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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Frogeye spring hanger and surrounding area

Hi all, Im in the middle of a full on restoration of a frog and have taken it upon myself to totally cut out one of the rear spring hanger sections as it was just too rusty to repair. I now have a set of replacement parts and a big hole through the rear bulkhead sections. As i am pondering on how to get everything back together I wondered what these should have looked like originally and what changes I need to make if any to the spares (most from AH) so the questions are:

1)The replacement floorpan has a downward facing flange at the back edge - does this need to be trimmed for the fitting of the spring baseplate / floor / spring hanger assembly or am i missing something

2) Should the whole assembly (baseplate / spring hanger assembly / floor and the bit that the damper attaches to be welded or simply bolted together

3) the strengthener that sits against the rear bulkhead - again was this originally bolted through the bulkhead to the spring hanger assembly or originally welded

4) The floor strengthener that runs parallel to the seat runners - the one I have is about 2 to 3" longer than the space it has available to fit - ie to the cross member that has the jacking point in it. Is this just to allow you to cut it to size? or should it actually go through the cross member ( I have little left in way of reference...

Ok thats it for now - apologies for the long post but any help welcome.

PS Ive tried changing my location - Im in south Lanarkshire Scotland not Lancashire....
a reid

If my memory serves me correctly:-

1) Yes needs to be trimmed

2) Damper bracket / radius arm bracket is bolted only.
The triangular stiffener that sits between the shock absorber and this bracket should be welded to the heel board and the axle arch. Everything else: spring hanger, floor, under-floor stiffener is welded. Good idea to bolt it up first, fit the springs, axle etc and measure carefully so that you are sure everything is aligned.

3) Bolt it to align it then weld the whole lot up. I left the bolts in - can't do any harm.

4) When I did mine, I replaced the cross-member too and simply butt-welded the floor stiffener to the cross-member - so yes you probably need to trim it.

Simon
SA Wood

Thanks Simon - sounds like yours was in a similar state to mine..... I had noticed on some of the pics on the internet that the L shaped stiffener that sits against the inner bulkhead has a number of bolts going through the bulkhead and locating in captive nuts in the spring hanger assembly but neither of the replacement parts have hols or captive nuts..

Alan
a reid

Alan,

I did mine 25+ years ago and had to replace just about everything below the top of the propshaft tunnel.

The spring hangers that I used had captive nuts and the 'L' shaped stiffeners were pre-drilled.

I seam welded everything wherever I could and it would all appear to still be solid.

Simon
SA Wood

I'm no Frog expert, but I can take photos of a really nice 1275 if it will help you out

dominic clancy

Dominic,

The 1/4 elliptic cars are structurally somewhat different to the later 1/2 elliptic cars in the mid -rear floor area.

Simon
SA Wood

Parts that comprise the spring hanger bolt together first, in order to get the alignment right, and then weld.

Does this photo help?




Guy W

Guy - yes it does - Im guessing that older repair panels included the captive nuts on the inner flange shown in your pics and the newer ones don't. I will be welding everything up eventually and will bolt first where its possible. Do we know how the cars came off the production line - ie bolts or no bolts on the inner L shaped strengthener?

PS Guy - as you look like you were or are doing the same as me - where and how did you support the car when working on the spring hanger and replacing the floor?

PPS if anyone is interested - www.myfrogeyerestoration.weebly.com is where I intend to document my long journey......

Thanks for all the help

Alan
a reid

Hi Alan,
My car was very far gone when l started out so the problem was to have anything to act as a datum. I braced both door openings and used the doors themselves as the starting template and built it up from there.

I clamped the main chassis rails to 2 lengths of 3 x 4 steel box section to set it straight then fitted inner and outer sills. The rear corners of these then located the outer lower corners of the outer heelboard panel, checking it was level across the width of the car, parallel to the front cross member and that the floor, or at least the space where it would later fit, was square and level.

I am not sure which captive nuts you are referring to. The only ones visible in that photo of mine are the ones through the outer heelboard that locate the rear trailing arm bracket above the spring box.

Where in Lancs are you?
Guy W

This thread was discussed between 01/05/2015 and 02/05/2015

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