Mk 1 Project Zippy. Looking Like a Car.

[MrBounce]

Hinges stiffer than rigor mortis in a corpse.



Mirror mounting plate removed from door by drill



"New" mirror for passenger side found on good ol' eBay. Easy to pull apart.

[MrBounce]

Old mirror not so easy. Things either snapped or were rusted together.



Finally apart; Lug needs drilling out (I have done this)



Heater unit. It's a big bugger...

[MrBounce]

These last couple of weeks I have been a resourceful bloke. I got in touch with a guy on eBay who was selling his (slightly damaged) MGF dashboard for less than a tenner. Trouble was it was a long drive away in Loughborough and he didn't have the materials or time to send it. When it didn't sell he contacted me and said if I could get to St Ives in Cambridgeshire I could have it for free as his mate would bring it down. So a dodgy looking exchange was done in a pub carpark (I was the one wearing shades & looking shifty) and I chucked it in the boot. Massive thanks go to Ollie (who let me have it for nothing) & Dan (who brought it down). Cheers guys!

I got it home and (as expected) it is a mere 100mm different. Obviously I need to lose that from somewhere, but am undecided whther to cut the edges (I don't think there's quite enough to cut out from there) or to "doctor" the glove box area. Will let you all know when I have attacked it with the hacksaw, Dremel and fibreglass. I did take the time to repair the floppy bit by the hole for the CD player. Gaffa tape to hold it together then resin & chopped strand mat helped!

I got the missing bit from the front end and removed all the cracks (there were a LOT) on the bench, then taped it back in place before properly glassing it in from behind. I have used a bit more P40 on the front after sanding down the first lot. It is going to take a while and looks a bit rubbish right now but once done there should be a vast improvement of the chunks of filler in there when I first rescued the car!

Finally, whilst the fibreglass was drying I took time out to knock the CV joints off the driveshafts. One of them had knackered threads (this was the one where a previous owner had attacked the hub nut with a grinder) and the other was seized solid... How helpful. The spare one I had in the parts box turned out to be a used drum brake one so that was useless to me as well. The shopping list increases...

MGF Dash - free!



Well it kind of fits...



Damaged repaired

[MrBounce]

Missing front panel replaced.



New fibreglass behind it.



CV Joints removed from driveshafts. New ones needed.

[MrBounce]

Re-added due to website issues (Ithink...)

I thought it was about time I pushed the car outside to give it a check over to see if I had any other bits of bodywork to do. Of course there was more to do, but thankfully nowhere near as much as the front end. I am really starting to dislike sanding. I think what I am going to have to do is get an army of mates over with a shedload of sanding blocks, some beers, chips and dips and just tell 'em to get on with it!!

What I found was some minor damage on the offside rear wheelarch which had been "repaired" (yup, just a load of filler chucked in - I dealt with this by hammer, screwdriver and anger...), some cracks by the rear number plate surround and in the thin fibreglass at the top of the door apertures. I have sanded and dealt with all of them, adding some additional fibreglass for extra strength behind the thin bits. I have now run out of resin again...

I also did some more work on the front end, but as it is such an awkward angle to work at I will get a friend to help me turn the shell onto one side before I attempt anymore. More later.

P40 used in the arch. I previously used a hammer & screwdriver to knock out huge wads of body filler. Lovely...



Ground out cracks dealt with.



The mouse is out of the house!!

[Rich]

I'm fascinated by the MGF dash, is the curvature at the top close to that of the Midas?

[lankyjames]

I too am very interested in more photos of that dash, been meaning to pick up mgf and mx5 dashes etc

[Rich]

Thinking about it I might have an MX5 dash in the loft, the curvature is pretty pronounced on them from memory.

[kelvink]

I'm also interested in how the MGF dash is going to fit. I'm thinking it may be too wide surely?

Needless to say I'm making my own for my car, in fact I'm totally redoing the complete interior, though so far the roof lining has escaped any mods. Yet.....

[MrBounce]

I'm also interested in how the MGF dash is going to fit. I'm thinking it may be too wide surely?

Surgery. Lots of it