MGA R/H tail lamp removal on a 1962

[Coastalman]

I sure hope someone can help me on this one. I want to take the r/h lamp assy off the car. It appears that the only way to get to light assembly off is to take the plinth off. The gas filler tube makes getting to the nuts very hard, but not impossible. When I finally loosened the nuts I could not get them completely off because the bolt the nuts are on started turning. I am stuck at this point. It seems like Catch 22. I need to get the nuts off to get the whole assembly off, but I need the lamp assembly off to get to the head of the bolt. What is the trick to removing the parts?
Thanks,
Charlie

 

[DrEntropy]

I can only envision the problem and this may sound off-the-wall, but first get some weasel pee (50/50 mix of acetone and ATF, shaken to emulsify) on the bolts with a straw or suchlike and let it soak in for at least fifteen minutes. Take a flat-blade screwdriver small enough to get between the nut and body, or if there's no space for that yet, go to the end of the threads and apply lateral pressure on the bolt and try alternately tightening then loosening the nuts. I know those bolts should be fairly short but lateral pressure has a chance of "pinning" 'em to get the loose-juice into the threads. Unless the threads are terribly corroded that mixture will make the threads slippery enough to spin with minimal torque.

 

[Coastalman]

Thanks, I'll give it a try. Sadly, a previous owner had the car painted and whoever painted the trunk/boot just took everything out and sprayed without covering bolts or wires. Not only do I have to contend with corrosion, but with paint on the threads of the bolt. Maybe the "juice" will clean all that off.

 

[DrEntropy]

Brass wire brush and laquer thinner or paint stripper for the painted bolts. And keep the chemical ONLY on the bolts. Nasty stuff!

And thinner usually works to remove paint from the plastic wire coating without eating into it. Dampen a cloth with some and wipe the wire, repeating 'til the paint is gone.

 

[Coastalman]

Good tips, thanks! If you ever get a chance to look inside the boot of a '62 MKII you will see how hard it is to get to the r/h lamp and plinth bolts. The MGAs that I have had in the past had the light assemblies on the fender. Much easier. No gas filler tube to get in the way.

 

[djohn]

As I recall, the filler tube was removed and re-installed. That gave access to the bolts. It's been 20+ years since I did it so memory is weak. But I do know it can be done!