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MG MGA - Aligning the body halves NH update

I am now well into trying to align the front and rear halves of my '55 roadster on the frame to weld them together and unite them once again. I cut out and replaced all the earlier repair work that I did to the lower quarters of the inner fenders/rockers, as I really hadn't done a very good job, and then things progressed much better.

I have the driver's side all riveted together with good door gaps...this required one shim under each of the hinges and one under the latch striker plate. I got lucky and only had to take everything apart and put it back together four or five times, and only had to drill the rivets (aluminium) out once.

The passenger/right side is another matter altogether, however. The rear fender has collision and rust damage, and can't be made to line up properly until I've pounded out a few dents. Worse, the frame has been repaired with a patch on that side just under the A pillar location, and may be a bit off. I measured the frame for square, which it still seems to be, but I now am fairly sure there is a slight bow to that rail, as if someone even heavier than I were standing on the middle of the door sill. This is causing problems aligning the new F pillar assembly with the sheetmetal door opening edges.

I think that the frame repair is solid, though not pretty, and I am going to spend some more time adjusting the fit to see if I can get the door to line up properly against the front fender (saving the rear for later. I hope to have it all riveted together and ready for welding this weekend. This will be a major milestone for me, so I hope it doesn't actually take two more months to get to that point -- it's taken far too long already.

JIM in NH
AJ Mail

Jim, keep up the good work. I know you had a lot to deal with from the photos. I'm sure you will get there in the end. I finally got my body off the frame this weekend after all the sill repairs were completed. What a relief to not find any unseen rust in the frame under the body.
Bill Young

Hi Jim. You have undertaken a monumental task, and it sounds like you are fighting a good battle, and that so far, you are winning. I'm sure you have a strong urge just to push on and complete the job, however, I would advise you to slow down a bit and do some very careful assessments. If your frame is not correct, then the body repairs you are attempting will likely end up being incorrect also! Now might be a good time to take some very careful frame measurements! Compare the measurements from the "good" side with those on the "bad" side. If the measurements differ considerably, then you likely have a serious frame problem! If necessary, you may end up having to brace the unfinished side of the body, and then remove the body from the frame. Doing this will allow complete access to the frame. If the frame is badly out of kilter, it is likely in your best interest to bite the bullet, lift the body., and make proper remedial repairs to the frame! Doing this will ensure that your body will fit properly on the frame, and that subsequent sill and piller repairs will be correctly aligned. Please remember that failure to get perfect sill/pillar alignment will cause you no end of misery and frustration as you attempt to progress. Hope things go your way, good luck, Glenn
Glenn

I am going to try one more time to see if the door will fit up without taking apart the frame itself.

I will, however, stop and run a string line along the frame to see if my suspicion is correct, or if it's some other problem that is creating the door alignment issue.

I have read that on some cars, the left and right door opening measurments differed by 1/4" or more and that's just the way it was.

Sorry to keep bugging you with my (slow) progress reports, but I come here for encouragement as well as advice. No one that lives here understands.

JIM in NH
AJ Mail

OK, I got it figured out.

The rear right body mount was in the wrong place. It needed about a 3/8" shim to bring the rear quarter higher, then the side lined up much better. The suspect frame repair is actually pretty straight. (Maybe I could cut and weld the frame and move it up in the middle about 1/8", but everything is a compromise. The F- pillar, from Moss, is also a bit tweaked - on the other side, I had to cut the F-pillar apart and reweld it back together to get it square.)

The frustrating thing is that I actually moved that mount before, but then cut if off and put in back in the "right" place (same location as on the other side by careful measuring)...grrrr.

Moral here is that nothing on these cars is exact, and you can't really use a tape and a level -- it's more like boatbuilding where a careful eyeball is the best gauge.

When I shimmed the rear body mount and tried the fit of the F pillar again, the rightness of it was immediately apparent.
AJ Mail

Great news Jim, glad you got it sorted.
Bill Young

Another reminder that the tolerances on the diagonal measurements in the factory manual are 1/4" & 3/8"! There's no mention what the tolerance is on the other dimensions. +/- 1/8"? +/- 1/4"?



Derek Nicholson

Hi Jim
I am at the same place you are with my 55 A. I bought it in April of last year as an unfinished project car. I was lucky that the previous owner already purchased the F frames and rockers. The old rockers where completely gone so I just took the front and rear sections off and had them blasted. The previous owner also had redone the brakes and wheel cylinders so I went ahead and finished the frame and suspension first. That was last winter and this summer I started on body. I replaced trunk floor and rear side panels as well as rear valance. I have bought my body parts from Scarborough Faire. I have the passenger side back together, I just have to repair back bottom of rear fender. I had the fenders off and on at least a dozen times. I made shims for the hinges out of some pieces off aluminum gutter I had laying around. I use sheet metal screws through the flanges until i get everything in place. I use a small wire feed welder and a 220 volt spot welder from Harbor Freight that works great in a lot of places. I just started the drivers side yesterday. I also have a TD that I did over a few years ago. I think the A is a bit harder . I'll let you know how things go.Ron
C Tarr

This thread was discussed between 14/11/2006 and 19/11/2006

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