The start of something big. Frame off restoration

[Brosky]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:] Getting in and out of this thing is going to be a bit of a contortionists act however. It'll be good motivation for me to not put on weight ![/QUOTE]

That is why the old movies show guys and girls jumping in them over the doors. Nothing exciting, young or sexy looking about anyone slowly crawling into a car sideways.....

 

[justin_mercier]

Well, it took a whole week for the bar stock that I was waiting for to get here, but I got the material I needed yesterday to make 'adapters' to fit the MGTD windscreen to the car.

I got some inch and a half by 5/8 wide aluminum bar stock, and made a quick pair of adapters that mount on the ends of the original studs.

My original plan was to replace the bottom stud in each stanchion with a much longer stud and have it go all the way through the adapter. This was foiled by the fact that the original studs use a witworth thread. I could still do it, but I'd have to drill out the current thread and go up to a 3/8th stud on the bottom. The top stud was just to be captured in the adapter, to prevent twisting, and then a new stud screwed into the other end. Instead right now both the inner studs just get captured in pockets, and the 2 outer studs are threaded into it.

I will have to come up with something better looking for this in the long run, but this will work just fine for now, with either windshield. This allows the use of the mgtd screen and stanchions or the original windshield with the mgtd stanchions without any modification to any of the parts.

Anyhow, back out to the garage with me to get more work done. This last week was real real bad for getting work done as well =/ My job has been keeping me busy well into the evenings.

 

[justin_mercier]

Ugh, I had the bracket on one side lined up wrong without realizing it when marking my holes, so I had to re-drill 2 of the holes. Now I need to fill in 2 holes, yuck!

I need to find some place that sells a chrome 5/16-24 (fine thread) T nut that I can use in place of the 5/16-26 Witworth thread T nut the stock windshield uses. For the time being I'm using a chrome spacer and a wing nut.

Here's the windscreen folded down

And here it is upright

Unfortunately, the coils inside my wiper motor are fried. I cleaned the inside of the Lucas CWX wiper motor and gave it power, but the motor only turns half way and then stops =( I looked around this last week and it looked to be about the same price to get the motor re-built and re-wound as it was to buy the Moss replica motor, which is a more modern motor, but will fit the old lucas case. So I placed an order with moss for the wiper motor, the wiper arms / blades / pivot bar.

Once I put the front finisher on, there should be just enough clearance to make a decent seal with the bottom window rubber seal. The windscreen is a little closer on the edges, and a little further away in the center, than I'd really like, but even at the furthest point in the center, it's a smaller gap than the height of the rubber seal.

Once all the stuff comes from Moss, the last thing that I need to find is... new glass ! Mine's all broken up =(

 

[justin_mercier]

I haven't got around to fiddling with the door just yet.

 

[poolboy]

Hey, that looks like a real car !

 

[Brosky]

I really admire your tenacity.

And now the sun is shining through the clouds, so I might just head up to the show in Brookline!!

 

[HerronScott]

Justin,

Did I miss why you are using the MGTD windshield versus the original windshield (or have made the option to use either)?

Scott

 

[justin_mercier]

I had the original windshield but no mounting pillars for it. In my search for piillars that I could make work, i came across the MGTD windscreen, which is almost exactly the same dimensions. it's the same width, and the angle of the sides is the same. I really like the fold down option, and the whole 'wipers mount on the windscreen' part that helps the fold down option really work.

Now it may be possible to modify the 'stock' windscreen to use the fold down pillars and mounts, and then to re-grind the glass and make wiper mounts in the screen, but I figured why not just use the screen that's already made for it.

One thing that I do want to do however is, if I can find a machine shop to cut them out for me, make some custom windshield side pillars to match up with the folding cowl stanchions that look better than my current setup with the spacer.

I've got sketches of a nicely curved mount that would look great with the car. and plan on making a template out of aluminum, to see if i can have a machine shop make one out of stainless.

In theory I could create an adapter bar, or drill and tap holes in the 'stock' frame that would allow the side pillars from the MGTD to mount directly to it instead of the TD frame, but it's easier to just use the one iv'e got all together.

 

[justin_mercier]

Also a little note, the angle of the pillars is a little bit off from the angle of whatever the 'stock' pillars was, resulting in the top of the windscreen being forward about 2 and a half inches from where the orignal would have been. This means I'll have to add a little material to the front of the hood that came with the kit. I've got a pair of the MGTD hood sockets coming from Moss so that I can make a mounting bar for the top of the windscreen for the hood.

 

[BillyB62]

Hey Justin,

It has been a month and a half since the last update.... how's the Hathaway coming?

Can't wait to see it next spring/summer!

 

[justin_mercier]

It's coming along very very slow =/ Wicked busy with work, and then my weekends have all been out of town for events, so I've almost not been in the shop working for 4 weeks =( I still plan/hope to have it driving around this fall, but car show season is all but done up here =(

 

[BillyB62]

Justin,

I saw you posted today on another thread (didn't want to hijack it). Progress on the Hathaway?

 

[justin_mercier]

Unfortunately very very little progress =( Had been wicked busy with work, and then I've just dumped a small fortune into dental work. I have made one change though. I'm going to be using the original windscreen and not the MG-TD windscreen that I purchased now. I found out from another owner that what I was missing to attach the original window was a threaded adapter plate to go between the windscreen pillars and the windscreen frame. I'm going to fabricate this, and that will allow me to use, unmodified, the original sidescreens, and the original soft top. As much as I liked the thought of a fold down windscreen on the roadster, I think this will be much less "work" in total.

