MG-Cars.net

Welcome to our resource for MG Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG MGB Technical - 1973 MG B body/sheetmetal

Just starting the restoration of a 1973 MG B. Front fenders and at least 1 quarter panel needs to be sectioned. Question ... there are multiple sources for body parts from very inexpensive to whoa ! Sugesstions
please....anyone have experience with the front fenders
available @ $190.00. Would it be best to just bite the bullet for the more expensive fenders.
Paul Portu

Almost certainly. "You get what you pay for" is usually the case, and more expensive items are usually better. Heritage (original tooling) and Steelcraft (repair panels) are good (but pricey), other manufacturers need to be treated with more caution or you may end up doing a lot of metal bashing and still have a poor fit.
Paul Hunt

The dimensions of replacement wings and panels are far off precision when cheap replicas are offered.
As long as you can have yours rebuilt, you should not go for cheap new ones! Even cheap GRP moulded wings seem to be better than the junk that is offered by some of the retailers.
If you can not have yours rebuld, try to find reasonable (original) used ones instead of a set of look alike replicas that do not fit.

Ralph
Ralph

Thanks for the information. Two other questions.....

1) Fiberglass fenders and hood........fit and finish ?

2) If it is concluded to just go ahead and bit the
bullet for the best body parts, what would be the
best produst to buy and from whom?
Paul Portu

Paul,

My 73B had a body restoration in 1995 by the previous owner. The body shop used cheap fenders and 13 years later I had to deal with that.

When I got the car 3 years ago I couldn't figure out what the hood didn't align properly with the right side fender. Also, I was stumped on why both head light rings appeared out of place in regard to the fender nose edges around the headlights.

I finally looked closely at all this last summer. Turned out the fender mounting bolts below the long edges of the hood didn't line up with the holes in the replacement fenders. The body shop sort of bent and pushed things around to make it "close".

When I looked into the headlight chrome ring placement it turned out the holes were were mispositioned. I had to cut a good deal of steel away to offset the headlights to the correct position.

All in all I wish the previous owner had spent the money on quality fenders.

BH Davis
BH Davis

Paul,

i tryed GRP wings from Moss UK about 10 years ago and they were O.K. although you will have to drill the holes yourself and must route an earth wire to each of the headlights and the flashers too.

I would not try an GRP hood/bonnet, as they have insufficiant fixings to the hinges and tend to crack. I have seen this on some V8 conversion and MGC's that had them fitted.

If you look around, you should find a used light alloy one at nearly the price of a GRP one.
Ralph

FWIW headlights and side markers should already have an earth wire, as do rubber bumper flashers. Chrome bumper flashers *will* need an earth wire added, connected to the headlamp clusters.
Paul Hunt


quote: "what would be the best product to buy and from whom?"

Paul Hunt already answered this question up above... a company called "British Motor Heritage" still makes fenders on the original MG tooling. A company called Steelcraft, in the UK, makes pretty good patch panels (which Heritage distributes). Several mail order companies in the U.S. offer these suppliers' parts.

For more insight and information, you may enjoy reading about British Motor Heritage here:

(overview of the company)
http://www.britishv8.org/Articles/BritishMotorHeritage-Intro.htm

(MGB specific)
http://www.britishv8.org/Articles/BritishMotorHeritage-MGB.htm
Curtis

Does "British Heritage" also stamp out rockers,and who sells' them?Are they labeled as such in Moss and Vic.British catalogs?
Rich Osterhout

Rick,

yes, and thay label this items with a BMH sticker

Ralph
Ralph

I have never had a problem with fitting a BMH replacement panel... EXCEPT when the car itself was bent. All the sills, castle sections and floor panels I've bought have been Steelcraft, and they have never been a problem either. I have an "aftermarket" bonnet on my current B/GT and it is too short. I made it fit "OK" but the gaps are not great. The only reason I get by with it is because it's always open at car shows!

But, consider the big picture. Restoring your car is a big, expensive, labor-intensive process. Don't try to cut costs with inferior products. Get BMH where available, and for panels that are not available from BMH, get Steelcraft. Whatever you save on other junk will be absorbed in labor costs (even your own) required to make them fit almost as well as the BMH ones - and maybe not even close!

These are standard fare available from the likes of Moss Motors, Vicky Brit, The B-Hive, Little British Car Co, etc. Save money buy using your own labor, but NOT by buying junk.

FWIW,
Allen
Allen Bachelder

What is wrong with your original fenders? If there is no collision damage and you just have rust on the bottom part of the fender, you may only need to replace the section from the chrome strip down with a steelcraft patch panel. I see Moss is selling them for around $90(jeepers they've gone up a lot in the past few years!). This is the route I took on my '65B restoration. They turned out very nice, plus they are 'original'. If you're not into cutting,grinding and welding, you might try taking a fender into a local welding shop and see what they would charge for all the work, or just the spot welding. Good luck in whatever you decide.
Always fun.

Bond
Bond Germain

We are rather spoiled for replacements. I have never had any major problems with steelcraft or BMH panels. It's expected with panels hand made on a wheeling machine that they do not fit and really represent a starting point, restorers using them expect to have to shrink or stretch them and if they have compound curves this soon gets beyond what an amateur could do.
Re do you need to change it all, this is worth thinking about .I replaced some of LH inner and outer sill (=rocker ) on the passenger side this winter and because the damage was quite minor and it was only curved in one plane made the little inserts myself forming it round a big dowel. I could have bought a dogleg section but catching it early meant I could just do it myself using stuff in the garage no cost and no agravation with the trade. The car passed it's MoT as usual.
Stan Best

This thread was discussed between 24/05/2008 and 28/05/2008

MG MGB Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGB Technical BBS is active now.