MGA Restoration and minor Modification Pictures

I have finally added a "few" pictures online of the MGA we restored a couple of years back. I have shared a few with everyone but really wanted to share these so others can get a few ideas of what they can do or may go through. I got a little obsessed with certain aspects of the restoration but think that the 238 photos of the 755 taken of this project should help a few people out.

Here is the main page, just click on the MGA Chassis for all the pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/bmcautos

A few highlights: 1.8L 3 main supercharged, a 2 plus 2 body-style, BRG with biscuit 'coloured' interior, burled dash from Moss, 60 spoke Dayton Chrome..........

If you really like, there are a few V6 powered MGs there along with an XK120 project that we are currently working on too.

-BMC.

Brian, those are great pictures to share. I found some that will help me with the upcoming mating of body to frame also the other tasks afterwards. I am sure others will appreciate these pictures as well.

Thanks. I had a horrible time finding pictures of firewalls behind the heater and other stuff. Barney's site mgaguru.com was such a fantastic help that we made sure to contribute there as well.

If you noticed those strange pictures of the 3 main 1.8L water pump orfice, I took pictures of those to show the before and after of the 5 main water pump fitment for using with the Moss supercharger. That 5 main pump has a much larger impeller and required the extra room. Glad that we did that. It turned out well. Kind of scary cutting up a good block for something like that, but I bet it actually cools better than the stock unit. I could go on about lots of other strange items.

-BMC.

Hey- your turn signal lenses are on backwards ;) Looking fantastic!

Nice job in general.

The 2 + 2 is just for more luggage space behind the seats? Basically doing what the 1600 coupe did.

The dash wouldn't be my choice, but the wood is very nice. What lets it down (IMHO) are the raw edges - that radio speaker hole needs to have the chrome trim of a coupe added, and the MGB black crackle radio blanking plate doesn't work for me. It would normally be body colour, but I suppose with a wood dash, a wood blanking plate would work best - but no doubt a real bitch to accomplish and the grain wouldn't match, so maybe after all the crackle black (ven though it looks like all the MGB parts ignorantly used on MGAs by owners that usually don't know any better) is best.

Jack, I had to look again.. :-)

Bill, Thank you for the critique. This car was rebuilt this way sometime in the late 1960's with a rear seat installed. It had been off the road since before 1980 from my understanding. The owner had the bodywork redone (it was a parts car to begin with!) and had no idea that the body had been changed having never looked at an MGA. When it arrived at our shop, I looked at it, noticed something different about the car but never investigated as to what had been done. After a month or two of ignoring the car, someone else came to the shop to see something else and pointed it out. Hate to tell you just how silly I felt for overlooking this! Anyways, the decision was made to save this car this way. Speaking of which, it won 2nd place in the MGA Modified class at MG2006, so I guess people enjoyed it overall. Also, the owner tells me that Lots of people said they really liked the body change and a few have considered doing this to change their car.

When we restored it, we decided to finish it without a rear seat. Insurance does not work that way anymore!

I like the dash very much, but this really is a personal choice.

I agree about the chrome trim to the speaker grille being a good fit with everything else.

As for the blanking plate, its "temporary". We need HELP!! We have been searching for a period correct radio that looks real well and everything appears to work. We just need something to fill the hole. If anyone has one, we would be Very interested!

If the plate was supposed to be there for a few years, we probably would have found a way to make a nice matching system to the dash.

-BMC.

...Brian, very nice, it all looks very good. Correct period radios aren't hard to find. Just writing the check is.

here is another option, it's something I made in place of the radio. All genuine Smiths optional assories.All other bits on the dash are 1956 factory,no after market stuff.

Your car is a work of beauty Brian. Thanks for the pictures.

Thanks guys.

It's not my car. We are only the assemblers, researchers, contractors and Enthusiasts. I wanted to share more of what we did here and help others with bits and pieces. I know a picture is worth a thousand words from first hand experience. The difference between your first MGA and Jaguar is quite different. The MGA is actually so well engineered plus the group support is what makes them so easy to work with. The Jaguar has its benefits as well but in forum support and technical data like a post war MG has is quite a bit more limited. I still hope to do a few more of each though!

