Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
Yep, as per title really… haven’t done anything on the car for absolutely ages… but the most important thing is that I intend to!
The MG has been left resting, peacefully, in my garage… apart from the few interruptions during the day when I park my motorcycle next to it overnight… and my enthusiasm for it continues to grow so I expect work will begin in earnest.
As I’ve probably mentioned on some previous posts, there isn’t much left to do (bodywork-wise) on the driver’s side… I only need to weld the outer sill, weld the new floor, repair the rear corner of the valance and then weld the rear wing in position.
So why the delay I hear you ask? Why haven’t you done anything on the car for so long?! Well its pretty simple really… work on the car came to a grinding halt shortly after starting a new job and taking my motorcycle test last September/October. A holiday to Southern France only fuelled my passion for motorcycling even more, seeing so many people touring! The thrill of motorcycling basically took all my spare time (wife was not best pleased!) and then the usual Christmas/New Year’s affairs dominate (not just mine!) the social calendar.
The New Year brought renewed optimisim/enthusiasm but with no garage heating the particularly cold weather did not help! My professional registration exams then took hold, another holiday (this time to Tenerife) and more recently a motorcycle accident (I’m ok… and still riding!), an internal job interview and a work trip to Switzerland. The time of the MG is long overdue!
Of course there still needs to be some sort of delay before I can start focussing a lot more of my attention on the four wheel warrior in the garage… what else would you expect?! At the moment priorities include my daughter’s 3rd birthday party and various weddings… not to mention (hopefully!) a touring weekend in Normandy… however by that stage I will hopefully be back up to speed with MG work and can crack on with finishing the driver’s side by the end of the year.
Hold on… it may be a bumpy ride!
Sunday, June 14th, 2009
Hey all - still here, not much happened MG wise but life has been extremely turbelent of late! Work on the MG will begin in earnest so watch this space! Cheers for now.
Monday, February 23rd, 2009
…NOT GONE!
I have been thinking a fair bit since my previous post (well, actually it was this one but I am editing it now as I type)… and whilst I don’t have all the time in the world to continue the restoration at a pace I would like, I am not willing to let it go owing to all the hard work I’ve put into it. I know this is a slight (… ok, large) U-turn on the thoughts I posted here a few weeks back… but I just need to manage my time better.
A big reason for wanting to get rid was related to lack of family time at weekends… but I have decided I’ll do a few nights a week on the car once my daughter has gone to count sheep and my wife is pampering herself… freeing up the weekend for fun family things. Its. all. about. balance.
So hold tight… there may be some posts here in the not to distant future… and I promise it will not be related to giving up on the restoration (hey, after all, thats only natural… its a long process and we can all have cold feet from time to time!).
Thursday, January 29th, 2009
No… not the engine… but the work on the MGB… at least thats my plan!
I’m planning on kick-starting work on the MGB this weekend by hopefully welding the offside outer sill in position. This will involved lots of fettling and happy with the door position etc. (which may take a few hours after not doing any work for so long) before taking the plunge and doing some welding. Hopefully I’ll get the outer sill and sill-end cover securely in position with the only things left to do being (i) repairing the rear valance and (ii) fitting the new rear wing. Once thats done roll on the floor and the nearside!
Updates to follow… maybe with pictures?
Friday, January 2nd, 2009
Happy new year to everyone! I hope 2009 is a great year for you all!
One very important thing is happening for me this year (actually in around 7 weeks)… I am having my final examinations to become a state registered clinical scientist… after which I am deemed fully competent to practice in my field. Hopefully all will go well :)
On the MGB front nothing, and I mean nothing, has happened since my last post… despite my best efforts. Life has been too busy with work, family, friends and various work being done on both my bike and family car (replacing brakes, usual routine maintenance etc.). However now that we are in the new year everything quietens down a bit and so I have renewed enthusiasm (and a new heater) for the garage to start work. In reality there isn’t a great deal of work to do… but I have the following jobs to complete before moving to the nearside:
Finish offering up outer sill, weld, and POR15;
Repair lower end of B post where it meets outer sill;
Fit sill-end filler;
Offer up, trim, trial fit and weld offside floor pan;
Finish repar to offside rear valance and repair flanges for rear wing;
Fit rear wing;
Bolt on front wing.
And thats it (!) - the nearside doesn’t (hopefully) require such a major rebuild and so hopefully that should be relatively plain sailing. Once that is done I’ll be removing and upgrading the the suspension, driveshaft, finish reconditioning the gearbox and engine before taking the car for spraying and then complete reassembly. I’m not going to commit myself to a timescale… but as long as I have all the welding and bodywork completed by the end of Summer 2009 (around September-ish) I’ll be happy. This is a very important deadline… we may be looking at moving shortly after and so the car need to be complete to be rolled around etc. to a possible new home.
So anyway, Happy New Year and I’ll keep you posted on my progres… I’ll post some pics very soon of my work to date :)
