New tires and rusty sills

The last couple weeks did not really allow any noteworthy updates from the garage. Work, travel and a few other things kept me busy. One highlight was a rallye training specially on improving regularity timing together with Sandra – Morgan driver and team partner from last years British Classic Rallye

This training took place in Bad Kreuznach – about 150km south – and it was the first longer tour in Maggie after the suspension and axle change. Even if there is really just about 9mm gap between the 195/65R15 tires (which I fitted for testing) and the rear arch – there were no issues in terms of fitment. But I was really not satisfied with the suspension changes. My impression was that the old Semperit tires played a huge role. The castor correction and alignment also need to be double checked. The clunk of the old rear axle is gone – but the brake squeal I had issues with ever since I changed the calipers has returned and is worse than ever.

Just the day before I left, I asked Gerhard Breuer if I could check Maggie’s ignition timing. My timing light wasn’t working anymore when I did the Spring service. It was off by a few degrees – more than I expected. After this quick fix Maggie’s engine runs much better again. And by coincidence Gerhard had a set of “newish” 185/65R15 Toyo tires on this shelf for a price I could not resist.

Therefore I left Maggie in Cologne Porz this week while I went on another business trip. They fitted the new tires and  I asked them to double check my brake adjustment. Additionally Gerhard and his team assessed the rust issue on the dog legs – the end of the sills to the rear arch on the MGB. As the front part of the sills looked OK in my impression  – I was shocked to hear that there is also signs of corrosion at the end of the front wings.

This is starting to get really bad and needs to be addressed. As I am no good in welding – a repair like this is costly. And as it requires a substantial paint job decisions on how far to take a rolling restauration need to be made. My hope and plan was to rebuild Mildred first and work on Maggie afterwards. And to be clear: I am not the biggest fan of rolling restaurations as they usually result in compromises.

We will see where is is going.