MGB: Restoration Start

I am amazed by the detail of information I found on this site. I have had my 75 MGB since I was 16. Many years ago! I has been sitting in my garage for several years and I just started the restoration process last year.
Question: How do I get started? I hear 2 different stories. Engine first so you know if it runs or to junk it.
or
Body first.
Any help woud be great!!
Thanks.

i'd start on the inside and work your way out.

the body work is the most expensive and you can always rebuild an engine, so get the body work done first

I have been working on my 71B now for just over two years. This website has been my number one source of information. Everyone on here has been a great source of information and motivation. Everytime I get on this site, it motivates me further to get going on the project.
I started my restoration, or I should really say reconditioning of my 71B which I have had for 30 plus years by getting the engine unseized. After that I needed to rebuild the SU carbs, replace all fluids, clean gas tank, etc. before I could turn her over and hear the engine run again after 14 years. Since that time, I have gone through each system and rebuilt it, or reconditioned it. Suspension, Brakes, Rack, Rear end, etc. I would suggest you just pick a part of the vehicle and start. Some people like to start with the simple stuff, some like to take on the hard stuff first. The reason I started with the mechanical part first, is so I could drive the car while I restore the exterior and interior. Also, I feel the cosmetic restoration of the vehicle will be the most expensive part of the project overall, therefore I decided to do the mechanicals first to make sure I had a viable machine worth cosmetically restoring. I am just now at the point of finishing up the mechanical resurection of my B. I hope to have it on the road this summer.
Good luck, and by all means have fun!

Steve, it depends upon what you want to do. You didn't give us much detail on the condition of your car....

If you're doing a 'full blown' restoration then you need to strip it down to the bare body and then rebuild it.... But, does it need body work?? Does it just need a mechanical and/or cosmetic update? Do you intend to have it be a daily or frequent driver, or a show vehicle? The answers to these questions will really drive the process you need to use, and help you put together a plan.....

My '65 B is going to be a 'regular' driver and not a 100 point show car. So, I am stripping it down and will have the body work done, then put it back together with a combination of new and used parts. I want to drive and it show it - not as a concours car but in fun shows. But I mostly want to drive it.

Dan D

Yank the engine & transmision and start on the body, steering, suspension, or whatever. When you get tired or frustrated working on one item you can switch off to something else a while. The main thing is to keep doing a little of something right along until it's finished.

First thing I would do is go sell my firstborn, and get ready to spend some money!! :o) Just joking!! Don't do the engine first!! By the time you are done (3 or 4 years) you will know where you want to go with it!! A proper restoration is expensive though!! My advice is don't take any shortcuts!! They will bite you if you do!! GOOD LUCK!!!

I'm starting with the body and mechanical systems (brakes, front end, rear end, gas tank....)...then do the engine last.

I know the engine needs work, but it runs fine...for now. The body is in reasonable shape

I think the Body is most important, then get it safe to drive, then do the engine/clutch/trans/exhaust. There are so many options on redoing the engine, I want time to figure out what I want, and save the funds to do it. For now I want a safe car that I can drive. The engine blows a bit of oil, so I just keep it topped off.

Check out my site to follow my adventure :)

Everything will take 3-4 times longer than you actually think, dealing with fasteners and parts that are 20+ years old. Took me 2 hours last night to replace the rear brake hose.

I'm taking an auto mechanics class at the local voc tech school. Pretty cool to use their lifts, use their air tools, parts washer, sandblaster, hand tools..plus the advice of a professional mechanic/instructor. You might want to find one in your area to get the car on the lift and take a close look at the business end of the car.

