Getting rid of the flats

[Guest]

Um yeah. I squeezed 175/70's onto the back.

Killed off the '75-'79 rubber bumper look on the back and went with the early style corners of the pre '75 cars. These are fiberglass end pieces from the widebody kit that Spridgetech makes. I called Roderick up and he blew two corners for me for 70 bucks.

I really wasn't expecting much more than a pair of shapes to work with, so I wasn't dissapointed. Because the widebody kit is an overlay I figured that I would either have to blend the corners into the body or split them in half to narrow them down. When I got the corners, one look at them told me that splitting them in half was the only way to do it- the pieces were way to wide. Unfortunately I didn't document this project as I wasn't sure how it was going to work out.

The pieces were really thin so after I split them apart, I mocked them up to the body, trimmed off the exess and then glassed them back together in the inside. I built the whole thing up to about 1/4" thickness, and then glassed them onto the car. Two screws are ran through them and fastened into the rear body for added strength I then worked the whole thing down with glass filler and used the tailight and the bottom of the car for reference in getting the shapes correct.

So far I got the whole back worked down to 240 grit and it passed the black spray paint test so I'm pretty happy. Moving on to the next thing now..

BTW It is alive. I'm driving the thing now. Been just making little shakedown runs here and there and the car is stable up to fifty (that is as fast as I've taken it up to so far and I was worried 'cos two of those wire wheels did not look very true on the tire balancer).

 

[Bugeye58]

Looks good. Now you've gotta get the rear end down a bit.
Jeff

 

[tosoutherncars]

Very nice, Michael! I'm pondering doing the same, but in metal... but it will definitely wait until the non-driving season! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

 

[Guest]

I pondered doing it in steel also ( I did the front end mods all in steel), but I didn't want to go through the trouble of welding an entire early style valance onto a car that has (had) a relatively straight valance to begin with- or fitting up steel corners. That was my initial thought anyway- I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do withe the rear- I was planning on working down the rear panel smooth with glass and glass filler and killing off the backup lights- which I would have to work down all the same with a different panel anyway. Considering the work that I went through, I would probably have just welded on a set of corners from a gutted panel. Regardless fit is great, it looks right and I took the time to smooth down a lot of spot welds and body seams while I had all the materials out.

 

[JerryB]

"""""""Regardless fit is great, it looks right and I took the time to smooth down a lot of spot welds and body seams """"""

Michael;

Two things.....when you took the top seams off of the rear fender tops.......I would think that just vee-ing out below the seam (after grinding it flush), that using filler might be problematical and crack or shrink?? So how did you handle that???.....

and

The grille ........what did you use for the vertical bars.....a cut down something or individual pieces?

 

[bugimike]

LOOKS GREAT!! The only other thing I might now consider is the earlier type lenses without that "big square" reflector! (They are "rounder" and will look better in my opinion!)/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thumbsup.gif

 

[jlaird]

IMHO I would get rid of the backup lights. I'm sure you will not back up without being able to see really well and they do look a bit out of place.

 

[Guest]

IMHO I would get rid of the backup lights. I'm sure you will not back up without being able to see really well and they do look a bit out of place.

Jack, I was going to weld up the holes, but I figured I'd play around with some pictures of the back in Adobe photoshop to see how it would look without them before I do anything dumb. There was also a nasty little dent directly below where the indentation is in the panel for the left side backup light and I'm having a real hard time working it out- so i may just say the heck with it and weld em up.

It would make for a nice clean panel without them, but for some reason I find that the backup lights add some charm too. Best way I can explain it.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]The only other thing I might now consider is the earlier type lenses without that "big square" reflector! (They are "rounder" and will look better in my opinion!)[/QUOTE]

I've looked at pics (unfortunately my Midget is the only one I know of in my area) and it appears that the reflector is rather large on the early models as well.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]Two things.....when you took the top seams off of the rear fender tops.......I would think that just vee-ing out below the seam (after grinding it flush), that using filler might be problematical and crack or shrink?? So how did you handle that???.....[/QUOTE]

I didn't do anything to the top of the fenders, however I was thinking when I paint it I may go ahead a weld the top corners- I saw some pics where this was done and it gave the back a real neat look. However I may have a friend do it- I don't have too much confidence in trying to weld straight across a seam and have the seam look correct. My welding isn't that good.

