MG MGB and MGB GT Tech Talk
The mki grille I bought last year is already starting to show age.
Is there anywhere I can buy original type MG logo's for the grille?
I'd like to go with the original theatre curtain style, rather than cheapo repro.
If I remember correctly that grill hasn't even seen much weather yet. Maybe a custom grill could be made up with real stainless.
I may have the chrome bits rechromed with the bumpers.
But what's really failing is the emblem. the plastichrome is starting to flake under all
that resin already. It looked bad to begin with.
It's always better to try to find a good used part, or a NOS part.
Better quality all the time. It might take more effort, but it's worth it if you can do it.
I looked for a decent replacement for my grille badge for quite a long time, and all the ones that I ordered were crap. I was able to find one on ebay that was in better condition than my original, so it might be a good place to start.
I know that these were probably intensive to make, but with all the repro parts available out there, why can't someone make a decent replacement?
contact Andrew Hooper of the Exports Dept of the MGOC. Andy can find lots of stuff, and it is tax free outside the UK.
I found an excellent NOS badge (still in the factory plastic bag) on evilBay last year and bought it. Don't ask me what it cost me. But perfect NOS parts are never going to be cheap. Anyway, it's like apples and oranges compared to the cheap repros which is what you'd expect. I've seen one on evilBay like it since then (I should've bought it) but they don't come along very often. The repro badge is shown in my car pictures.
The repro grill I bought fifteen years ago from Moss held up well for about five years and then the brass started showing through the chrome. Since it fits well I decided to just have it re-chromed. They triple chrome plated it and, five years later, it still looks great. If yours fits well you might consider doing the same.
Shawn
72mgb4me Wrote:
Yes James, I haven't been driving the B. I'm talking about how the chrome holds up to the elements, oxidation, ozone, etc. I should've been more clear. I suspect with road use these items would've deteriorated much faster than they did but the point is that they deteriorated anyway. The new chrome and badge are now subjected to the same conditions as the old ones were and yet they're holding up nicely. You'd be amazed how many repro parts deteriorate rapidly without the car even being on the road. :(
Shawn