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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Deeply depressed

A pig of a day. Just completed final tweaking of the midget. Test run up to Ballater for an ice cream in the glorious sunshine. Parked it up by the kerb, left for aforementioned ice cream, and some clown next in the line rams into my rear with his 4x4 monstrosity whilst attempting to leave. I wouldn't care so much, but I was a good 6 feet away from him! He was OK about it, very sorry etc, but I could have cried!

Anyways, damage is as per photos. Depession of about an inch - a sort of concave bullseye in the rear panel. He hit it with his tow hook. Second pic - in second post - shows the inside of boot.

Question then

I assume it could be beaten out and filled /repainted.

Bootlid etc can come off for access




Oggers

Oggers that is real bad luck. These big 4 X 4s are a real menace for poor visibility and careless driving. They think they are invincible! It could have been a small child standing there and he just wouldn't have seen them.

But, Yes that will repair. I assume he has offered to pay for it? It will be very much to his benefit if he can agree a cash sum with you rather than go through his insurance (lost NCB + future escallation of expensive basic prmiums) so bargain hard for a good price from him to cover it. (even if you then do it yourself)

The centre of the damage has stretched the metal so no amount of beating will get rid of the extra metal that has been created, but carefull tapping will re-shape it and then filler will do the job. The larger concave depression should largely push out with firm pressure from the inside of the boot. It also looks like the boot lip has been deformed which will need some carefull attention.

Incidentally, "panel beating" always sounds like the wrong term to me as beating implies hefty blows to me! In reality it is surprising how much reshaping can be done with gentle light taps, especially if this is done over some sort of weighty former. A lead "shot bag" used to be the thing but you can do well yourself with a thick sock filled tightly with damp sand.

PS you can add extra photos to your original message by simply replying to your own post
GuyW

Oggers' second photo of the inside of the boot.


GuyW

that's rubbish :( Looks like a bit of panel tapping might get you most of the way back, then some filler to blend in.

Rubbish :(
Rob Armstrong

I was wondering about what looks to be a pulled apart seam to the right in that last photo, but doesn't appear on the outside. Then realised if it is a J reg car (Oxford registration?) then it should have built in reversing lights and they have been blanked off. I did the same on my car as they were useless in unlit rural areas for actually illuminating the road when reversing. Plus I liked the cleaner look without them.

Anyway, it looks like the blanking panel fitted on the inside has been stressed a little and may need redoing, or at least resealing. I suspect it has been blended in on the outside with quite a lot of filler and this is likely to have craked or loosened under the paintwork - there are cracks where you probably wouldn't get if it was direct onto steel.

It may need a good deal more stripping back and reconstructing with filler than might otherwise have been the case. Still very easily done but if he is paying you may just want to get it all done professionally?
GuyW

Guy

Very many thanks for your comments - much appreciated - and I am somewhat consoled by them. The panel concerned has indeed undergone previous work in blanking off the reversing lights for the same reasons you mention - done by the PO incidentally. There is a very good guy close by who did a very smart job on an old Ariel motorcycle of mine some years ago - so it will go to him as I am hopeless at bodywork.

I too thought of simply billing the 4x4 driver's company directly - he was driving a company vehicle. As you say, it may be the cheaper option for them. I also have a witness - as it happened a fellow MG enthusiast - so they cannot really argue the blame. The driver admitted as such anyways to be fair to him.
Oggers

Well good luck with that Oggers. You've had a bit of a bad time, front and back, with your 2 cars!
GuyW

Guy

It was the same car! I reckon it's now about 6 inches shorter!
Oggers

Thought it was the one you sold!

Perhaps you need to find a smaller car!
GuyW

sorry to see the damage Oggers.

but slightly off topic I notice you have some strips on the car.

Have you got a pic of the whole car?
Bruce Burrowes

It's amazing how steel can be shrunk. About 10 years ago I spun on exit from a wet roundabout on a slick of spilled diesel - backwards into the Armco. Local Healey specialist quoted for a new N/S wing and all the necessary welding, but then did the job by beating. He got his wife to crawl inside with the steel dolly! Frogeye mind, no boot lid. Crafty bugger. From inside you can't tell it was ever done. I've done a lot of shrinking with heat. Get a spot cherry red, knock the bulge down flat, and it all tightens up when cool. I did this on an old Escort roof - car written off when a tile fell off the house next door, insurers paid up and gave me the car. Mind you it was then written off again when a truck rear ended it. It was still a runner and I sold it for £150! Good grief I do go on don't I?

Les
L B Rose

Les, I agree, you can shrink metal. All I was meaning is you cannot shrink stretched metal JUST by bashing at it - unless you use a special spiral- faced hammer and/or heat/cold.

The other way the skilled do is to redistribute the stretched metal over a larger area - over the whole panel even! Very clever, to see it being done!
GuyW

Guy,

Actually you can shrink metal just by bashing it, I've done it many times, but you don't want to use a hard face tool as the impact can stretch the metal defeating the purpose. You want to use a soft face tool like a wooden mallet, nylon face hammer, paper mallet etc.
David Billington

Interesting, Bill. I wasn't aware of that. I don't doubt you, but I find it hard to think what the physics involved in that process is. I know that a spiral faced hammer does it, with the spiral ridges gripping and "gathering" the metal just as a shrinker jaw does.
GuyW

Guy,

Some videos on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OKVCJ_y-IU and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em5dS5w7UlA , there are others as well. Basically the metal will take easiest option and if that is to thicken up (shrink) then it will, it's just a matter of using the right tools and techniques.
David Billington

This thread was discussed on 31/08/2018

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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