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MG MGA - Front Bumper-Fender Opening

Hi, I am newly in this forum, I am been an owner of MG´s for several years. One of the details that I see very often on the "A´s" is the gap between the top side of bumper and the fender, the opening is too big in most of the cases, even if the bumper is centered correctly in the front balance, there are some cars (very few) that do not show that opening, did you notice that and solved? Mine shows that problem too.




R Garcia

R,
I suspect it is a combination of front end damage, poor replacement parts and maybe bad alignment. My gap if I recall correctly is about 1/3 of an inch or less.

One thing I will add for those preparing their cars for the paint booth. Be sure to have the bottom side of the front fenders and nose of the car finish nicely before you apply the paint. The chrome bumper works as a mirror...... any imperfections in the bottom of the front fenders/nose will reflect off the bumper and show all. Lesson learned.

Ray
Ray Ammeter

If you heat and bend up the outer bumper iron to raise the last fixing point this will close up the gap considerably.
J H Cole

There is quite a bit of adjustment, but you need more than two hands or some jacks and blocks of wood. You should be able to get it close with a bit (a lot) of fiddling! Unless someone has a very clever way, it really has to be done on the car.

Just slacken the main mounting nuts first and see how close you can get it. If necessary (usually is) slacken the nuts on the back of the bumper irons (chrome coach bolts) and the bolts behind the over-riders. This gives a lot of movement.

One note of caution, be careful when tightening the bolts behind the over-riders. If they are too long they will make a dent (from behind) in the chrome!

Hope you can understand that! Reading it, it's not so easy, even for a native English speaker!

Looking at your picture I think you should be able to get that gap right with the above method. Looks like you need to slacken the bumper iron nuts slightly and, with the over-rider bolt loosened, twist the outer section of bumper up, relative to the centre section. block or jack it in place and re-tighten the bolts. Sounds easy? try it!

Please let us know how you get on.

Neil
Neil McGurk

You think your bumper gap is big Raul? Check out this official BMC press release photograph of an MGA!



Lindsay Sampford

Neil,
I understand your clear explanation,yes it is possible to raise the bumper a 1/4" just playing with the limits of the tolerances, probably with the jack and twisting the brackets a little bit as JH Cole suggested I can gain the almost 3/8" required to close that ugly gap. I will show results as soon as possible, but my MG is in process of resto.
Raul
R Garcia

Lindsay,
I don´t know if that BMC release makes automatically the official gap acceptable, probably there is a tolerance in their check list, but you will agree with me that the gap looks awful.
Raul
R Garcia

True Raul, that one was probably what we call a "Friday afternoon car"!
Lindsay Sampford

It may not be the bumper which is at fault. If you want to get at the true reason for the gap place the car on a horizontal surface and check with a spirit level on the top of each bumper section. Each section should be perfectly horizontal. Next check whether the bottom of the two front wings and the bottom of the central duct panel are in line and perfectly horizontal. Keep your fingers crossed and hope that the bumper sections are not horizontal and if so then proceed as above to adjust the offending section. If you find that it is the o/s front wing bottom which is not horizontal then the problem may be that the wing has not been installed correctly. Do another check and find whether the front wing vertical joining line is perfectly vertical (ideally you should remove the headlight and sidelight units to do this). If the problem is with the wing then I think you will find that the join is not vertical and the wing needs to be rotated anti clockwise, when viewed from the front, to make it vertical. This would bring down the left side of the wing bottom down and close your gap.
The wing can be rotated anti-clockwise by loosening all the screws fastening the wing except the one at the very front. Then you will need to push the wing from the back (after first removing the door!) by around 1/8" to 1/4" towards the front. Because the wing top is curved you will notice that the centre top moves upwards a touch and the whole front section rotates anti clockwise. This is one hell of a job, has consequences for your door gaps and looking at the picture of your car there is no way I would suggest you do this and rather you live with it or play around with the bumper section even though this may not be at fault.
However, for anyone installing a wing in a rebuild it is important to make sure that the front bottom is horizontal and the front join is vertical otherwise you will get these uneven gaps. Mike
m.j. moore

My believe is that the problem comes from design, and the valance is two high on dimensions, look the attached image (taked from internet), there is no gap in the top of the bumper, but below the bumper you can see the contour of the valance off balance (centered).
Raul


R Garcia

"Check out this official BMC press release photograph of an MGA!"

Documented proof for Concours judging. Anything less than that gap is points deducted :>)
Chuck Schaefer

I narrowed the gap by twisting the supporting brackets,lowering the forward portion of bumper. That will bring the outside bumpers points up. Offer the bumper to the car supported on wood or what have you,no nuts, and see what needs to be done. It was a pain 3 feet below my neck.

Martin
m zazvorka

On the MGA the wings are NOT intended to be flush with the lower edge of the front shroud; they are mounted lower to allow rain water to drain onto them from the main body section, and then drip off. If production tolerances do not allow this, then the anti-squeak beading between the wings and the shroud performs a similar function if cut to the correct length.

This is traditional British coachcraft - let the more easily removed panels rust first. Quite sensible, surely?

Alex
A. W. Risk

Raul, you can see from your second picture that the bumper is not parallel to the lower edge of front panel and wing. It is too high at the side and too close to the wing.

Lindsay, I wonder if that would be acceptable as a press release photograph today? Not the most professional looking backdrop! and I notice the wheels have not been cleaned (and are black?) also note the wiper park position and lower edge of the front wing to valence step. This looks like a prototype or test car and I am pretty certain that the the front bumper is not as assembled on the production line.
Neil McGurk

Yes it's an interesting picture, I don't think it's a Twin Cam but it's got what look like Dunlop wheels. The title of the picture said "original press relese photograph" but nobody seems to have gone overboard to present the car in it's best light, the back cloth looks like it could do with a wash! Like I say, Friday afternoon, "come on lads, look at that time, leave it for the Saturday morning shift to sort out"!
Lindsay Sampford

ORX 885 was not an ordinary MGA

http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/twincam/tc108-500a.htm
John DeWolf

Thanks for that fascinating information John, there was no mention of any of that where I found that picture.
Lindsay Sampford

This thread was discussed between 07/08/2009 and 08/08/2009

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