James,
I had stumbled across the CarTalk article as well. One of my favorite quotes from it:
“…Though not designed for it, the MG has been known to go off road from time to time ? to the garage, mostly, where it invariably spends a number of months and sometimes a full season or two.”
Really funny. I’ll keep my Ford based replica, thank you.
Rich

Dick, I have heard
Lucas Lighting is the prince of darkness.
When I read the Click and Clack review, I was hearing their voices saying it, what a great review. Sounds like you agree. My car is the Fiberfab, but I do love the BCW.
James

What a hoot! That sounds like Click and Clack of auto maintenance
column fame.

I went the replica route for a very good reason. I owned a 1952 MG TD
when I was in college. Driving the car anything above 60 MPH was an
excise in terror. And the car did break down a lot. One dark and stormy
night, I was driving down a back road at around 50 MPH when…[Read more]

Rich is so right, cars deteriote when they sit. It always amazes me how fast a car will go bad when not driven.
One of the first things I did was replace all the rubber components on the engine. I ordered everything that was rubber and placed it all into a box and waited for warmer weather. I replaced everything on the first warm day, except for…[Read more]

Drove it for a few hours and no warmer then any floorwith the engine in the front and the pipes running allthe way back.They are mounted about 2 1/2 inchesfrom the floor.

Ringo,
This is a very good and timely topic. A few more thoughts to contribute. The person that built my car generally did a very good job. A few critiques are that he tended to undertighten and was not religious about using lock washers. Most of these cars have original or somewhat modified suspensions and tend to ride a little “stiff” so there…[Read more]

Thanks for the paint name and trunk idea both. Im gonna order the paint ASAP now that i know what to get. The weather has been really crappy lately but its changing so im gonna start stripping her down soon. I will post pictures of progress…

Pretty ironic that the MG logo in shadow on our home page is “Safety Fast”.
Ringo brings up a good point. These cars, for the most part, were built from donor cars/parts that 25 years and some even older!
Rubber parts especially, do not last that long. I always caution people that are driving Ford and GM based cars to install new timing belts…[Read more]

Looks like it will keep the floor pretty warm too!
 

My First ride in my Fiber Fair MiGi    I have wanted one for 35 years It all started the first time I met my wife”s Grand father.
 He had one in his garage,A 52 MG A real one with 1200 miles on it ,he bought it in 53 when my wife was born .He drove in A ditch and towed it home and there it sat till 1979 I would see them once or twice A year they…[Read more]

Ringo, I had thought about posting it on utube and I will letyou no when I do it. Luck. Bill

Hello Bill,
That should really make a difference on the sound.  I don’t remember ever seeing that done before.  If possible, could you  make a sound recording and post on the forum?
Good to see you’re thinking outside the box.  Fun, ain’t it?
I’m heading back out on the road.  Clear skies and 74 degrees last two days.  I’ve put ~275 miles on the d…[Read more]

Wolfpow while you have the car stripped down to the PAN .. I would use “POR15” paint …Its chip proof and rust proof.. much better then any of the so called rust paints like rustolium.. Its available from http://www.eastwoodco.com
PinkMG mentioned my Metal trunk ..I had made a cardboard templete all taped together that fit perfect in the space under the…[Read more]

Great info, now that i know “what” im working with it will make it a bit easyer to deal with.  I will start getting it cleaned up soon , i will post pictures of my progress. Also im sure more pictures will be comming. I did conferm that the Engine is a 74′.

Yup…
VW’s are very simply engineered and were designed to be easy to work on. Their floor pan (rolling chassis) were made to accept different types of vehicles, hence the suspension was made to have an adjustable in spring rate. Keep in mind that they were designed in the 1930’s by Ferdinand Porsche under the commission of the Nazi Government.…[Read more]

Ok so if i understand correctly since my rear tires are wide 5 lug, that means is a pre 68′? Not an IRS but swing anxle?

Wolfpow,
Your floor pan is a ’68 and newer. The easy way to tell if you have a Swing Axle (‘pre ’68) or IRS (’68-up) is to look at the rear wheels. 4 lugs are IRS and “wide 5” lugs are swing axle.
Because either front beam (ball joint or kin pin) can be fitted to a VW floor pan, looking at the rear wheels for this is best. The IRS pans are…[Read more]

Awesome. I know after replacing it, you feel a lot better knowing it is good to go. Hope your knuckles are okay, mine always seem to take a beating. Congratulations Good luck on a good solid road test ahead.James

Ok from best i can gather the VIN starts with a 5 really hard to make out from wear and paint. I assume that makes it about a 63 or 64 which would make sence on how the front shocks are mounted. And i believe the engine is a 74, that one still baffles me the VIN on the crankcase is AH261292, so if you can help figure that one out be my guest. I…[Read more]

Wolfpow,To be 100% certain,The VIN for the original VW Type 1 is stamped into the chassis tunnel just behind the access panel for the shift rod connection to the front of the transaxle.Find the VIN and then check it out here:http://www.lightner.net/ybdb/serno.htmlor herehttp://www.dubnetworks.net/vw-vin-decoder.htm