Enjoy

Paul S

Steve,
From what you have read here there are many ways to go about a 'restoration'. And there are literally hundreds of books on 'How to Restore .......".
But none on the best way to go about it.
Thus, in ignorance & long before I found this site, I went about it totally wrong.
My 'B has all new floors, sills, paint, seals, bearings, bushings & swivel axles, wire wheels & tires.
But it doesn't run. And I can't drive it.
It was running & driveable before I jumped in.
What started as a replacement of the rear springs ended up as a 5 year replacement of darn near everything (see above list).
Had I sat down & given it serious thought, or better still had a plan, I would have just done the springs & bushings & driven it. Then done the swivel axles & the front end the next year. Etc. Etc.
Instead I spent all my hard-earned money on things like new wheels & tires (that have yet to hit pavement) when I could/should have run the old ones for a few more years. Ditto the new swivel axles, bearings & bushings in the front end.
Do the mechanicals first. Drive & enjoy it.
There will always be something that needs doing. Just make sure you can drive it between those 'things'.
My two cents worth, from the voice of experience..
Regards, Graham

I disagree with Graham!! Restoration means one thing and 'Patch and go' is something different!! If you want to restore it, do it rioght, if you want to patch it, have at her, bit at a time!! Like I say, and mean, Good Luck!!

Obviously a variety of opinions here...

One thing that no one has mentioned yet, you need to have TWO cars, one to drive and one to restore. I have my 'driving' car, and after I'm caught up on remodeling my house (in a couple years or so) I will get another car to completely overhaul.

The guys that don't have a second 'driving' car are in terrible shape, 'suffering withdrawals from MGB driving'...

There are two roads you can go by, only you can pick. Anything you do will be done. If you have the time, it is actually faster and cheaper to do the whole thing at once; order your parts en masse for the discount, and rebuild the systems while the stripped body is being done. I wouldn't want to invest a lot in a car that turns out to have a bad shell though.
The tough thing though is that body shops are eassier to get in the first of summer around here, which means that you would lose one season if you did the whole thing at once.

That's just what I did. By pulling the engine and tranny first, then stripping the car down to a shell I had a variety of things I could work on as the weather permitted. When the weather was too bad to work on the body, on my carport, I'd start cleaning and refurbishing suspension, engine, brake, or a myrade of other small items in the basement. I'd plan what I needed next, save my nickels and dimes, pop a 5 or 6 hundred parts order to get the free freight, begin planning my next move, and start saving for the next parts order.

Get a parts car.

RA

Absoulutely correct Iggy!! That is what made my 'adventure' so painful!! :o)

All these guys have been sorta following my restoration, which turned from a just get it running, to a full, stripped-shell, replace every thing, job.
One thing that is a great benefit is to have access to another B to use as a reference. Once you've stripped stuff off, it can be a pain trying to figure out how it went back together.

If I had it all to do over again, I would do all the work myself. I paid a chunk to have a lot of the work done. Much of it was very good, some I've had to do over because it didn't meet my spec. The main pain was that the car would sit for weeks with nothing being done. That drove me crazy.

I often thought that I should have just bought a restored car and been done with it. At least I would have been driving it this past year and a half.

I'll do one more full restoration on the Magnette. The GT will get a 1/2 resoration. Cleaned up, new paint, new interior, re-build the front end and drive that puppy. Maybe a V6 conversion. It is getting an OD tranny.

I spent most of yesterday getting next to nothing accomplished. My plan was to do all the underside stuff first, but to put the piping in, you have to have the pedal box, (and best, the heater) in place. While paint was drying, I moved to interior stuff like vent doors, etc.
It's all good though, because iot all has to be done. And I hope this time I do each job only once.

If I was not commited to a full blown restoration, I'd start with the suspension, brakes and running gear first. Everything here can be weekend jobs and leave the car drivable during the week to keep the enthuisium alive. Lot's of people who tear into a full blown restore job run out of steam part way through. After the running gear is fixed, then pull the engine/tranny, refresh or repaint the engine and engine compartment. When the engine is done and reinstalled, I'd start on the body. After new paint, the comes the interior. Just my opinion,FWIW

BTW, I have had two cars tore apart for restoration/ repairs for almost two years now and no time to restore them.

Tht's actually a pretty good plan Gerry. The only thing is that then you have to wrry about paint interference between the outer body and the engine compartment.

That's no problem at all, Chris. When you paint the engine compartment, you paint up to the trough between the fender and the hood, then when you paint the rest of the car, you use craft paper and masking tape to mask off the area between the two fenders inside the troughs. This will cover the whole engine compartment from overspray. You can do the trunk the same way

Maybe I should fill in some of the local body shops on that revolutionary concept. I get so tweaked with over spray.