Stripping
Fall 2002: I've started thinking about fixing the frame. I've been making my own patch panels out of 16 guage stock bought at Home Depot and a sheet metal brake from Harbor Freight. So far its been easy to form channels that will cover the holes in the bottom of the frame rails Since my neighbor made me new battery brackets and main floorboard support pieces, I'm just making patches and some front floor support pieces that I hadn't planned on replacing, but might as well so all looks good. I've been shopping around for a welder, and hope to get one by Christmas.
Fall 2002: Clean, clean, clean. That's all I seem to do is clean and paint parts. So far, I've cleaned the transmission (it was a lump of crud before, now it looks like a tranny), driveshaft, rear axel, differential housing (have to make that aluminum shine) and some other small stuff. I've also been painting portions of the frame with zero rust, followed my Rustoleum glossy black. I know Rustoleum is a four letter word in autobody repair, but I figure for frames and suspension, its ok for the DIY'er. The bottom of my driveway is a mess from all the crud that has fallen off the parts I've been cleaning. The car must have weighted twice what a normal A did...I couldn't believe the amount of dirt that was covering stuff. I think the car was buried in someone's garden at some point.
Fall 2002: Rear axel dissasembly: Do not try to take the rear hubs off when the axel is not attached to the car! I did, and it must've taken me four hours to remove four nuts from two axels. Without the weight of the car it is tough to get good leverage on the nut with the eight sided socket. Thanks to Barney Gaylord for letting me use his socket and slide hammer. I wound up pilling about 500 lbs. of flagstone onto the axels to hold them down so I could get the nuts off. If anyone complains that no one seems to put these on tight enough...don't. When there torqued to 150-200 lbs., they are not so easy to get off. What a pain in the @##.
Summer 2002: I've stripped all the paint and surface rust off of the other front tub I have. I used a random orbit sander and 60 grit paper to get the surface rust off, then treated any pitting with Rustmort to convert any hard to get at rust. The outer panels (inner fenders?) were painted with Zero Rust and topcoated with primer. It took me awhile since there is a lot of surface area on the front cowl of the front tub. I was very happy that the surface rust did come off. I've done a little stripping on the rear tub in the basement, but might complete that over the winter.
Front tub stripping (pictures)
Summer 2002: Disposal: The tear down tech session left me with one small problem: how do you get rid of a car body and frame? Fly dump it in several dumpster around town? Now I'm not saying that I did that, but it is gone. The rear tub went in several pieces (the rear valance was saved for a patch panel for Steve Merical's car), and the front tub was chopped down the middle. I saved the nose section since I probably resuse that on the new tub. The frame was chopped into many little pieces, with the front crossmember being the toughest to cut up.
Demolition (pictures)
Summer 2002: Two level parking for under $50? Don't want to pay $3,000+ for a lift? Neither do I. To facilitate storage, I built a frame out of 2x4's and 2x6's that I can park my B under yet leave the A frame on top. Eventually I will mount the body on the frame on this platform, and finish the sill work. Once done, I'll lower the car back down using a chain hoist attached to a beam that runs across the ceiling. Whether or not this will actually work, I don't know. But, since I can now drive my B and work on the frame without having to rearrange the entire garage, I'm happy.
Two level parking (pictures)
Summer 2002: Dissasemby tech session: Wow did that go fast! With the help of the great Chicagoland MG Club memebers who came, we managed to take most of the car apart in about 5 hours. Pulled the motor, the body, and took all of the small misc. pieces off the car. The car had to be taken apart since it was in such bad shape. I thought I was going to be able to reuse the front tub, but once the front fenders came off the bottom 10 inches of the tub was basically air. Plus with the damage to the fender mounting areas caused by taking off the fenders, there is no way this can be reused. Check out the link at the bottom of the page for more pictures of the tear-down.
Summer 2002: Front fender removal in preperation for the tear down session: What a disaster. The bolts attaching the front fenders by the headlight buckets were frozen solid and rusted beyond belied. I wound up cutting the fenders off with a sawz-all. This basically trashed the fenders, and didn't do much good to the front cowl. I'm glad I have a spare. Now just to find new front fenders also.