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MG MGB Technical - Body strengthening

I understand that one of the restoration manuals highlights ways/methods etc of strengthening up the body/chassis of MGB's. Can anyone tell me the title - or even if such a book exists..?!

How many guys have actually done these mods?? Im thinking for structural rigidity of a car thats getting on a bit now and the UK roads aren't getting any better...

Cheers

~PHIL

Phil

Roger William's book on converting to V8 has some comments and illustrations on beefing up the body - especially by adding sections between the crossmember under the seats to the front hangers for the rear springs - a la RV8.

Seam welding the sills also adds strength.
Chris Betson

http://www.mgcars.org.uk/v8_conversions/files/body/strengthening.html

http://www.theautoist.com/RearSuspension.htm#Top%20Hats:

perhaps this is of interest to you.
Anthony Morgan

Phil,
Adding rgidity by including a roll over bar is also worth thnking about.

The type welded or bolted to a floor plate on the sill/wheelarch junction and going to the same point on the opposite side with support bars anchoring back to the wheel arch inner panel and lateral diaphragm would be worth considering.

Cheers, Pete.
Peter Thomas

There has been comment in the past about injecting foam into the cills to provide extra stiffness, and protection against side impact.

The problems are:-

Nigel Steward

Sorry about that !! Premature posting....

The problems are that you must select a foam which:-

Does not burn or give off noxious fumes in the event of a fire.

Inhibits, rather than promotes corrosion within the cills.

Can be applied by the average mechanic, and does not require expensive specialist mixing and application hardware.

NJSS
Nigel Steward

Nigel, and the name of this wonderfoam is......?

Please spill the beans, sounds like a good idea.
Tom

A word of caution on the "foam in the sill" idea:

this will create a possible bomb for the the next owner should they attempt to weld the sill not realising it is foam filled.

This stuff can burn with an amazing amount of heat and gives off some volumous amounts of gasses into the bargain.

Also it may act as a moisture trap by not allowing air to circulate and displace moisture.

A few thoughts and by the way there is a very thorough discussion in the archives you may want to check.

Cheers, Pete.
Peter Thomas

There is absolutely no good reason for injecting foam in sound sills and several bad reasons. If they are not sound they should be replaced.
Paul Hunt

Phil,

I have a mgb roadster which i converted to V8. Now i am doing the body and i seam welded the sills and added sections like Chris describes. The body isn't fianalised yet so i cannot inform you about my experiences but it really should help.
Regardss
Peter
Phil

This thread was discussed between 26/11/2002 and 01/12/2002

MG MGB Technical index

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