The Dark Wob

Seeing as you are going to have to repaint the car, now is the time to think about colour changes. Original primrose for resale but Tartan red is the best Spridget colour by far.

The Reverend Bluejeans wrote: ↑Fri Jul 22, 2022 10:05 pm Seeing as you are going to have to repaint the car, now is the time to think about colour changes. Original primrose for resale but Tartan red is the best Spridget colour by far.

After last night, I've made a fair bit more work for myself and thinking about paint is a bit further away.

Not far off needing a new complete arch.
I'm seriously thinking of stripping it to bare chassis and getting it media blasted.

Are you really sure you want to go that far? I think with what you've uncovered so far you'll end up scrapping the shell if you do that? Blasting takes no prisoners whatsoever and that's if you can find someone sympathetic in doing the job, what media they are using etc. You'll end up with pin holes in every single panel and where do you go from there?

My mate who's got the yard where the Mx5 and AEC has a big diesel powered blaster and I've seen various jobs and done a bit of it myself over the years to help him out so I've seen a few cullenders created.

I've been recommended Avon Blast Cleaning near me. This chap is local and used them for his Midget:
https://www.mgmidgetrestoration.com/202 ... assis.html

Probably not many horrors left that I don't know now. Only whatever it's like around the front end and I want that to be solid anyway.

I'm too far in to be scrapping the shell. I should really have got it stripped and blasted before I started all the repairs. Then I'd have known to strip it for parts before spending out on panels!

SiC wrote: ↑Sat Jul 23, 2022 10:28 am Not far off needing a new complete arch.
I'm seriously thinking of stripping it to bare chassis and getting it media blasted.

No, no, no.

That will create a shit ton of work and won't add a bean to its value. Repair the best you can, half decent paint job, run if for a bit and fuck it off.

It's time to start boxing clever on these shitters you keep buying. Every single one is a welding nightmare.

The Reverend Bluejeans wrote: ↑Sat Jul 23, 2022 4:28 pm It's time to start boxing clever on these shitters you keep buying. Every single one is a welding nightmare.

Shhhh!

I'm waiting for him to do nearly all the hard work on one I like.

Eddie Honda wrote: ↑Sat Jul 23, 2022 4:33 pm

The Reverend Bluejeans wrote: ↑Sat Jul 23, 2022 4:28 pm It's time to start boxing clever on these shitters you keep buying. Every single one is a welding nightmare.

Shhhh!

I'm waiting for him to do nearly all the hard work on one I like.

Oi! I'm in that queue

The Reverend Bluejeans wrote: ↑Sat Jul 23, 2022 4:28 pm It's time to start boxing clever on these shitters you keep buying. Every single one is a welding nightmare.

Patches yes but I won't go to filler and fibreglass where it needs metal. Apart from it being a shit job, it'll be even more crap being my filler skills aren't great.

The other side I did re-patch but removed the old and put in fresh that actually are pretty much the right size without leaving hardly any overlap. I'm only removing the existing patches because they are so badly welded. While I am making some cuts, most of a patch is being removed physically by pulling them off as they are that badly welded.

While I shouldn't have bought this car sight unseen and certainly not for the price I paid, it has been an enjoyable project to get stuck into for me. Ironically the bad welds actually make it easier to work on. While I'd prefer an original/not mucked but maybe slightly rotten chassis, when I have pulled off the non original metalwork, it's actually been mostly solid.

There isn't many original examples of these out there now. So many have been previously restored. As they always have been cheap cars it gives me very little faith that many are actually done well under shiny paint.

A big reason why I do these projects is to learn things. Not only metalwork, mechanical work and paintwork (still need to learn that) but what to look for when buying a car. When you're grinding off thick chunks of filler or reconstructing a panel, you are up close and in detail. I've started to work out much better by eye what is not original and what has been repaired badly. At shows its quite interesting to look at a car in detail. For example, I have yet to find a Dolomite or Toledo with the correct rear inner arch. Everyone is not original and usually consists of a badly shaped flat plate grafted in.

All this being said, this project has been enjoyable enough that once I've finished this Midget, I am quite open to restoring another one. Of course preference being to a Sprite Mk1. Panels are quite a bit more expensive and not so good a fit on them admittedly.