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MG MGB Technical - Front grill attachment

How exactly is an early style grill held in place? I know the fit on the repro ones is terrible and I also have to cope with the RB to CB conversion (well Sebring), front wings from another car and a bonnet that's been dinged in the past!

I can cope with all that but was just wondering what holds the grill in place. I have the three brackets for the top. The bottom edge though sits in front of the body where the valence fits. And there don't seem to be any fittings on the sides?

On mine I will step the front out so the Sebring valence is flush. I can probably bolt the bottom of the grille to whatever I use there.

But how was the grill held in place normally?

Simon
Simon Jansen

The grille should have three metal brackets on the bottom with slotted holes in them. Three bolts go through these plates into threaded holes in the duct lower panel. There are no fittings at the sides.
Mike Howlett

Hello Simon,

The grille is quite flush the front end of car body.
Very early MK1 grille is bolted at the bottom end onto the flat panel that carries the oil cooler by 3 screws in captive nuts. AT the top end you have three brackets holdintg the top onto the reinforcement panel where you normally find the bonnet latch. I could provide you with pic. but I don't know how to proceed with, and MGOC did not fix my member login issue, unless you have a personnal Email?
Regards.
Renou

Hi Renou, my email should be visible under my picture (although if you're not logged in you might not see it)!

I think I have the issue worked out now. To get my Sebring valence to fit I am extending the front lip out by 20mm or so. I am going to use a curved square section steel tube under the grille to do this.

There will be holes right though this to allow the square bar to be bolted to the front of the car and tapped holes in it to allow the front valence to be screwed to that. I can bolt the bottom of the grille to the top of that square tube.

This is my job for tomorrow. Will post pictures of how I get on later. I think I know how the top brackets mount and I have them already at home.

What was confusing me was my repro grille only had little holes in the bottom which don't seem to be mounting holes at all.

I might also add a little lead around the grill opening (mainly the top corners) where the fit is bad to close a large gap there.


Simon
Simon Jansen

The RB cars didn't have any retaining nuts for a grill. I asked this question about a year ago & the best advice I got was to use 3 self tapping screws , which I did. A longggggg screwdriver is required to reach them. Barrie E
Barrie Egerton

The slatted and honeycomb grille surround *should* be flush with the wings and bonnet, but it was recessed on the right-hand side when I got my car. I spent some time investigating this and found it was the wing that was wrong, protruding too far towards the bottom where it ajoined the grille, by at least 1/2", and it wasn't the only one to show this. As I was doing various bodywork culminating in a bare-metal respray I cut and bashed the wing back to where it should be ... or at least to where the other one was.
Paul Hunt

I think this is a common thing Paul. My right hand side wing also protrudes about a quarter inch or so. Everything else lines up, just not the bottom edge.

I have used a 19mm square steel bar to go along the front edge of the car. My Sebring valence bolts to this and I will also bolt the grille to it (well, maybe screw up though the base).

For the three bolts along the bottom of the wing edged I will machine up bespoke mounting studs from some round steel bar. These will act as standoffs to hold the valence at the right place. I can make the the right length to account for the slightly forward grille.

When you are doing bare metal work on these little cars you get to see just how badly put together they were. They seriously seem to be built to +/- 1/2 inch tolerances!

My issue at the moment is the Sebring valence. It is the kind with the brake ducting inlets riveted and glassed into it. These are very rigid and unfortunately they cause a flat, unbendable point on the valence meaning you can't get the fiber glass to curve to the body shape correctly. I am cutting these out then will get the valence to fit. Then rivet and glass the ducts back in once the valence is the correct shape.

I also need to make new side brackets for the grille. The proper ones aren't long enough to get the grille flush with the front of the car. The middle one fits fine however.

I want everything flush. With the stepped out Sebring valence and a flush grille the front of the car does look very nice and the curves are beautiful and uncluttered.

Simon
Simon Jansen

A quick pic of progress so far. I didn't do the god awful repairs to the front edge of the bonnet! That was a surprise I found lurking under the paint and filler. I might cut those out and repair them properly.

The windscreen (my second after I had it rebuilt and managed to crack the first glass) is just sitting there for now. It's not actually attached until after painting of course.

You can see under the sides of the grille where the fiber glass can't curve properly due to the rigid brake air ducts being in place.

The side lights/indicators grafted in came from an early CB car hence being further out from the grille.

Simon

Simon Jansen

An update mainly so if people find this in the archives they can see what I did in the end.

I made up custom brackets for the top mounting of the grille. I found the official mounting kit brackets didn't allow me to get the grille forward far enough. To get them right I first made temporary brackets from thin aluminium which is easy to bend to the appropriate shape by hand. When these were correct I made copied from 1 inch steel strap.

At the base I made small aluminium tabs that are riveted to the base of the grille. These have bolts going through them and through the bottom radiator duct panel to hold the base of the grille in place.

I positioned the grille flush with the wings.




Simon Jansen

And the middle bracket.



Simon Jansen

This thread was discussed between 13/01/2009 and 28/01/2009

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