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MGB Help
Beril
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
A friend of mine recently inherited a '76 MGB. It's in less than great condition, so he wants to restore it. Any advice or websites on how to restore one of these?
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For MGBs there are endless resources, books, clubs, etc. Obvious advice is to start with a Haynes-type workshop manual with guides for stripping and rebuilding the various assemblies. For rolling restorations people generally tackle one job at a time, assuming that the body is sound. Full restorations are usually done by dismantling the car entirely into its major assemblies, sorting out the shell and body work first, and then building it back up.
The MG Car Club has an MGB specific forum with a wealth of technical info: http://www.mgcc.co.uk/mg-forum.html?func=showcat&catid=34
British Motor Heritage manufactures a lot of the difficult to find parts, as well, right up to complete body shells: http://www.bmh-ltd.com/brochures/2011 MGB brochure.pdf
Generally speaking it's no different than restoring anything else. The first thing you're going to want to do is check for is major frame damage, and then rust. Those are going to be the first two things you should fix before looking at anything else on the car. Hopefully the frame is sound, but most likely it's got rust, unless it was garaged a lot.
Rust will be the biggest fix. If your friend isn't handy with welding equipment you need to get a good shop to do it and that's going to set you back a few grand. If you're just going for the daily driver you can usually find a mom and pop operation that will cut out the rust, patch it somewhat attractively, put in some new carpet and a 50/50 paint job (looks good from 50 feet away at 50 miles an hour) for around 3K (that's what I paid for mine, but that was YEARS ago, so YMMV)
Once the rust is good, you want to move to the brakes and drivetrain. Then tackle the engine last.
I'll be honest, I've been involved with more than one restoration and I've never seen anyone put less than five to ten thousand dollars into a good daily driver classic. Think of it as buying a weekend convertible. You'd pay 5-15K for a new one (used), so you'll pay about the same to restore an old one.
If your friend has that kind of cash and the drive to make it happen, the rewards are worth it. Even if he doesn't have that kind of cash up front, just make a list of everything you need to do. Go to a shop and get them to check it out and give you a detailed invoice of everything that needs to be fixed, and if the friend has a garage, park it in there, take the list, and start tackling one thing at a time. The restoration might take two or three years that way, but it's still fun.
Good luck!
If it isn't, sell it, put another 5-10 K aside, and buy one already fixed up and drive the wheels off it. There is a warm gushy feeling you get from driving something you rebuilt from the ground up, but there's also the dread that you've just put like 15 thousand dollars into something you'll be lucky to resell for 10
In other words, this is not something you take on as an investment.
Your friend is going to be able to do some of the work himself, but he is also going to have to shop much of it out. Start with having the thing stripped, paneled and painted, that way you have a solid foundation to start from. He's going to want to continue from the ground up, so get the wheels restored, then do the suspension, then the steering, then the drivetrain (gearbox, diff, tailshaft), then the fuel system (tank, lines etc.), then the motor. Put some new tyres on the restored wheels and get it off the axlestands! Last the interior, and depending on how much work and money he's put into it, enter it in shows and win some trophies.
Cool concept, but you would have to replace the frame of the car as well to get anywhere near Porsche level.
If I was to make a daily driver out of an MGB, the first thing would be to look at the electrics and then perhaps improve engine cooling to make sure getting in a traffic jam does not mean overheating.