My new project... MGB GT

[davey sprocket]

Thought I'd put up some pictures of the car I got hold of weekend before last.... it came up purely by chance, chatting with a guy who makes deliveries to my workplace and it turned out the car was for sale in the very next street.
I've always fancied a 'B' but I have to be honest, there's still lots of work to do on my 205GTI and I can't really bring myself to part with that... so I can see both cars being run on a shoestring.
Really, I should stick a tarpaulin over it for the winter and take a fresh look when there is a bit more daylight and better weather but I can't stop tinkering at the moment

Have been trawling through old threads on here and the MG enthusiasts BBS and found obvious places like the MGOC pages and MGBhive etc. Any other scources of information welcome!


Anyway, the kids like it...


Interior's a bit tired... I'd already started pulling the carpets out at this stage...


The floorpans seem solid although they have suffered from being wet and stood still for best part of a year...


It's had a recon engine very recently... like in the last 200 miles...


The underneath appears very solid as far as I can see so far... fairly sure it has been restored at some stage. The worst corrosion appears to be around the master cylinder area and the bulkhead is holed in a couple of places..



Anyway, constructive comments and suggestions welcomed!

Hopefully I'll be able to report back on any progress... I'm just trying to stop it filling up with water at the moment!

[mgtony]

Loads of info on this site:

http://www.mgexperience.net/

The MGB/GT forum is pretty active, plus lots of info in the library and the search facility comes in handy for previous threads.

Aswell as the MGOC and MGB Hive, there's plenty of spares on Ebay.

[hardcastlephil]

Hi there,

Car looks pretty solid. Are the sills okay too?

For parts i would reccomend MGB Hive every time. There is another based near Chester - MG World i think - who i wouldn't touch with a barge pole. I paid them £100 and two months later still no parts. It took another month to get my money back!

If you want rid of the wheels drop me an email. I'm just putting mine back to steel wheels.

Phil

[davey sprocket]

Thanks chaps, hadn't found the forum on the MGExperience site.... there's loads on there isn't there and although alot of it is stateside, I guess most will still be relevant.

The underside does seem OK so far... no doubt I will find some problems along the way but heck, it is over 40 years old. There is a bit of rust at the front end of the O/S outer sill, so that might be hiding something horrific!



The wheels are great aren't they?
Much easier to live with than wires and nicer looking (to my eyes) than the later rostyles. Very definitely not for sale unless the car turns out to be a complete lemon!

[davey sprocket]

Am I right in saying its got the wrong centre console for the car??



The handbrake lever sits right up close to it and you can't get your hand around it properly. Should the car just have the short radio speaker console under the dash rather than the full length thing it's got now?

[wee_skids]

For that year it should have the little mesh type speaker grill, changed in '72 ish.

[davey sprocket]

I thought that would be the case.... just sitting in the car, it was nearly impossible to operate the handbrake, so I thought something was wrong.
The cubbyhole at the back of the console is broken anyway, so the whole thing can come out and I'll keep my eyes open for the right one for the car.

[mgtony]

That centre console and section that holds the radio looks like it's from a pre 76 car (rubber bumper model). The radio piece should have a grill in it and I don't believe the early cars had any cente console at all, just carpet over the tunnel. Nowhere to rest your arm!