I also just got in the mail my back ordered pulse generator for my spedometer, so I need to now find a place to mount it where it can count propshaft or rear hub rotations.

I just ordered some parts to make a better support for the steering column, right now it works fine, but the universal joint in the center has some 'play' to move around because my support around the lower half of the steering column isn't firm enough.

I still havent figured out exactly my gas pedal linkage, but that's the last 'engineering' problem that I have left. I'll be fabricating a few extra supports for under the fenders to keep the more rigid.

Sorry for the months without update. I was chugging along so well up till autumn too! I WILL be driving it this next spring though, even if it's not 'done'

 

[BillyB62]

Yeah, I find that darn work thing sure gets in the way too, eh? Glad you sorted out the windshield - I was interested in how the MG one was going to attach - there seemed to be a gap. But you've done such a good job with the rest of the car I was sure it would've looked correct.

 

[justin_mercier]

I'm not dead yet! Work continues, at a glacial pace. I had bought a huge hunk of stainless that I was going to have machined into a set of side pillars for the windscreen that would eliminate the gap, but now I wont have to do that.

I removed the shock in coil kit, since it was problematic without any body bump stops to keep it from bottoming out, and I've replaced it with some KYB rear shocks. I finished fabricating and attaching the fuel filler neck. What isnt seen is that behind the cut and modified spine hub adapter is also a 1/4" wheel spacer which is being used as a large washer for weight distribution of the spare tire since there's a lot of potential weight stress on the filler neck when going over bumps. My welding isn't the greatest, but it was good enough to make my fuel filler neck.

 

[gubba]

Man..this is like reading a good book..getting halfway threw it and losing it..I think we are all dieing to see the end Justin.

 

[justin_mercier]

So, as I said above, I abandoned the MG-TD folding windscreen in favor of the original, since I now knew how to get the bugeye sprite pillars to work properly. Having created some adapter plates, I got the windscreen mounted up, and it looks better. The car was designed with the windscreen having the same angle as the front of the door / back of the bonnet, so that all the lines were parallel, so it just works better (as nice as a folding windscreen may have been)

One problem I need to solve now though is the windshield to cowl seal. I've no idea what was used originally there. A future 'TO DO' is to re-create my windscreen mount adapters in stainless. Right now they're mild steel, as that's what I had around to play with.

The other reason besides the 'lines' to use the stock windshield for the kit is that the soft top I've got for it requires zero modification now, and the same with the sidescreens. I just need to get snaps for the top now, and I got myself a 1/8" thick aluminum bar for the back of the soft top already to catch the teardrop keepers.

(No, I still haven't fixed the door gap problem at the bottom front corner, but if you look at the adapter photo, you'll see I've bought reading material to learn how to do it right!)

 

[justin_mercier]

I had bought a pair of MG-TD wind wings, which I forgot about till I just looked at my box of parts, so I ran down and installed them to see if they'd look alright and fit properly... look good to me !

 

[justin_mercier]

So in working out the gas pedal situation, I think I need to remove my pedal box, and shift the clutch and break pedals over by about an inch or so each. I need to figure out the best way to do this, be it taking the box out and cutting the pedals midway, and then creating a 1" thick bolt plate to go between the top and bottom halves of the pedals, or re-welding the pedal bars on the cross shaft an inch over or what. There just plain isn't enough space for the three pedals without moving the break and clutch over so that the clutch is almost AT the side of the footwell.

This is how one TR6 pedal box was modified. As you can see, it moves the clutch and break pedal each over by about an inch or inch and a half. Then he mounted the throttle pedal right in the same box. I plan on doing something almost the same.

I've already chopped and shortened the clutch pedal side so that the clutch pedal interfaces directly with the clutch instead of being offset. In order to do this, there are little bushings inside the pedal arms that slide over the center bar. Having read up, all the available ones from the big 3 are just plastic and dont last all that long, so I used my wood lathe to turn down some bronze bushings to fabricate my own. I bought some 1inch by 5/8 ID 3/4 OD bronze bearings and just turned them by hand, testing the fit as I went.

While I was at it, the lateral thrust washers in the pedal box are plastic too, so I picked up some bronze thrust washers for the ends of the pedal box.

UPS truck came late this evening with my new steering column parts. Yay! I opened the box and noticed that when I ordered I put the wrong number of U joints in, and somehow didn't catch it before paying, so I've got an extra joint that I dont need (expensive joint too!) Boo =( So I need to call Borgeson tomorrow and see if I can return the extra joint.

I went out to the garage and set up to install the new steering column, and it's great, tight with no play or anything... Yay! but... when I went to drill the bigger hole in the firewall for the firewall flange bearing that I bought... I measured wrong and cut the big hole off center. Boo =( Rather than screwing around with the fiberglass down there, I think I'm just going to cut the hole bigger on one side so that I can mount the bearing, and then make a metal plate to bolt the flange bearing into and then bolt that over the mess i made with the hole in the fiberglass firewall.

I've got the position of the clutch and break pedal right in the box now, and need to finish fabricating the extension of the break pedal to engage the master cylinder. I'm picking up a 2nd pedal box from Paul Rego, and when I get it I'll modify the clutch pedal from the 2nd box into becoming my accelerator pedal and hook up a cable linkage to it for the throttle.

 

[TR6BobNF]

Justin:
Nice work! Sending you a PM about stuff for sale.
Cheers,