Project Zippy (Midas Mk1 Coupe) Engine In!

[MrBounce]

I attacked the bumpers this afternoon. I took the Dremel to the cracks on the front bumper (there were a LOT!). I am now covered in a mountain of fibreglass dust. I am eternally grateful for my "Bane" mask complete with filters that kept all that out of my lungs. Once I had finished being evil on the outside, there was a hole on one end and very thin fibreglass the other. So I cracked out the new fibreglass kit and patched those up from the inside. The outside has now been repaired with a varied mix of resin and P40. I have the lovely job of sanding to follow. It's my intention to use "hidden" captive nuts on brackets so I can use bolts on the inside of the car - a much tidier idea than the wood screws poking through the bodywork with the heads exposed on the outside of the bumper.

While the front was drying out, I scooped out the foam in the rear bumper. This took ages. And unfortunately, because the foam itself was not sealed into the bumper, it was partly damp. Yuk. The end bits where the screws went were covered with fibreglass, so these were Dremel'd off revealing a very rotten piece of wood underneath. These fell apart almost instantly as they'd been damage by the damp. Eventually it was all out so tomorrow I will have the delight of preparing them for any repairs they'll need. And getting rid of that awful matt black paint.

Nasty end of the front bumper...



...and the other one



Repairs on the inside at one end



...and the other end.



Wood in rear bumper. This was rotten.



All this came out. It's now in the bin.

[MrBounce]

Sorry to bore everyone, but it's more bumpers today. I gave the front bumper a sand down after attacking it with resin & P40, but there were still a few low spots. As such I had another go and utilised the lovely bright sunshine to dry it out. This meant I could have a look at and sand down the rear bumper.

On first glance, this looked really quite good. After 5 minutes with a block and some 80 grit, less so. The horrid matt black paint hid a multitude of sins and I was left with some cracks, a couple of holes and an interesting bit of middle in the middle where the two halves had originally been joined together. So once again it was out with the resin and CSM. I reinforced where the cracks were and drizzled some resin into the holes having ground out & feathered the edges. More sanding tomorrow no doubt...

Front bumper drying in the sun



Obvious join in the middle of the rear bumper



Paint hid such niceties as this



Resin applied



Repairs made to one corner...



...and also to the middle



I have decided I like working with fibreglass again...

[MrBounce]

The bumpers are almost finished. I say that, there's still a bit of sanding left to do prior to paint, but not much. The rear bumper cleaned up quite nicely and only needed the tiniest of skims of filler for the very occasional bit I had missed with the P40. Just 180 grit sanding & it should be ready for the next stage: fitting them to the car. I will need to make up some brackets first. I have taken advice and will not be filling the bumpers with foam.

The front bumper was a little more involved, mainly due to the large amount of sanding I had to do, but now I am just waiting for the final filler skim to dry before finishing it off prior to bracket fitting. I need access to a welder for this and that won't be for 4 weeks thanks to holidays!

I have also run out of fibreglass resin -  I took the time to fill in the hole where the old remote style gear linkage sat. I stuffed the hole with various rags around a bottle then used a cardboard template (made from a Jaffa Cake box of course) which I covered with tape as a release agent, then laid the fibrgelass & resin over the top. It's not perfect, but it will do for now until I can finish it off. I made a start on covering the various holes in the bulkhead as well. There are so many of them (some of them terrifyingly bad) that I thought it'd be a good idea to blank off everything and start again from scratch. That will make it a lot tidier!

Rear bumper pretty much done



Front one in progress - final skim done but not sanded



Card in place ready for fibreglassing



Glassed in (still more to do)



Bulkhead coming on before I ran out of resin...

[MrBounce]

Aside from the final 180 grit sanding they'll need before primer, the bumpers are now pretty much complete and have been gently placed somewhere in the garage where I can't see them for a bit. Not much to report other than I did a bit more fibreglassing on the inside of the bulkhead, mainly so I could fill in all the holes engine side & start again. There are too many of them, most of which weren't being used. Therefore when I need to make holes, I can start with a blank canvas.

One of the previous owners has "extended" the battery tray, presumably to fit a standard Mini battery in there? Am not sure because 1) the car didn't come with a battery and 2) I don't have one to hand. They had done a poor job really - it seems they cut the end off, then extended it by a couple of inches holding the end on with some wire and a very thin layer of fibreglass. I have simply made it stronger by covering up the grot - no-one was likely to see it anyway as it will be hidden behind the dahboard so aesthetics are not important here!

Once the bulkhead fibreglassing was dry, I had a good sand down with 80 grit on the engine bay side and then hoovered out all the dust. Holes have now been filled with P40. More sanding will follow - I will probably end up with RSI at this rate!!

I still have to grind out the cracks on the airdam towards the bottom of the car. There are a LOT of them. Still, I now feel like I am starting to get somewhere.

Extended battery box mess cleaned up a bit.



Covering yet more holes from the back.



Nicely sanded bulkhead (well, part of it).



Holes filled (sorry for poor photo)



Oh goody - loads more cracks to deal with...

[MrBounce]

Well, time for an update - lots of piccies so I will try & keep the writing bit short. The bulkhead is partly sanded (cheers Matt!) and is now hole-free & smooth. I've also finally got to grips with the front end and have ground out every crack I could see which includes under the front airdam. By the time I had finished I looked like I'd been a) flour-bombed and b) like I'd been snorting vast amounts of Columbian marching powder. I then re-glassed the thinning areas underneath, especially around the sidelight areas, behind the bumper corners and where the main impact was. Once the cracks had been dealt with I now had to fill them in. I managed to get 2/3 of it done before time ran out.

Mike came round and we took the doors off. The hinges are very stiff so I will bathe them in oil for a few days to free them off. I had been trying to figure out how to remove the door mirror (only the driver's side on my car) and after a bit of investigation found there was one VERY rusty screw holding it on through the door. Cue the drill and it was off. I was lucky enough to find a Renault 14 being broken on eBay and snaffled the passenger mirror from that for a knockdown price. The mirror is attached to the mounting plate by a pin which goes through a mounting lug on the mirror which is held in place by a metal disc & a hard rubber "doughnut". As I am going to be painting the mirror bodies I needed to separate them. The "new" mirror came apart with no problem; mine needed extra time with the Dremel. Nothing that and the drill couldn't deal with. He also helped me start thinking about where we are going to position the MGF heater. It's a big lump in comparison to the Mini heater; however it will be FAR more efficient. I have only ever experienced problems with the Mini system - the heater unit is ok but it can't breather properly. I intend using all the ventilation pipework from and may even doctor an MGF dashboard - they're a lot nearer in size than I expected so hopefully it'll fit nicely with a bit of modification. Time to find one for as cheap as possible...

Bolts to hold grill hammered from front end. It didn't take much...



Bulkhead starting to look smoother (and less "holy")



All the cracks now ground out. Piece missing was so bad I cut it out. It will be replaced soon I promise!



Building up the weak bits behind with fresh fibreglass & resin.



Full of fresh resin etc - lots of sanding and shaping to follow.



Doors gone!



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.



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...

[Rhyso]

Good work!! Always look forward to your updates

[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



Missing front panel replaced.



New fibreglass behind it.



CV Joints removed from driveshafts. New ones needed.

[MrBounce]

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!!

[Len]

You love fibreglass like I do!

[jamie16v]

that`s one hell of a project, you're a braver man than I!
keep up the good work!