the floor and dash have been properly supported.

16 The bolt was missing because it had sheared off in the captive nut sandwiched between the heel board and the rear wheelarch. That will be a nice repair for Alan to tackle!

18 Moving back to the engine bay, this rather crude plating to the panels between the steering column and offside front wheel were also on the ‘ to- list’ of welding jobs.

21 Having got it this far with wire brushes in an angle grinder, we decided that removing the front suspension and having a mobile blaster visit would be the best way forwards.

20 However, we were now committed to stripping the engine bay properly. This involved lowering the dash to remove all the cables and controls, then removing the screen and wipers.

24 You can’t get all the way through the ring gear at an angle like that, but a sharp bash on a chisel placed in the section you have cut should break the circle. A new ring gear only costs £15.

22 Meanwhile, Simon took the flywheel to Hall’s Garage and asked them to change the ring gear which we’d discovered last issue had been chewed up by a starter motor that wouldn’t engage smoothly.

23 To remove the old ring gear, Danny at Hall’s first cut it at an angle like this with a hacksaw, taking care not to cut into the flywheel itself.

25 The new ring gear is rested on bricks so that the work bench doesn’t burn or conduct heat away, then heated up until it is blue (not red or it will distort and never go back to shape).

26 The hot ring gear is then dropped over the flywheel and allowed to cool down on its own. As it cools, the metal will contract and grip the flywheel tightly – no other fixing is required.

27 Note that there is a chamfered side to the teeth on the ring gear which must face the starter. The flywheel itself was not scoured badly enough by the worn clutch friction plate to need refacing.