Rick's MGB Pages - '72 Restoration Page 2

1972 Roadster Restoration - What follows below is a progression of the restoration process so far. These photos represent over 4 years of time, accomplished over weekends and as money allowed. I was assisted in the restoration of the body and paint by a local club member from the Florida Suncoast MG Car Club. Click the thumbnails for a larger photo!

I began by removing, bagging, and labeling all parts. This was taken in North Carolina right before I relocated to Florida. Once I got to Florida, the car sat in storage for over a year waiting for me to get going again.

Once in Florida, I joined the Florida Suncoast MG Car Club where I made some acquaintances, one of which, Rob, who did restoration work out of his barn. Here you can see more of the teardown in progress including the engine removal.

The stripped down interior. Close inspection of the photograph will reveal the rusted out floorboards. They weren't as bad a some out there, but certainly needed complete replacement.

Rob did the bulk of this work. He used a hammer and chisel to bust all the spot welds while retaining the lip all around. A closer view that shows how Rob did a great job maintaining the lip for welding in the new floor pans. Unfortunately, an air chisel was not at hand as that would be the better tool to use for this job.

The floor pans completely removed, spot welds ground down, and the lips all sanded and sealed. We used U-Tech Urethane Sealer ( an Akzo Nobel product) for all body panels once the paint was taken off. New floor pans welded in. We used a seam sealer all around. We bought the Steelcraft panels as these already had the captive nuts for seats and all mounting studs below for lines, harness, etc.

Engine compartment after engine removal. Notice the area near the brake master cylinder. This was damaged due to years of leaking brake fluid. I then pressure washed the engine compartment to remove heavy grease and dirt. Rob and I sanded and filled all the pitted areas.

Here's the engine compartment after the first paint removal, sanding, and urethane sealer. We then sanded the sealer to give a good surface to adhere the primer.

The engine ready for some cleaning along with the original 4-speed gearbox (after pressure washing) that has a bad syncro or two. I don't plan to use this gearbox as I'm looking for an OD unit!

The front cross member and rear axle removed and ready for restoration. I pressure washed the years of crud, then wire brushed and sanded the entire rear assembly. Some high-gloss black paint applied and we are looking good!

Here, you see the interior after we did some priming of the outer body. And a photo shows the boot lid and bonnet primed and ready for cut-in. We had to purchase a new bonnet as the original was damaged. The boot lid is original.

The engine compartment sure looks different with a coat of primer. We ended up sanding and re-priming a few times to make it smooth.

Here, we used a paintable undercoat. We included the area behind the splash panel which was only primed coming from the factory. The car lasted for 30 years and now it should last 30 or more!

The engine compartment and boot are now cut-in. Here, you can see the inner wings now painted.

We used the paintable undercoat inside the front wings also. Here you see the wings cut in and ready for mounting on the body shell.. The doors are now cut-in and ready for mounting.

And here's the interior cut-in and ready to have the doors re-mounted.