Vintage Minor Register

Hello Ian,

I don't think there is another way to do this properly.
To get this right I'll first have to take of the roof off and then the back panel .
The bolts/screws are somewhat rusty so that might be tricky
getting the rusted nails out of the wood is hard enough
I guess only time will tell and with a lot of patience and the right tools this should be OK.

My intention is to do the floor bit first and than put the body on a frame.
Take the roof and back panel of and clean all the wood , check all the joints ect. ect.
reassemble the body and putting it back on the chassis for final alinement's .
Than doing the fabric !!!
The body work is not a first for me but the fabric is so that will be a nice challenge to get right

Regards,
Halbe

Halbe,

The Semi-sports was also my first fabric job (if you don't include aircraft!), and I was quite pleased with the result. I leared to do the corner areas on a hot summer's day so that the fabric stretches more easily. My biggest problems were associated with the doors, including getting the corners neat - the modern fabrics are thicker than the original and on the corners, you can end up with several overlapping layers which starts to get tricky. I got a lot of useful advice from Ronald Hogg and so perhaps he can be persuaded to make a few comments on this thread.

Halbe,

Nice to see the progress you are making, I hope that the body work will go easily for you. I came across one short piece on the site http://www.vintageknowledge.co.uk which you will find interesting. If you take the link to Hints and Tips and then to Coachbuilding you will see that the last item relates to Fabric Bodies. The question is posed by a certain Ian Grace, and I think that you will find the answer by a Mike Tebbett quite useful. Although it is dated 2001, it is still relevant.

Good luck and regards,
Mike.

Yes , two good ideas!
I did read the item on the vintageknowledge website , interesting.
If Ronald could put some on the forum about this topic that would be great....


Regards,
Halbe

Progress report,

Started !
Restoring this body has been an easy job so far
I made some new floorboards and inner wings. Because i want to safe as much of the original body i decided to replace one bit at the time .
Maybe this also helps me to keep the right shape, anyway better safe than sorry



Cleaning everything takes ages with about a million rusty nails to take out and also not forgetting to take pictures of all the relevant details.
Not a box of sticks , but a lot of work never the less



Regards,
Halbe

progress report,

Just a couple of pictures of the restored gearbox and handbrake.
Only the bearing will need to be replaced with new ones
The woodwork of the body is progressing nicely with about 2/3 done , today did some impregnating with anti woodworm stuff you really don't want to smell or breath
It's no longer available in the shops for health reasons ,apparently it doesn't only kill the worms
When finished the wood will be painted in a matt black before doing the leather cloth.
I think i have found a nice shade of blue leathercloth which should be quite close to the original colour



Regards,
Halbe

Progress report,

To start the new year with some progress on VG I decided to put the body back on the chassis
The woodwork is now 3/4 finished with only the last little bits to do before she is ready for the fabric , something i'll do when the weather gets better and temperature get warmer so that the leathercloth is easier to handle.
The next thing on the list is to position the body on the chassis and to get all the little pieces of bodywork cleaned and painted.




Best wishes for 2010

Halbe

Halbe,

Looking superb in new black paint! Good luck with getting the doors to fit and slam nicely!

hello,

This week i have been busy positioning the body on the chassis. Finding the right spot wasn't to difficult but this is something i want to do very precise.
I got the rubber profiles needed for the bulkhead and everything lines up nicely.



Also made a new set of floorboards to the original patterns which are full of woodworm
And i fitted the steering and dashboard to see if everything fit's correctly.



on with the doors which look like they will fit just right.......

Regards,
Halbe

Halbe, The whole of the membership of the Vintage Minor Register made a New Year Resolution to do better than Halbe in 2010. It is only the 10th January and we have all failed!!! Keep up the excellent work. Happy New Year. Highlander.

Halbe,

More superb and very rapid progress - at this rate, is the Summer Rally a possibility? Depends on the extent of the necessary engine I expect - any plan for repairing the cracked block?

hello there,

Thanks for all the nice comments!
The summer rally isn't a goal for me to enter , i think it will take me at least another 2 to 3 years to get VG on the road.
I'll be there when she is finished
As for the engine I have no idea yet....... just wait and see what's there when i take it apart.
Than money dictates the pace ...........

All the best.
Halbe

If the rest of the car, and the gearbox, are anything to go by, you may be pleasantly surprised when you pull the engine apart. I presume you have no plans to replace the crank with a new one? How does the cam gear look? That will probably be where most of the money will go!

Yes , i don't want to replace the crank if there is no need to do so !
just take a look at the last two lobes of the camshaft , i think I'll have to get a new camshaft (12/12)! and a set of fingers.
The two gear wheels seem to be ok.





Luckily there is a good company local to me where they only do MMM MG things to give me all the help i need to get this right !

Halbe

Nice to start with something worn, but unmolested. Looks like a straightforward head job when the time comes.