although there is no confirmation on if the Morgan rear axle will be finished soon, I hope that I will be able to pick it up in about two weeks’ time. To prepare for this return I need to clean up my main garage, which in turn means I needed a better storage location for the MGB panels – like doors, tailgate & front wings. Regardless of what will happen with Mildred’s shell – I will have those all fixed and prepared with 2K primer in the next couple weeks.
The aluminum bonnet had a small dent and is currently at the body and paint shop. The inner door structure will be sent of to a chemical paint removal next week, then – along with the tailgate structure – also be painted with 2K primer. I created a new simple shelf above the garage door last weekend – a perfect spot for these items. After this was out of the way I started to tackle the workbench. One of the parts that still sat there was the MGB heater box. It was in a quite rough condition, and I initially wasn’t sure if the lower part would be repairable. The flap that controls the airflow was stuck/rusted and there is surface rust everywhere.
I carefully took everything apart, used a bit of sandpaper and a wire wheel to clean the box. The lower part was then soaked in citric acid for a day and cleaned afterwards. The result turned out great and besides a little bit of pitting on the metal it’s fully functional again. A few coats for Brantox 3 in 1 should protect the box now for a long time.
But the main action this week happened outside the garage. I looked at a couple of MGB GT body shell replacement options. First, I checked out two offers in Northern Germany. A bare shell and an almost complete MGB GT (UK car like mine from 1971). The seller bought both last year as a restauration project but lost interest. The GT was in the same sad condition as the one I have, too expensive and lacked a few parts.
The shell (a GHD4) looked quite promising. As expected, outer sills needed replacement. The left rear wheel arch and rear valance were also rusted badly. The front inner wings, the front windows panel all looked ok. The chassis rails and crossmember were straight and without dents. What turned me down was the price – far more than I wanted to spend. So, I initially walked away.
On Sunday I checked out another MGB GT from the UK without an engine in central Germany. While it looked a bit better in some places – mostly because they haven’t been repaired before – I think I would end up with a second wrecked shell in the end. My guesstimate for the repair costs were close to the shell I have.
Therefore, I decided to “reserve” the GHD4 shell until next week – I have two more options I want to check out before I make this decision.
Fixing C6622 
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