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MG Midget and Sprite General - A quick update

Hi Guys,

Just a quick update on those of you following my saga with my front chassis rails. I cut out about 4 inches of the rail, (things were rusted, patched and generaly badly repaired). I straightened things out using a trolley jack and replaced it with new bit of 2" square section.

Bit left to weld up/tidy up. Do you think the MOT man will like my car being made entirely of weld?! :-)

I will probably grind things down and tidy up my heavy handed welding!

Cheers guys,
Malcolm

M Le Chevalier

Your a master weld craftsman if you compared to my welds...looks good to me ... A little bondo and I doulbt the MOT man will never have a clue

Prop
Prop

After a quick tickle with the grinder this afternoon. Good as new! ;-) Well, apart from that little hole I need to sort out.

Thanks for the compliment prop, the picture is flattering, my welds are pretty ham fisted but hopefully will hold strong!

Cheers
Malcolm

M Le Chevalier

so how did you go about putting that upward bend back into the rail...and then keep it there during and after the weld....tht had to be tough

prop
Prop

Hmmm... I was taught never to grind a weld... it's too easy to significantly reduce the srength of the joint...

A
Anthony Cutler

I agree with you there Anthony, so was going to devise some sort of clever gusseting in the area to help things out. This will hopefully strengthen things and look a bit tidier/less bodged than a massive butt weld.

Prop, in short, I chopped out the wheel arches and triangular structure that runs parallel to the chassis rails. I then cut nearly all the way through the box section (on both sides) but not through the bottom of it. That way I could jack up the front end and 'fold' the car in half. Bit of wood and clamps to clamp everything straight. Weld everything up. Phew!

Cheers,
Malcolm
M Le Chevalier

I am with you Ant
I would have left the weld for strength. did you leave a gap for the weld to run into or did you just butt the two pieces together without a gap,if the latter I would reconsider the strength that is left in such an important part of the car.
Sorry to put a dampener on a fine looking piece of work.
Rob Newt

There was a gap, a bit of a V prep on the butt and plenty of amps to ensure good penetration.

Malcolm
M Le Chevalier

Repair looks solid enough to me.

When I did a similar repair on mine, I made up a sleeve section that fitted tightly inside the box section (I had removed the bottom plate. This went down the box section alongside the footwell floor and extended forwards to the wishbone mount. I then did a butt weld that penetrated through to the sleeve, and a series of plug welds into the sleeve along the rails either side.

Incidentally, I am pretty sure that the upsweep angle change starts just behind the rear wishbone mount bracket and is 3 degrees - same as the specified castor angle.
Guy

This thread was discussed on 17/07/2011

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