MGAguru is on the Prowl
MGA Guru is Gone Mobile

Second Anniversary Report

My last report ended with a tantalizing note about my MGA being disassembled for rust repair and painting. We arrived in Cogan Station, Pennsylvania on the evening of April 20th. The car was partially disassembled on the 21st. Rust repair was well under way on the 22nd, as well as forming of a new passenger side aluminum door skin. By the 25th the new door skin was finished and installed, most of the rust repair was finished, and much of the car was sanded down and ready for paint. By afternoon of the 27th the car had been painted using urethane (epoxy) enamel. In one day on the 28th the car was reassembled (except for interior panels), and we were back on the road moving long on our mission in the evening. Yup, that's eight days for disassembly, rust repair, repaint and reassembly. During that same eight-day lay-up, in addition to the new door skin, the car got a new drive cable and wheel boxes for the screen wipers, and new windscreen glass.

   


It was a few days later on May 2nd when I insulated the doors and reinstalled the interior panels. About the same time, it got a new water pump, new exhaust manifold, new rebound straps on the rear axle, and new rubber suspension buffers all around. A few days later on May 5th (Cinco de Mayo Day) we were celebrating the 2nd anniversary of this road trip. On May 12 the (second) aftermarket replacement plastic fan disintegrated doing (more) minor damage to the radiator which was repaired the following day. The remains of that plastic fan have been returned to the vendor for their consideration, and my MGA is once again soldering on with a steel cooling fan. On May 22 the car got a new master cylinder (and we have new leaf springs on back order). This car has gone through a lot of evolution in the past two years.

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