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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - hood rusting again

The hood is rusting along the seam again. I have already tackled this unsuccessfully twice in 28 years. Once by sandblasting and spraying, once by dipping, treating with Fertran, and spraying. Is there a better method? Would it help if I glued the hood sections instead of spot welding them?

Flip


Flip Brühl

Flip,

Did you use a zinc based weld through primer ?

Malc
Malc Gilliver

Flip
If it's completely sealed with paint above and below it shouldn't rust. Maybe the paint is cracking a bit or wasn't applied thick enough around the beading. It is a tricky area I think.
Bill B

I do love my Bonda Zinc Based Primer for stuff like this, it stopped my Sprite and SD1 rusting
Malc Gilliver

no I never used zinc on this car, I used red led (in 1997). I am afraid I ll have to take it apart to apply zinc.
Flip Brühl

Do your bonnet wings have the extra diagonal bracing bars at the rear? I think that without them extra movement would make the seam paint more liable to cracking.
GuyW

Keep in mind that these cars were never expected to last 28 years, let alone not need a bit of rust treatment a couple/few times in such a period.

I'd call it a win.

They are not forever, fix and forget cars.

Yep, grind it back, treat, paint, then likely repeat as required, if you still have it over 10 years later.

Me too Bonda Primer.

anamnesis

Those wing flanges are also difficult to get the weld far enough up to fuse close up to the bead. The tendancy is to weld along the edges of the wide flange which has the effect of creating a sort of hinge and flexing along the edges of the bead, which cracks the paint. The rear ones are even harder!
GuyW

some years ago the oil filter to block adapter, gasket failed and sent a lovely stream of hot oil in the direction of that very wing/centre section joint. Never rusted. Periodically I have to remove the oil that oozes out!!
Bob Beaumont

Great fix Bob. 🙂
anamnesis

Guy, agreed. I plug welded my seams as a 3 way "sandwich" with the beading, which I found difficult. I then used filler underneath to seal it and painted with Rustoleum combi color. On top I filled a bit between wing/ bonnet and beading so there was no gap for ingress of moisture (it was also a bit uneven from bonnet edge and wing edge repairs). Similar at the rear.
Bill B

Had kinda the same anti-rust treatment like Bob on my 78 Jaguar XJ6.

It lost the oilfillercap (I didnt put it on right/thight?) and the engine bay was filled with thick oil. LOL!!!

Bit of a job to remove most of it... but its in all the diffecult get to parts too so I dont expect rust there :)
A de Best

Hi,
Have a read of my blog for what I did back in 2019.

Still looking good….for now

https://www.mgmidgetrestoration.com/2019/11/to-bead-or-not-to-bead.html?m=1


James Paul

My Mk1 Midget has no beading on the rear wings either (it is how it was when I got the bodyshell). One less thing to worry about.
Tim C

This thread was discussed between 21/03/2026 and 23/03/2026

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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