MadaboutKitcars

Made a start on the doors today. Here's the problem, they're now about four inches too long -



Bit of measuring and marking up with parcel tape -



Chop, chop with the old angle grinder -



Then use some of the cut out section to line up the two halves -



Once I'd lined the halves up in the door opening I stuck the two halves together with bonding paste, 'glassing the inside for extra strength -



And there you have it, one shortened door -



There's a bit of work needed to get the panel gaps looking their best, but they're not too bad as it is.

Got to love fearless angle grinding on a build.

Wow, that looks great Mr.T. It's been a while you've done this door mod and I am looking forward to your following posts. I hope the build is going well.

Cheers, Deni.

Picture 2, is that the same angle grinder that Mouller used to cut his door handles with?

A 9” is a little overkill

No his "friends" did that with a chainsaw!!!!

Actually, I did that. My "friends" bonded the door skins on and I had to move the handles as they were too low to open the doors. They also did not fit the window frames (work in progress to address that one). Not to mention the pillar trims bonded crooked. I do have replacements (thanks Chris) and the originals are now off the car.

Sorry for the thread drift guy's...

For your viewing pleasure...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVXlN1AG064

Thanks for posting Paul, fantastic video!

Terrific, love those seats. Need to be getting on with mine, really...

[Tapping fingers impatiently on table]

And do you have any progress to report?

[/Tapping fingers]

...only on the Midget, I'm afraid. I bought it a year ago as a summer runaround while I finished my Speedster and it's turned into a full on running restoration.

It's now mechanically perfect but I'm currently stripping it down for a full respray. Once that's done then I can get on with the Speedster.

Really sorry for the delay, note to self - don't buy another project until you've finished the last one.

No worries mate.

I am sure the extra practise you get spraying the Midget will help you get a nice finish on the Speedster.

Good luck, Paul.

I know it is another hard top, but...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erkdc7Q7ASM

Hi Paul, thanks for sharing that, I'm always looking to pinch ideas from pro builders

That car isn't my favourite outlaw as it's a little overdone imho. I much prefer the silver Coupe with the 'holed' wheels in the background in one of the scenes.

Work started on my Speedster again yesterday after a year spent fettling my MG Midget, so I hope to post some progress reports soon.

Just trying a different image hosting service as photobucket don't seem to want me to share any pictures even though I've reduced my stored images to below their 'free' limit

Anyway, here goes...

https://ibb.co/rMyGK97

Doh!

Try again.

Ahh, there we go, BBCode Full works on IMGBB.

Been a while since I posted any updates as I hadn't got round to finding a new image hosting site.

I've been making some progress recently, anyone who's familiar with my front engined speedster project will notice that the chassis is now wearing wide-five bolt early steel wheels (4"x15") on adaptors, and that I've cut the bonnet off.



Although I really liked the MGF 'square peg' alloys, ultimately I felt that they just looked too modern, even for an Outlaw style Speedster.

The bonnet 'mod' is down to me living with an MG Midget for eighteen months and really missing the easy access to engine and suspension components that the flip front on my Spyder allowed. So, my Speedster will have an opening front bonnet for oil and coolant checks and the whole front will flip forward for everything else.

With the front end separated from the body, I've also let a pair of MGF cooling vents into the front and trial fitted the lights -



I have a pair of Marchal fog lights that I might fit inboard of the air intakes, it just depends on whether I like the look or not when I trial fit them.

Another change since I last posted is that I've moved the engine back in the chassis by 80mm so that the front carb clears the underside of the bonnet. That was achieved by fabricating a pair of engine mounts to take MG Midget rubber mounts and using an overdrive prop on a non-overdrive box -





80mm is as far back as it can go without having to use a different exhaust due the 4-2-1 stainless system fouling the chassis.

The result is quite pleasing, allowing about 10mm clearance for the rear dash-pot and giving a fair bit more space ahead of the engine for a radiator. It also moves the whole engine behind the front axle line making it effectively (front) mid-engined.





I'm hoping to get the lower section of the frame welded together during the Christmas break so I can mount the body, start fabricating the floors and look at fitting the doors.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Oh dear, not sure why some of the pics are huge. Will have to look into that.

Nice to see you have made progress

The wheels are much more in keeping with the car

Seconded on the wheels , you've use the 65/66 Beetle wheel with the slots too ...good choice .
Moving the engine back is a wise move too ...As you know I do it on most of my builds as well.....makes a lot of sense . Good to see some progress ...

Thanks guys, I'm aiming to be on the road for Goodwood next September, which I don't think is unrealistic now I've (mostly) finished the Midget. I just need to get on with it.

The MGF alloys kept nagging at me every time I went into the garage so I'd occasionally look for wide fives on ebay. Originals often crop up in ones and twos in varying condition, and while reproduction ones are available, I really wanted an early matching set in the slotted style.

So, when a full set of five 4x15's that had been blasted and painted OEW came up locally for a starting bid of just £50 I pounced and won them as the only bidder.

I already had a set of Triumph to 4x100 adaptors on the shelf and the 4x100 to 5x205 adaptors were £25 each from Limebug. The adaptors widen the wheelbase by a total of 100mm, which is around 40mm less than splined adaptors for MGB wheels did on my Spyder. I'd already replaced the spindly Triumph wheel studs with Land Rover Freelander ones - they're a straight swap - so I've no concerns over the adaptors failing in use as the LR studs are made to cope with a vehicle four times the weight of my Speedster.

When looking at tyres I was tempted by 155/8015 Vredestein Sprint Classics, but settled on 165/65/15 Uniroyal RainExperts which are half the price at £200 for five, and I know grip like limpets on the road as I had a set on my Spyder.

They also fit without fouling anything while the Vredesteins would've been marginal as their sidewalls are 16.7mm taller and there's only around 17mm clearance on the Uniroyals.

Anyway, if anyone wants a set of five MGF square peg alloys complete with wheel bolts and centre caps and fitted with new 175/65/15 tyres for £100 (collect from Downham Market, Norfolk), PM me and they're yours. (more pics on the 'for sale' thread).




Anyway, Merry Christmas to one and all!