MGB rebuild "paint"



1. With the passenger side lower rear wing cut-away the condition of the outer wheel arch can be seen. I bought many of the repair panels way back at the 92 & 93 MGOC National Events at Knebworth, most parts purchased have been used on the project but in the case of the wheel arches....	2. ...I under estimated the amount of corrosion and only picked up small outer repair sections. This photo shows the complete outer wheel arch removed. I carried out most of the repairs to the inner wheel arch before removing the outer panel.

3. I opted to repair the inner wheel arch, although this turned out to be a bigger job than full replacement.	4. One of four home made repair sections used on the inner wheel arch. Again using 20g mild steel. Areas that will be covered by the repairs are cleaned and painted.

5. Three more of the passenger side inner arch repairs plus the new complete outer panel trial fitted.	6. The last of the welding work was done with the car on its side. Here the repaired inner arch and new outer arch can be seen.

7. The drivers side wheel arch was in the same sorry condition as the passenger side. The removal of these old panels mainly involved drilling out the old spot welds using a spot weld cutter / drill bit	8. At this stage the inner wheel arch and bump stop area are prepared for similar repairs to the other side. Although on further inspection the condition of this panel was found to be worse, so the decision was made to replace the complete inner wheel arch.
	9. With the body shell on its side the new inner and outer drivers side wheel arches can be seen welded in.
It turned out more straight forward to replace both the inner and outer arches rather than repair. Although the inner panel was probably designed for a later model as it differed from the original with respect to the seat belt fixing position plus a recess around one of the shock absorber fixing holes.

Copyright 2001