There were some areas around the taillights that looked like there was some slag or mismatch in the panel, so that was what I was referring to when I said I worked down some seams. I cleaned them up with a dremel and used a little glass filler to even out the panel some and hide the spot welds. I'm considering glassing the the lower part of the rear panel so that it is smooth all the way to the point where the valance panel is welded under the car.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]and

The grille ........what did you use for the vertical bars.....a cut down something or individual pieces? [/QUOTE]

I bought a new 60's style MG repro grill complete with the original style plinth and badge. The surround pieces were a set of 20 dollar items off of ebay for a 70's car and they were pretty rough, but I was able to straighten them and I sanded them down to get a brushed look. I decided not to use the top piece of trim (the hood piece) because I couldn't get the thing to fit correctly and I feared it would be nothing more than a moisture trap for rust.

 

[racingenglishcars]

My opinion:
Normally I would keep the reverse lights, but in your case, since you removed the front turn lights, then you should remove the reverse lights also.

I also think the idea of the smaller, older tail lights would go very well with the smoothed out body, also without beading. I normally don't advocate removing beading, but in your case such a smooth car would do well without it.

Maybe see if you can remove the door handles and trunk lid latch also.

Might I also suggest a silver pin-stripe at the front of the bonnet to match the grill.

The car is looking awsome so far.

 

[kcbugeye1275]

Looks real nice. It really is nice when a project starts to show the work. I like your front end look. Always nice to drive, it is part of the reward.

 

[mccalebr]

There are some really good suggestions in this thread. I'm doing a '62 Sprite, which is already pretty smooth by design, but have taken some notes as well. I fully agree on the older tail light lenses (photo below); though the square portion may be almost as large as the latter ones, the single color makes it less noticeable (IMO). Backup light...definitely gotta go...though I'm not sold on the front turn indicators...yet.

I'm debating what to do about the boot (trunk) handle. I want it gone, but still need a simple means of latching...maybe just a Dzus?

Here's my '62 before I started stripping it down:

Ray

 

[bugimike]

Since the BE never had a back-up light I thought it would make a handy addition (it is nice to be able to see while backing up at night!). My solution was the light below (an old Simca part!) wired directly to the reverse switch on the rib-case tranny! Works great!!

 

[racingenglishcars]

I guess it breaks down to the old question of form and function. To have backup lights or not to have backup lights.
How much do you want it to look sleek and beautiful, or how much do you want it to be an easy driver?

 

[jlaird]

"older tail light lenses " are the win.

 

[Guest]

Here's my '62 before I started stripping it down:

Ray

I love it. That's it. Backup lights are going. I plan on using the same style exhaust tip (I ordered a stainless monza style from Summit). How did you relocate the plate, Ray?

 

[mccalebr]

I didn't...it was that way when I bought the car...too low for me. I'll be doing something a bit different for the plate on my project car.

The Monza exhaust was a nice touch and does sound good...but will going the way of Ebay this winter. I won't have room to accomodate it or one like it as I'm installing a panhard bar. I figure a small round glass pack (Cherry Bomb) is about all that will fit (with some creative pipe bending)...now talk about sounding good!

Ray

 

[Guest]

Here's where I'm at:

1. Rubber bumper and mounts removed,
2. back up lights removed and welded up,
3. pre '75 style corners under the lights.
4. two small dents removed
5. most of the panel worked down to hide the spot welds and the warpage.
6. Stainless steel license plate holder. I chopped the corners off of it that contained the license plate lights and filed it down smooth. The license plate lights are still there- they're LED bulbs inside the bolts that hold on the license plate.
7. Trim removed from rear fenders (I'll get rid of the side trim when I paint).
8. The aluminum plates cover the bumper mount cutouts and i want to leave the cutouts if I decide to get the 60's model chrome bumper later.

I'm calling it all good for now until painting time. I just want to cruise in it for a while and see how it goes before stripping it down again.

 

[Trevor Jessie]

Are you going to fill the sidemarker light holes?

 

[Guest]

Yeah, I'm going to get rid of the sidemarker light holes in the back, the side trim and Midget emblems behind the front wheels. I'll keep the badge on the trunk and the grille. I'm also toying with the idea of the Aston style/aircraft style gas cap.

Jack posted up a promo for a Sprite and I really like the scripting of the Sprite motif (logo). Might have a friend airbrush it on the back panel.

 

[jlaird]

Really starting to look classy.