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MG MGB Technical - front wings

hi all. the distance from the side light to the grill on the front wings differs from a little to a lot. am i right in saying that the wide gap is the older type wing.
thanks bob.
bob taylor

Yes, changed when the recessed grille was brought in for the 1970 model year. Approximately 1 1/2 inches early wings, 1/2 inch later CB wings. I have never actually measured, that's what they look to me at a quick glance.
Paul Walbran

IIRC there was also a difference on the later ones from RHS to LHS. My recessed 69/70 has 1/4" LHS side and 1/2" RHS. (Roughly)
Michael Beswick

"My recessed 69/70 has 1/4" LHS side and 1/2" RHS. (Roughly)"
Crikey, I've never noticed that! I'm going to have take a look at mine now.

Mind you, it's the the rapidly narrowing distance between the inner and outer surface of the wing around the side lights that currently grabbing my attention.....
Dave Smith GT

Crikey indeed. 5/8" both sides on mine (73), although off-side the grille aperture is pretty straight and near-side slightly curved.

The biggest difference I found between sides was how recessed the grille was - by about 1/2" off-side and flush near-side. I came to the conclusion it was the off-side wing that was protruding, and had to extend the fixing holes inside the aperture and reshape the flange by that amount to get it flush.

Bear in mind that replacement wings can have been from various sources over the years, some more accurate than others, and not necessarily replaced at the same time.
paulh4

The bucks that Heritage use produce dimensionally different wings left and right. Not only these dimensions but also gutter length, grill recess and footwell fixings. My two heritage wings are different to. Supposedly these are the original, although refurbed, items so I guess it has always been so, well in the BL days anyway.
Allan Reeling

It's not uncommon, or specific to BL, for the "bucks" - or pressing dies - to produce dimensionally different pieces left and right.

They are the same originally ( well we would hope so ) but over the production timespan there is a need for more pieces for one side than the other, so that die wears more. Different manufacturers have different views on how much difference is acceptable before new dies or a facelift design, or complete model change; all expensive.

We all know the MGB was produced in relatively high numbers and BMC/BL couldn't or wouldn't afford to replace dies. And I suppose that the process of building up the MGB wing from a number of pieces risks more inaccuracies creeping in.

J N Gibson

Talking of side-to-side differences, back in the early 80's I had a major roll-over during a rallysprint, end-for-end at 6000RPM in top on a fast downhill corner. When rebuilding the car I found that the new LH front wing wouldn't match the scuttle, it was a mile out. Assuming it was because of a bit of history in the car (it had another roll-over 18 months before) I spent much time comparing measurements in all directions between my car and a number of known-to-be-virgin customers' cars. And couldn't find anything wrong. So I then made a profile of the LH wing and compared it with the RH wing (also new). Bingo!

So I took the wing back to the local MG distributors and got another. With the same problem, so gave up and fixed the shape.
At that stage (1982), all the panels were still genuine BL. So a bit of variation was certainly "original"!
Paul Walbran

It would be interesting to know how people have got on with fitting Heritage wings. I've done it several times now and the problematic one has always been the left.
Allan Reeling

This thread was discussed between 01/08/2016 and 03/08/2016

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