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MG MGA - Scuttle Repair Panels

I am mulling over the idea of doing a bit of body repair work over the winter. In its previous life my car had a fairly hard time in California. I was told by the previous owner (when I tracked him down after the rebuild) that it had been rolled when racing. This was certainly borne out by the damage I found to the scuttle area under the windscreen. The damage had previously been panel beaten, then filled. When I rebuilt the car I did exactly the same, filling the blemishes. The end result was too much filler for my liking in places when trying to get the correct curved profile. In hindsight I wish I had done some panel replacement, but at the time I did not think I had the skills to do the job.

20 years on there are cracks appearing in the filled areas. So the question is how much of a job is it to remove the damaged scuttle and replace? The damaged area is from the back line of the bonnet (hood) to the cockpit edge and the width to the wing piping. I notice that Moss advertise the complete new top all the way to the front. Are there shorter repair panels available?

Steve
Steve Gyles

Steve,

It's probably worth speaking to Michael (Metal Micky) at Sportscar Metalworks

http://www.sportscarmetalworks.com/

He makes most of the panels and can prepare them to suit your requirements, usually has a stall at MG Live.

Regards...John
John Bray

Steve,
Metal Mickey certainly does the lower front scuttle repair panel and I think he makes the whole scuttle panel from Moss. If so, you could buy the panel from him, remove the upper piece you need, and sell on the remainder. The panel has a flange which welds to the inner wing panels along its entire length. Obviously you would weld it at the shortest possible width at the rear of the bonnet line. Drop the dashboard etc. Easy enough to do I would think.

Regards
Colin
Colin Manley

Steve,
My 1500 had had a hard time also I had that section with a second had part from Bob West. From my experience of Metal Mickey's parts they are bad news and hard work. It would pay to see if Bob West has a shroud that is bent, but usually the screen end is ok, it might cost more them Metal Mickeys, but you could guaranentee that it will fit,
D M SPEAK

Thanks for the comments to date. As I said, just mulling it over at the moment. I might even consider sanding the area back to bare metal after making a few templates of the curve, then doing a bit of panel beating to get a better basic shape. The actual metal is good, no rust nor weaknesses etc.. In fact I may ask Colin if I can make the templates of his scuttle (he is only 12 miles away). Might be a better option than using my car's scuttle which I fettled by eye when filling and sanding and does not have an absolutely perfect gap across the lower windscreen runner - being a bit over critical here, but if I am going to do the job I might as well get it as right as I can.

Thinking about it, I guess I could use my spare windscreen bottom section as one of the templates?

Steve
Steve Gyles

Steve,
You're more than welcome to pop over and make templates. I also have some panel beating tools if you want to brow them.

Regards
Colin
Colin Manley

For "brow" read "borrow"!
Colin Manley

Thanks Colin. I have a comprehensive set.

Steve
Steve Gyles

I too had a set of panel beating tools Steve, I tried using them once and the results were spectacular.
For some reason I never did take any pictures of the finished work.

I have though found a video clip on Youtube which will give an idea of the results that I achieved and the feeling of accomplishment.

Colyn

See link below ( you may have to cut and paste it into your browser)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mdwAkWvWMw
c firth

Trying again to see if I can get the YouTube link to work.

Colyn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mdwAkWvWMw
c firth

Very good!
Steve Gyles


Just into Classics on e bay has ust the panel you require from the dash rail to part way down the shroud it comes from a dry climate car. this is the same panel that I had fitted

Regards

David
D M SPEAK

I have decided the way ahead. Back to bare metal in affected area for a start. Then panel beat. There is a very good body shop in my village about 300 yards over the fields and the owner is going to come round and talk me through it until I get to a stage where he would like to take over to guarantee the quality of his finish. He has just rebuilt an early Mini for himself to concours condition so we talk the same language.

Steve
Steve Gyles

This thread was discussed between 16/06/2015 and 25/06/2015

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