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MG MGB Technical - Buying first MG, Advice Needed

I've checked the archives and I can't find the answer to my specific question. I've just been to look
F1Fan

Sorry, must have hit enter too soon. Here goes again.

I've checked the archives and I can't find the answer to my specific question. I've just been to look at a 71 mgb roadster, it all looks in good shape apart from one area that worries me. All of the lower wings apart from the front drivers side, have signs of body filler in a thin strip, approximatly 8 x 3 inches just behind the wheel.

The outer sills are fine, from the underside of the car it looks as if the under side of the sill is fine, the area around the wheel arches is also good. The repair was done at least 8 years ago and the car has been in Arizona for at least 10years.

I cannot find any evidence of rust anywhere else on the car. Is it likely that the sills are in good shape and it was just the lower wings that needed repair work. My gut feel is that as the car has been like this for 10 years and is still OK, that probaly the car is structurally sound.

What do people think?




F1Fan

If the price seems right, buy it. Sounds like a better car than a lot of what's availvable. A little rust or bondo is easy to overcome. Lots of folks buy them completely rotted and are still able to bring them back...IMHO, mechanical condition is probably more important than some minor blemishes.
R. L Carleen

I would keep looking for an always-been-in-Arizona car. Why buy a potentially rotted car when you are alreADY in the MG land of milk and honey, body wise? From the perspective of this northern Ohio dweller, mechanicals are a lot easier to fix than body work. Rust is the enemy!
If, on the other hand, if it is very cheap it may prove a good first time learning experience, and having a drivable, every day car may be more important to one on a limited budget. The general wisdom however is to buy the very best that you can afford.
To answer your specific question, rust on the lower areas of the car is not all that easy to fix. Surface rust on the lower wings is generally indicative of more serious rot to the structural sills behind them. As you may know the sills are not just the part you see under the doors, but extend under the fenders and are the "bridge girders" that support the body.
Look in the archives for recent threads about dog leg replacement and such. Repair involves cutting away the lower part of the rear fender and then dealing with the rot that lurks behind it. Typically, rust on the bottom of the front fenders means that it rusted from the inside out. There is a very tight space between the bottom of the front fender and the outer sill, which is a notorious mud trap. If the fender rotted, then so did the sill. If possible remove the splash plates behind the front wheels and poke around. I believe that southern AZ is probably the lowest humidity environment in the country, so perhaps the tin worm will go into hibernation. But as they say, rust never sleeps.
A test for structural integrity is to check the top of the door gap. If it is much smaller than the rest of the door gap it means that the body may be bending in the middle due to badly rotted inner sills. With the top down stand on the door jamb or the floor and bounce up and down, and watch that gap. If it moves at all, I'd walk away.
May 69B came from Gilbert, AZ, and is the most rust free LBC that I have ever owned. It needed some TLC on the interior and the mechanicals, but it has been a joy to work on knowing that it is so fundementally sound.
Andrew Blackley

Bondo along the lower edges, F1Fan, as you describe would be something that would make me wary of this car. A simple test for cheesy rustout repairs involves using two refrigerator magnets - one pretty thin and weak, the other at least twice as thick and a bit stronger magnetically.

A repair with good metal right under the paint should allow the thin, weak magnet to stick on the spot. If there is even a skim of bondo under the paint, the thin magnet should either fall off immediately or barely be attracted to the car at all. If, however, the repair involves only a very thin skim of bondo to smooth out a metal repair underneath, then the heavier duty fridge magnet should be able to stick to the car. That would probably be an OK repair.

If you have a hole full of bondo under the paint, however, even the stronger magnet will likely fall off or only marginally be attracted to the surface. If this latter result is true, I would walk away from the car because it is likely you will have to make the repairs the seller didn't want to bother with. FWIW
Bob Muenchausen

Thanks for all your help.


The condition of the sills behind the lower wings was exactly what i was worried about.

I would have expected that if the lower wings were that badly corroded (the largst bondo patch was 10 x 3 inches) that the sill behind would have needed replacing, I'm assuming it was not replaced as the lower wing was patched up.

However I believe the repair was done a number of years ago and there is no signs of new rust. Also the door gaps were roughly equal showing no sag.

My insticts are to wait until I find a true Az car, however I like Bob's two magnet approach.

One final comment as a prospective MG owner this BB is an excellent resource.






F1Fan

I have a 79 B body shell, purchased with a seized engine. The dealer decal, barely visible on the trunk, is Wallace Motors of Phoenix, a BL dealer at that time. The current Arizona title shows that it was originally registered in Arizona in 79. It has some rust bubbling through on the right dogleg. Not bad and most of the rest of the car is in excellent condition, but, as Andrew notes it is rather dry here. That is why the military stores their surplus aircraft down in Tucson. So, an Arizona car, even one that was sold and has been in Arizona its entire documentable life, is no guarantee that it will be rust free. Sorry about that guys. One wonders if one might have a series of T shirts made up using the various MG models with the motto, "Born To Rust" on them. It would probably sell.

F1Fan. If you are in the Tucson or Phoenix areas, e-mail me off line and I will put you in touch with qualified people who can inspect the car for a fee. I also know of one 69 roadster that is coming on the market soon which might be a decent car. Les
Les Bengtson

Could it be that the sills have been done already? Full replacement can mean cutting away the lower part of the wings if new wings aren't being fitted at the same time. New sections are overlapped, and filler used to tidy where the panels are stitched together. If the filler is in a horizontal line a few inches up from the sills this may be what you are looking at.
Steve Postins

This thread was discussed between 21/06/2003 and 23/06/2003

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