MG Sports Cars

Well, it was a heck of a week getting the 'B'east ready for its date with the painter but I made it. Attached are a few shots of the process including the final block sand, priming, sealing and paint. For now, this is gong to be a bit brief but I'll post something more compete over on my Tempus Fugit Garage site some time next week.

Huge gratitude and thanks go out to my friend Rex Accavallo who lent his time and talents to the cause by shooting the final primer, sealer, color and clear coats (it would seem that my talents are better suited to the business end of sand paper and masking tape). We ran in to a few hiccups along the way - a bit of product mismatch that caused some primer separation in a few areas, a couple of unseen dings that need a quick fill and a few other odds and ends that prolonged the process - but everyone sucked it up and made it through to the end (I admit, I whimpered a bit near the end).

I couldn't be more thrilled. The pics are kind of crappy (from my cell phone) but the color is just amazing. Color is Britanny Blue, and early ('67ish) Ford Mustang color, more recently used by Ford as Light Denim Blue.

I'm going to take a bit of time off from the body work to give THIS body some rest from all of the sanding. As my friend Healey Rick says, "They don't call it 'body fun' for a reason" Man, am I pooped. Once I have another head of steam, it will be on to the cut and buff stage and completing the car over the winter.

Dave, that color looks great! bethcha can't wait to do the final assembly.
Dave

Yep, I'm anxious to get it put back together but have have a good week's worth of cutting and buffing ahead of me before that can happen. For now, and I know you can appreciate this, I'm going to take a few days off from my sanding duties to give my 62-year old body a break. Rick's right, they don't call it "body fun" on purpose.

Nice color, I like it. I know what taking several years to do somehting i liek. I am 6 on the Pantera.

It seems like week after week of small trivial task that seem to make no progress then all of the sudden your ready for paint and you beging to reap the benifits of all those small meneal steps.

"It seems like week after week of small trivial tasks that seem to make no progress then all of the sudden your ready for paint and you begin to reap the benefits of all those small menial steps."

Boy, ain't that the truth!

I'm going to start the cut and buff tonight. Spent last night organizing all of the bits that have to go back on - handles, badges, grill, etc. - and making sure I have all the fasteners, gaskets, and other sundry parts needed to complete the task. It was good inspiration (I'll nee plenty of that) for tonight's work. Shooting to have the "color" sanding and buffing done by the end of the weekend.

Even with the un-cut clear coat, it sure looks nice sitting back in my garage. I find myself going out at night and just looking.

I have been putting the Pantera back together as well. I have re-designed every corner so nothing is simple; not even the vacuum line to the brake booster coming off the 4-Weber intake.

Once I got to a certain stage I nailed one of those poster size note pads to the wall. Every thought that goes through my moind about what needs to be done I jot down on the note pad. I do so for...at the very least ...to clear my head. If I don't clear my head I find myslelf at 3am still thinking about the items and order. Once they are out of my head I can sleep.

That's a good idea Gary. I use a whiteboard but I still lie awake thinking about HOW? Many times that is the most difficult part.

Jim

I have a similar process to keep track of ideas as well as things that need to be done but, instead of a whiteboard or pad, I use a web-based program (that I use in my work) called Base Camp (http://basecamp.com/). Lets me organize and keep of track of "to do" items, build time lines, organize and track my outside resources, etc., add notes or comments.

I hear ya Jim. I have a few things I am still working on which consume my thoughts; building cable shifter form scratch for example. I do end up with notes everywhere which eventually migrate to "the board"

Dave I use an excell spreadsheet extensivelly for that on the last car. I will again but as long as I have major hard items to contend with I just try to get the loose ends on the board. I'll fine tune it later.

We all have our ways.

...and, it's been cut and buffed. I will never, repeat, never, do the body work and paint on another car. Ever. I'm getting too damn old for this kind of stuff. Although, I'm totally stoked by how it looks.

For those who are interested:

• Basic two-stage paint - color + clear
• Color sanded it with #800, then #1200, then #1500
• Cut it with 3M #1 rubbing compound and a wool pad
• Buffed it with 3M #3 swirl remover and a foam pad.

Now, comes the reassembly and a considerable amount of "other" work - plumbing the fuel system, plumbing the dry sump oil system, finishing the steering rack, fabricating and exhaust system, completing the rear brakes, and dialing in the suspension to name a few things.

gettin a little sprint car arthritis there Dave,,? lol
lookin good tho !
Dave

"gettin a little sprint car arthritis there Dave,,?"

Man oh man. My body feels like I got beat with a ball bat. I'm not in bad shape (not exactly underwear ad material either) but a solid week of sanding, cutting , and buffing really kicked my fanny. I'll never again whine about what body guys get for their work.

This is not the best shot (taken w/my phone) but I'm making some progress getting things back together. The stripes were harder to put down than I thought they would be, especially where the bonnet curves down in the front. It took me a couple of shots to get the hang of it. This stuff is very thin so using a tack cloth before you lay it down is an absolute must. Windscreen will be next to go on, then I need to work on getting the ride height where I want it. Still lots to do...

As promised, here are better shots of the reassembly progress. Lots of stuff happening: windshield installed, rear ride height set, deck lid spoiler on, rear tag lamp, tag plate, knock-offs installed, striping finished (although the roundels seem to MIA through the Canadian post), and bunch of other stuff. Gave it a good clean up and did my best with the camera without rolling it outside.

There's still a winter's worth of work to do before it will be road worthy but, at least, it looks the part.

I also promised Bill Guzman some motor shots but the damn flash bounced of the thermal hood blanket and really washed them out. Same thing happened on the interior images. I'll try again at some point but, for now, here 'tis. If you're curious about how everything made it to this point, visit my car site at : [www.tempusfugitgarage.com] - tons of images and "how to's".

I'll update my post over in the Project area in the next few days.

And, by request...

Very nice Dave, love the front valance!!!

"love the front valance"

It started life as a basic "Sebring" valance and I used the factory LeMans cars as a reference to make changes - location of the driving lamp sockets, "eyebrows" around the brake duct openings, rectangular oil cooler screen, etc. It's pretty faithful except for the 9" section in the middle (so I could match the new fender width) and the tow hook (which was a touch I borrowed from the early factory "light weight" team cars).