This is going to be THE major effort of the entire project! I don't name my cars, but if I did, I'd name this little car "CRUSHER", because that's what most people would have done with the car. The first order of business was to determine the extent of the rust damage and determine which panels will have to be replaced or patched; the list is daunting. I placed an order with Moss Motors for the following sheet metal:

front fender repair panel, R/H
outer sills, L/H &R/H, 1 jack point
inner sills, L/H &R/H
inner sill, R/H
rear fender repair panels, L/H &R/H
floor pan, L/H &R/H 
outer cross member section (2)
trunk floor
outer side footwell panel, L/H &R/H

bulkhead, rear cockpit

bulkhead, shut panel
reinforcement set, bulkhead floor (2)
base plate, spring mount (2)
bracket, radius arm, L/H &R/H
spring hanger box (2)
damper mounting bracket, L/H &R/H
"A" post assembly, L/H &R/H

"A" post outer skin, L/H &R/H

When finished, and I WILL finish this project, it will be good to look back and say how good it is that the car was rescued and did not wind up as a Kia or Subaru. But that's a LONG way off; LOTS of time, effort, and $$$ to invest in this little LBC first.

So check back here often; I think I'll be spending quite a long time in this phase.

Because of the amount of bodywork to be done, I am splitting up this phase chronologically.

Jun-Aug 2007 - exploratory probing, body cleaned, doors removed and braced, paint stripped, rust and unneeded metal cut away; decision to replace entire rear bulkhead as well as the sills and floor pans, car divided into front and rear sections; fabrication of both lower dog-legs; installation of a new boot floor.

Sep-Nov 2007 - frenching in a tag frame; bulkhead assembled on bench, car prepared to receive new bulkhead, bulkhead installed; passenger side footwell pan, floor pan, cross member, sill, footwell side and "A" pillar installed; driver's side footwell pan, floor pan, cross member, sill, footwell side, and "A" pillar installed; measurements taken, adjustments made, and final welding of front clip to rear...the car is whole again; doors trial fitted, doors removed, door braces added back, and car returned to rotisserie; the installation of the floor/bulkhead reinforcement completes the sheet metal replacement, less the rear fenders; repair and prep of the rear wheel wells and prep work on the rear axle housing and differential.

Dec 2007 - Feb 2008 - LOTS of small jobs (some not too small), including...hanging the rear suspension; trying on the new wheels/tires to check fit; cleaning parts, cleaning more parts, cleaning the steering rack and installing for mock-up; installing the roll bar; fabricating a pan for the Tilton pedal box; cutting the steering column and installing a quick disconnect/steering wheel; installing seats; fabricating a cage for the fuel cell; mounting the Enots alloy flip fuel filler cap.

Mar 2008 - May 2008 - installing the passenger seat; finishing up the fuel cell with hold down straps and a filler pipe; modifying the accelerator linkage and adding a Hopkirk accelerator pedal; stripping the boot lid, front wings (fenders), bonnet (hood), and front cowl; modifying the front clip to tilt forward and welding up the bumper bracket holes; repairing the front fenders and replacing the rectangular turn indicator lights with some round ones (from the TR3 and big Healey) that better fit the theme.

Jun 2008 - Aug 2008 - progress slows as work on the new garage is completed; the fenders, hood, and cowl come together to form the tilting front clip.

Sep 2008 - Oct 2008 - back to the nitty gritty; the front clip is complete for now and set aside so the car can go back up on the rotisserie; the doors are hung; the rear quarter panels are prepped for replacement; next, some sand blasting, front frame member alteration, and patching some holes in the tub.

Nov 2008 - Mar 2009 - no time for garage work. The weather turned cold quickly, then the holidays, then major surgery and recuperation for my dog, lots of travel, and tax time!!! HOWEVER, I did manage to get up to Greenville and pick up the new engine for the Spridget Project...WOW! If you haven't checked out the Engine build section yet, you REALLY should! This "time off" also gave me an opportunity to revive and renew. A long term project like this one can wear one down so a break now and then is not necessarily a bad thing....oh...and a new engine can certainly provide some incentive to get busy!

Apr 2009 - Jun 2009 - only the last week of April was available for work in the garage...better make the most of it...May afforded a bit more time for work; I started out by filling in some holes in the rear of the body, then did some serious work on the driver's side rear fender; I wanted a bit more clearance for the larger wheels/tires, so additional flaring was required...one parameter to shoot for was as close to stock appearance as possible; if this were to fail, Plan B was to radius the rear fenders turning it into an RWA (round wheel arch) car...attractive, but not in keeping with the look of the early car I desire; prepared for and installed the driver side rear fender patch panel; re-hung the rear suspension to verify sufficient clearance; decided against the Kirkey high-back racing seats due to their modern appearance and sourced some period correct aluminum 'bomber' seats with diamond stitched covers; removed rear suspension then installed the passenger side rear fender patch panel; spent the remainder of June fabricating patches to cover holes in the floor and rear fender/boot areas.

Jul 2009 - Sep 2009 - It is good to move on to a project where you can see some visible results quickly. I'll start off this section with applying panel sealer and paint to the underside of the car. The sealer is from Eastwood and the paint is POR15. I'm using standard POR15 since the underside of the car will be protected from UV rays and should not have a fading problem like the top side will. Now it's on to painting the inside of the car; under the bonnet, inside the boot, and the cockpit/roll bar area. All of this is getting standard POR15 that will be top coated with POR15 "Hardnose Paint" with UV inhibitors later on; mounting the seats and safety harnesses.

E-mail Ray at ray@raysmg.com about MG interests you may share.