How I Built a Body in 1800 Easy Steps !!

[roddguy1]

Hey guys, the opening of my new shop has kept me very busy the last few months. My first project in the door is a 1938 MG TA. Apparently less than 4000 where ever made. So what started out to be a tear down and straight forward body repair turned into an brand new hand fabed body made in steel to replace the old wood framed body. Here is what I started with.

 

[roddguy1]

Once I had the body off the frame I mounted it on our Wedge Clamp frame machine so I could square it up as much as possible. I then set up a center line wth moveable hanging plumb bobs which would alow me to measure from side to side. From these measurements I began building a wooden buck using MDF board.

 

[roddguy1]

Building the buck took nearly 50 hours to complete. It was a much more detailed process than I originaly thought.
Once the buck was completed I began at the front making the cowel hoop. I used 2x2x1/8" angle iron for this. I then moved on to the rocker sections which are the main strength of the body. I used 5x1/8" flat stock for these.

 

[roddguy1]

I then moved on with building the inner support structures for the upper body, inlclulding the door hoops. These are all made from 14 guage sheet metal. The rear body frame sections where made from 1 1/2x1 1/2x1/8" angle iron.

 

[roddguy1]

Now it was time to start on some of the sheet metal parts. Begining with the rear wheel houses. As I don't have an English wheel or planishing hammer yet these are all hand hammered. Those tools are now number 1 and 2 on my to buy list. The last pic shows the left side installed with the 14 guage inner 1/4 also installed. This piece directly replaces what would have been a wooden panel on the original body.

 

[roddguy1]

In the first pic I'm getting ready to trim the door hoops to there proper width.

The second pic shows the foward formers have been removed so that I can now take patterns and make the inner A pillar and rocker panels.

In the third pic the parts have been cut and I'm now bead rolling the panels for added strenght.

The forth pic shows the finished panels.

and installed.

 

[roddguy1]

This series of pics shows the upper cowel braces being made, mated to the A pillars, welded in and cleaned up.

 

[roddguy1]

This series of pics illustrats how I made the front 1/4 skins, although I didn't get any pics of the shrinking I did to get them to follow the contour of the body frame.

 

[roddguy1]

Here I'm working on the back panel for the body.

 

[roddguy1]

In this series of pics I'm making the upper inner braces that will tie the back panel into the inner 1/4's.

Starting with a flat panel I first marked the layout of the panel. It's hard to see but the upper and lower flang have a slight sweeping curve to them. The flanges were hand bent and then run through the stretcher to form the corner curve.

 

[clipper]

MG build

WOW Awesome job. what brought on the need to completely rebuild a body from scratch? Keep us posted on progress....Or else!!!

 

[roddguy1]

In these pics you see the pocket made to hold the side curtains for the convertable top.

 

[roddguy1]

Ok the first pic is an over view of thing up to this point.

The next two show one of only a few pieces of the original body that I'm reusing..... the hip brace.

I mocked up the hing mounts with the original hinges with a brace added to keep them lined up while I made the mounts, but will be replacing them with new units later.

 

[roddguy1]

WOW Awesome job. what brought on the need to completely rebuild a body from scratch? Keep us posted on progress....Or else!!!

Thanks clipper. The reason for building from scratch was simple. He wanted a body that would be stronger and quieter than the original body, which after a through inspection was shot. A new body could have been order from the UK, ($12,000) but then your stuck with wood again. He was also very concerned about weight as the original engine is only 47hp. I've been doing the math on the parts going into this body and in it now complete and less than a 100 lbs.

 

[roddguy1]

This is the begining of the doors. In pic one you see the paper pattern, and the two lengths of sheet metal ready to be formed in the shrinker/stretcher.

The first half formed.

The two halves formed and fit together along with the upper cross brace.

Clamped for welding.

Both frames hung in thier openings.

 

[roddguy1]

Now it's time for some door skins. I'm reusing the door tops as they are in good shape and will same me some time. The left top however needed a bit of repair on its inner edge. Since they are originally nailed to a wood frame the moister took it's toll.

This series of pics shows the new edge being installed and then the repaired top being taced to the new skin. to form the skins for the crown in the door I ran them through a 5' roller to add some crown to them.

 

[roddguy1]

This series you can see the finish welding, the door cleaned up and hung.

 

[roddguy1]

Once I was happy with the fit of the doors in there openings it was time to final weld the skins to the frames.

 

[eyesore]

Cool!

Me thinks you've done this before. Very nice work!

ISore

 

[roddguy1]

Now it's time for the Rear 1/4 skins.

I started by making up a set of forms. Two pieces of MDF glued together with bondo. Then cut and sanded to the shape I needed for the upper revel on the panel. Then the sheet metal gets sandwiched in between the form and a top plate. Everything is screwed and clamped in place. Then it is hand hammered to from the top. A little heat and some time in the shrinker and you have a panel.