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MG MGA - What's next?

Hey all, the MGA is now down to a rolling chassis. I plan to clean and paint the frame but...........how does one check the rear end and front end? Must everything be taken apart? It is the seals, shocks and bearings that I am in doubt about. Thanks, Tom, TC 2850 and others.
Thomas McNamara

Thomas

My own opinion is that if you have stripped it down that far you should go that extra mile and remove everything else to inspect/recondition/replace. It does not take that much longer in the context of the extensive work you have already committed yourself to. Front suspensions, for instance, can be removed and replaced in a couple of days, plus the extra time for painting the components and getting spares parts as required.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Steve is right - if you are down to the rolling chassis - it is easy to get at the shock absorbers and springs . I would replace the rear spring bushes and take off the shocks and test and paint them. Then I would dismantle the front wishbones and shocks and replace the bushes and paint the wishbones and shocks before replacing . The king pins can be checked for excess play without dismantling and grease can be pumped in until it oozes out showing the fresh grease. You could of course dismantle the swivels completely for peace of mind.
Cam Cunningham

When you are so far along, its the ideal time to replace all seals, gaskets, nuts and bolts etc. Much easier to get to now than later

While you are at it, think about putting new brake lines in too, easy if everything is easily accessible, you can even turn the chassis upside down it the suspension is all off

dominic clancy

When I did my car I kept in the back of my mind what I really knew about the car. Absolutely nothing. I assumed a previous owner taught all his teenage daughters how to drive a standard using the MGA. With that thought in mind I took everything apart to clean and check. I didn't want to have any regrets after it was all put back together. It will never be as easy to work on as it is now.
Cheers.
Lmazoway

How about drilling holes and pumping waxoyl into all the the hollow chassis members?
J H Cole

Keep thinking of things to keep TM out of trouble: why not take the opportunity to do a dimensional check of the chassis to see if its true? - all dims in the manual.
J H Cole

Tom - think about having the frame sandblasted then immediately hitting it with a good acid etching primer. Not that difficult or expansive at this point. I did it to mine at that stage. The picture below is just after the sandblast and just before the primer.
- Ken

Ken Doris

Ken,
If you went to all the trouble of getting the chassis sand blast whiy did you not strip of the steering column, rack, front suspension, rear suspension etc so it was just the bare chassis?
Mike
Mike Ellsmore

Thomas,

I would concur with others that once you are this far it makes sense to sort out the suspension and other bits and pieces. The ends of the a-arms are notorious wear points. I also found a crack in one a-arm. The bottom swivels are rust traps for the kingpins (see pic). I had a bad shimmy at 60 mph, it took rebuilding the entire frontend, replacing cracked wheels and putting on new tires to totally eliminate the problem. The front bushings on the rear springs are probably rusted in place. It will be a heck of a lot easier to cut them out now with the body off. These cars were never intended to last anything close to 60 years. Short cuts now are likely to bite later.

BTW – I have been teaching my teenage daughter how to drive a stick in my A. She is still crashing first, but not too bad. I figure if she can drive the A anything else will be a piece of cake. :-)

John


jbackman

Mike - you are right that would have been a more complete job, but the window of time I had for a sand blaster and a paint booth didn't allow for going the extra distance.
- Ken
Ken Doris

Hi, the best advice I can offer if you are restoring the car (which is NOT just putting new paint on things) is to buy or photo copy a FACTORY workshop manual and parts book if you can borrow them. Do not rely on Haynes or other interpretations of the original manuals as many times information is not included as they are somewhat paraphrased and condensed. The parts book will help identify parts and how they go together.

Once you have these items you just follow the instructions and you can take the chassis and components apart with confidence knowing that you can get them back together again.

How does one determine if a component is good or bad? Clean it thoroughly first, then you can compare with a good one if available or check against allowable wear tolerances in the factory manual, or ask someone with knowledge.

Remember these cars are all 50 years or older now so you really do need to examine everything to ensure that there are no potential problems with anything as many go undetected until they fail usually at the worst moment.

If in doubt replace the component. Seals, bearings, bushes, brake hoses, nuts and bolts etc. should all be checked and replaced as required. Things like mounts etc. may look good but are in fact no longer up to the task.

Being this meticulous takes longer but rewards you with the knowledge there are no hidden problems to surprise you.

The chassis is really the easy part when it comes to restoring an MGA. Take the opportunity to take it apart and do the work while it is all easily accessible before the body goes back on.

Steve

S L Bryant

Back view of the chassis:

S L Bryant

If you don't have the parts book with all the nice diagrams of how everything belongs together it's available here
http://clancy.ch/MGA_Owners_Pack.html

The workshop manual is there too
dominic clancy

Yes you need to change the seals on the front suspension.Only then will you experence the frustration the rest of have had as you get to change them again before you even finish your restoration LOL
gary starr

This thread was discussed between 13/09/2011 and 24/09/2011

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