Wyatt, I like what you have done with the radio cut out. Also, if anyone has a nice radio, we are still looking. The problem is, so many people want a fortune for something that needs new knobs manufactured and new plating and new face plates and so on. I would love to find something in nice shape or something that was inexpensive enough to afford restoring the face to look like new. Working is nice, but not working is just fine too. The idea is to appear good and have working knobs and tuner. The internals can always be restored if needed.

-BMC.

....like what?...you want a show period radio?

See ebay item 190228775428

I have an original factory radio - unfortunately it is a Triumph radio....

...bills,..thats a cool radio....but way to modern.

Best way to find a 50s radio is at swap meets. There are several places that rebuild them, right up to installing modern units inside the old chassis.

You have a fairly narrow window - earlier and they will be huge units often with a separate power stage. Later, and they will look too modern.

One solution is to install a modern deck behind a hinged stock blanking plate held up with a magnetic catch.

...check this cool old boy out. Its so odd its cool. An old Motorola that I took out of my 57 MGA. It has been in there since probably forever. It works and with the marching speaker.

wyatt Wrote:

BTW, Todd Clarke used to produce the heavy pressboard speaker bracket for the MGA (goes on top of the two dash stays behind the speaker grille). He probably still does.

Brian, can I ask how much per hour this quality of work would cost and how many hours go into a project as this?

I have always been curious.

Brian,

I have two period radios that would be correct for the MGA. I don't know if they work but I can provide more pictures and info if you are interested.

Regards,

John

Hi Brian,

I have an old BMCD radio that is marked in paint with 1960 MG. It came with my 1960 MGA coupe and I do not think that I will ever use it.

Huh, the numbers are bass-ackwards! :D

I never noticed that before. It is positive ground of course. The box on top attaches to the the back of the main body.

Brian,
You are a brave man to rebuild an MGA that was taken apart by someone else...And the owner is even braver for agreeing to pay you the hourly rate for a project so unpredictable. Very few people realise just how time consuming details like fitting fender piping and cockpit rails can be (Never mind making them from scratch!). Even the hardiest cheque-writer can choke when he sees the hours on those!
I don't know if you used the standard Moss way of installing the supercharger idler wheel mount, but if you did keep an eye on it. Mine dis-assembled itself on the road(after about 1500 miles of service). The 1/4" bolts holding the plate to the front cover sheared and the whole thing came adrift. I then welded the spacers onto the plate and attached the unit with gr8 5/16 bolts from behind the front plate. It is now much sturdier.

That is a very nice car. A job well done.
Thanks for sharing.

Rich

Guys, we are talking about these radios now. Thanks for posting pictures and info about them.


Rich,

Thank You. I think we used the stock system but would have to double check. Also used the Moss plastic radiator air deflector. Wow, there is no room in there for any adjustments anymore!

As far as difficulty level: Not as bad as the XK120 we are working on now. Everything has been cut and moved, missing or damaged. The information for restoring ALL XK120, 140 and 150 cars combined does NOT add up to 30% of the information on the MGA. The MGA parts are easier and less costly to find. The Jaguar parts are sometimes higher quality but most are about the same. I don't mind either car but if I had to say one was easier, it would be the MGA. Maybe I am bias because of all the other MG work I have done over the years though.

-BMC.

I can imagine that the jags are a challenge. I restored several TD/TFs before doing my first MGA. I had been lulled into complacency. The ash frames and coachbuilt nature of the cars was much more forgiving than the A, and I was blown away by the number of little brackets and clips that had to be placed correctly. The A was sort of a crossover vehicle between the T-Series and the MGB, and I believe that it is more difficult than either to reassemble properly. It was a mass produced vehicle but still had lots of little touches (cockpit trim, fender beading etc) that require skillful hand fitting. For the most part this fettling was done away with with the MGB.

Once again-Nice MGA!

Rich

I got a radio too