MGB 1971 MGB Custom Rebuild

[69MGC]

Hi Guys

About 4 years ago now (I can't believe it's been that long), I bought a 1971 B from a guy with the intention of restoring it and using it as a fun weekend car. It was painted a nice burgundy red. Although it wasn't a great job it was good enough for a daily driver. The car used to that mustard yellow color as you can see by the areas of the car that didn't get painted.

Soon after I got the car home to my garage I started to plan for the rebuild. I started to strip the paint off of the fenders and soon realized that I wasn't going to be able to strip the car down to metal like I wanted with paint stripper and a scraper. It took me about 10 hours just to get it to this point. No way was I going to be able to do the whole car.

Having spent an inordinate amount of time stripping just the fenders I decided that getting the car dipped or sand blasted was the way to go. I ran in to a guy who said that he could Soda Blast my car for a few hundred bucks if I wanted. Sounded like a good idea to me and it would save me a ton of time. So, I hauled the car down to the guy and left it with him. Four weeks later nothing had been done on the car and the guy tells me his Soda Blaster broke down and he'd sand blast it to bare metal and give it a coat of primer. Okay, sounded good to me. I just wanted the car back so I could get to work on it.

Here's some pictures of what it looked like when I got it back.

As you can see a lot of damage appeared once all of the paint and Bondo was off the car. Ain't Bondo great, it can cover anything!

I took the front fenders off to get them worked on and then I decided to strip all of the old dirt, grime and paint off of the wheel wells.

After a few hours of wire brushing the wheel wells were starting to look pretty good.

Now what to do with those dirty old shocks and disc brakes.

Stay tuned guys for the further adventures of the 1971 B's return from the grave!

 

[tony barnhill]

Drop that front suspension beam so you can really get things cleaned up!

 

[bob67bgt]

Looks great! The only concern i would have right now is if the hood is warped. If the hood is warped from the sand blasting then i would check the rest of the panels for warpage. Most all of these cars have their crosses to bear! Yours has drill holes too! Still well worth rebuilding! Bob

 

[69MGC]

1971 MGB Custom Rebuild Continues

I forgot to mention that after I started all of the body work on the car a little voice in the back of my mind was telling me to go beyond just rebuilding the car the way it was. Do something different, do something cool it was telling me. So instead of just having my B back to original I started planning to make a few modifications.

The first thing that struck me was to get rid of those bulky horrendous side turn signal lights. My plans included welding up the turn signal holes and smoothing out the lines of the car by going without the stainless steel body molding.

Here is the fender prepped and ready for welding:

And here it is after welding up the holes:

Not too bad, uh? Having seen how the fender looks much nicer without the turn signals and side molding I decided to weld up the front turn signal locations as well. I found some really cool headlights that have the turn signal incorporated into the headlamp housing.

Next I'll show you how the wheel wells, shocks and wheel hubs came out. Stay tuned.

 

[69MGC]

1971 MGB Custom Rebuild Continues Yet Again

I'm glad you mentioned that Tony. Take a look at what the newly done suspension looks like now.

The Armstrong Shocks were in really great shape under all that dirt and grime. A little wire brushing and a few coats of clear to keep them protected and I'm off to the races.

And here is what the newly refurbished Disc Brakes look like:

And one of the lower control arms all nicely painted with new bushings.

Next up is the engine compartment and engine. Stay tuned.

 

[69MGC]

Re: 1971 MGB Custom Rebuild Continues Yet Again

The hood was a steel one and it was shot. There must have been an inch of Bondo filling a huge dent right in the middle of the hood. Luckily I have a fairly decent Aluminum hood that I'm installing.

As for all of those rust through spots and drill holes, their all gone now. Welded in new dog legs. All of those pull holes and dents in the quarter panel were just too much too repair, so we cut another quarter panel from a donor car I had and welded that in place.

I'll get photos up of the body soon.

 

[tony barnhill]

Re: 1971 MGB Custom Rebuild Continues Yet Again

So, are your questions retorical?

Now what to do with those dirty old shocks and disc brakes.

And is this thread just about showing your superb work or to help you achieve it?

No disrespect meant...I'm just wondering the direction we're taking because I was going to make another suggestion but don't know whether you need it or not.

 

[69MGC]

Re: 1971 MGB Custom Rebuild Continues Yet Again

Fire away Tony I'm always open to suggestions.

I have a plan, but it's evolving as I proceed.

I'm sure you know that kind of planning, right?

 

[69MGC]

Before I forget, here are some pictures of the engine compartment all painted and awaiting the rebuilt engine.

The compartment is painted in High Temp Low Gloss Black. Pretty cool and it hides imperfections pretty good.

 

[69MGC]

Tony

What other suggestions do you have?

 

[tony barnhill]

I'm just gonna wait to see where you are on the project - you may have already incorporated them or have a reason why you're not....

 

[69MGC]

Has anyone chopped the windshield of their MG or know someone who has? Do you have pictures?

I'm thinking of doing this to my project along with leaving off the wing windows and side roll up glass.

Just thinking outside the box.

kev

 

[tony barnhill]

Spridgetech....just Google "MGB Speedster":

 

[69MGC]

Thanks Tony. That's exactly what I was looking for.

 

[Hap Waldrop]

Looking good!

 

[69MGC]

Spent a few days getting the A arms and Discs on the car. Took me about 2 hours to get the right front done without scratching all that nice new paint. Hey, I even got it together without the weight of the engine in the car. Maybe that's why it took me two hours! The left front side went much quicker as I figured out that if I wrapped a ratchet strap around the lower A arm and the upper shock mount I could easily pull the pieces together with the spring in place.

Now on to the steering rack and put on some knock around tires and wheels and I can move the car around in the garage nicely in preparation for the engine install.

Quick question... Should I put in the new wiring harness and brake lines before I put the engine and tranny in or should I wait until I have the engine in?

 

[tony barnhill]

Before - definitely before....actually, you're gonna find places where you'll wish you'd put them in before anything else.

 

[69MGC]

Okay Tony, thanks for the advice.
Kev

 

[69MGC]

I almost forgot. I'm trying a little experiment with the springs. I sprayed both the top and bottom coils of the springs with 4 coats of PlastiDip and then I sprayed some heavy coats of PlastiDip in the well of the lower A arm to see if it will prevent any future rubbing and squeaking of the springs rubbing on the metal of the lower A arm.

I'll let you know if my experiment works. Although I may be trying to fix a problem that really isn't a problem at all.

Kev

 

[tony barnhill]

Springs shouldn't squeak in the A-arm! Never had that happen...they're under pressure so they can't move around.