With the vehicle now registered, working, and on the road, we had the chance to enjoy the hard work and drive out with friends to car shows, run-outs, and even a couple of picnics and pub runs (not to mention the video).
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Work on the car slowed down to almost nil over the winter but there was still a few jobs to be done before the project could be signed off. With Spring about to be sprung it was warm enough in the garage to raise enthusiasm once again to get those jobs done. The electric windscreen washer was fixed (tubes round the wrong way), the front bumper section replaced (managed to procure a less rusty one), and new vacuum advance pipe fitted (plastic pipe melted on exhaust pipe so proper copper part with petrol trap installed).
Hood
Hopefully, if it is raining we will not be taking the MGA out so just a tonneau will suffice for most days out. But, this is the UK so it makes sense to fit a hood as it wouod have had one the day it left the factory. A hood frame was not included in the original purchase but a second hand one was procured. As expected, it was in a bit of a state but a bit of fettling and a coat of the correct colour paint brought it back to life. This was fitted to the car and the job of installing the rest of a brand new hood started - not as implicit as you would imaging but help from the MGAGuru got the job done.
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Arm Rest
The original arm rest on the MGA was a padded block fixed to the carpet between the seats stretching from the rear bulk head to just short of the gear lever hump. A padded arm rest cover was purchased with the seat covers so I decided to improve on this design by making it a lift-up arm rest with a little space to keep those nic-nacs that roll around the cockpit. I made a shaped box from plywood left over from the seat bases, covered in vinyl to match the door cards. The leather top was stretched over a 12mm piece of plywood from the floor boards. This was fixed to the box section with a hinge, and a support to stop lateral play that I 3D printed. The whole lot is screwed onto the transmission tunnel and a covered panel inside to cover the screws.
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Side Screens
I have two sets of side screens that would need renovating befoire even thnking about fitting them. Unfortunately, to be fitted the wind deflectors and wing mirrors would have to be removed - not a quick fix and I quite like having them on. For now they will remain in the box.
There She Is
Driving the car highlighted a few rattles in the engine bay. I thought it was the water pump so changed that which showed it was the crankshaft pulley all along. That changed the car was officially signed off.
Proudest moment was when she was chosen to represent MGAs in the special MG100 display (to celebrate the centenary of MG) at the front of Thirlestane castle during the BVAC Classic Festival of Motoring on 18/6/2023 - she looked resplendent amongst the othe other MGs spanning 100 years from pre WWII to the present day, and drew a lot of attention and comment.
I produced an information board for car shows that can be viewd here
What now?
We are enjoying proudly displaying this lovely car at car shows and going on picnics and runs with like minded classic car enthusiasts. Apart from general maintenance, I'm tinkering with modifying an MGA batwing steering wheel so that it is small enough to get my long legs underneath - more of the build process will be here.
After a garage clear out (a major task) it will on with the next project, an Austin Healey 3000.
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