• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Whats worse: Wiring woes or bodywork blunders?

Share this page

Ed Sweeney

Ed Sweeney

Senior Member
Offline
I'm still a hopeful owner, rather than actual. I've looked at a few B's and I wonder: would it be better to get one with a solid body and wiring mess, or good/maintained wiring(no DPO issues) and a fair amount of rust(bad sills)? Any opinions/rants are appreciated.

- Ed
 
good body with bad anything else is ALWAYS the way to start. wiring is not that hard to fix or expensive...shoot, you could rebuild the engine and trans for less than what it would cost to properly fix the rust on most of these cars...
 
I would gladly give away ALL of my wiring to have a perfect body!!! or even a passable body on the car /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Bruce /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif
 
I appreciate the quick response. Here's the scenario: The entire vehicle has been converted to GM 12 volt negative ground components. Steering column was replaced with straight steel pipe, so turn signal and horn are now toggle switches in the dash. The ignition switch is where the overdrive switch should be (this is a '67 metal dash). There is an alarm (in the glove-box, non operational) and a CD player. The battery is under the bonnet, there is a blue neon light under the dash... the list goes on with more of these "unique mods." Still better than rusty sills?
 
[ QUOTE ]
Still better than rusty sills?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes!! - Repairing rust damage is very time consuming hard work or expensive or sometimes both.
D
 
I have to agree. Given a choice between the car mentioned and a rusty example I would not think twice about getting the solid body. Going through rust repair on a British classic can be extremely time consuming and labor intensive, not to mention hard on the wallet. I feel safe saying that body repair and paint is the largest single chunk of money you will ever spend during the restoration of an MGB.

Finding a correct steering column is not difficult although installing it is a bit of work. But at least you can do it yourself in a weekend and then get the electrics back where they are supposed to be!
 
Are full wiring harness assemblies available (Moss, VB, etc) or must they be pieced together? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hammer.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Are full wiring harness assemblies available (Moss, VB, etc) or must they be pieced together? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hammer.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

yes. VB has them since I saw them in my catalog yesterday, I'd asume moss does too. cost for my midget was like $350 for the harness....

As for the vehicle you mention, it's all fixable and definitely better than fixing rust. I'd change the steering column sooner rather than later though, since that's pretty dangerous not to have a collapsable column!
 
Thanks for the input... helps me narrow down the search significantly.

P.S. - any leads on available 66-69 B GTs are always welcomed /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
...would it be better to get one with a solid body and wiring mess, or good/maintained wiring(no DPO issues) and a fair amount of rust(bad sills)?

[/ QUOTE ]
My 2 cents - unless these are the only 2 B's for sale within 500 miles, I'd avoid both of them. I agree with the previous posters that fixing rust & corrosion is worse than dealing with bad wiring, but the "solid body" car sounds like it has some serious issues (toggle switches for signal lights?)

I'd keep looking.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Rob is right. You could buy one with a solid structure, and no wiring at all and still come out on top.
Jeff

[/ QUOTE ]

wiring is a piece cake. Do that any day over rusr R+R

mark
 
You might also check out British Wiring at: https://www.britishwiring.com/
I just ordered a new, complete wiring harness for my Bugeye Sprite. Very reasonable price. Very helpful over the phone. Shipped the day I ordered it. Threw in a wiring diagram for my car at n/c. I will post on the Spridgets forum to let you know how installation goes. (Maybe this weekend.) For what it is worth, my car had horrible wiring and some hidden rust. I am not concerned about the wiring but the rust makes me lose sleep. Fixing it will mean tearing the car down to the frame/unibody and repainting it. The wiring just means banging my knuckles, scratching my head and putting quarters in the swear jar.
 
British Wiring (www.britishwiring.com) is supposed to have the best, most complete and correct for year harnesses as well as correct wire and electrical components and switches. Definitely agree with prior opinions. You can learn to fix wiring stuff by getting blown up color wiring diagrams, component to wire charts and wire to component charts. You may learn even more than you want to know about the wiring but you will have a better car for cheaper. MGBExperience and the UK BBS have links to electrical diagrams and charts you can link to at Kinkos and print in color, enlarged. Also...what year is car?
 
The car I described in detail is a '67 B GT
 
Back
Top