1985 MG MetroDotMatrix |
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 Expert Posts: 4458    Location: Jelling, Denmark | As some of you may have seen I purchased a damaged MG Metro a month or two ago, and in between Christmas, buying a house and moving there I have been taking it apart to check if it is restorable or only worthy of parts. Also, I haven't decided what to use it for yet, whether it should be a future daily, a new racer or just a good spare shell to save for my racer. These first three pics you may or may not have already seen, it is of the car and its dent before I started taking it apart.    | ||
| DotMatrix |
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Expert Posts: 4458 Location: Jelling, Denmark | So I have been taking it apart the last few weeks, and have removed the damaged parts, all the interior and most of the engine-bay parts to check for rust and if it is still straight. I haven't welded in this car yet, but have included pictures of the previous owners welding because I don't like the look of it and will be tidying it up if restoring this car. Anyway, five holes in the floor all in all despite the rusty looking footwells. I believe this car have had new front footwells at some point, but have also had a very wet carpet for some time by the look of it. The floor or inner wings is definitely not to far gone to save rust wise, and there is no rust in the sills or any of the roof pillars. The car does need new doors, boot, bonnet, two rear arches and of course the damaged parts. But I think both wings are good although one is quite bend out of shape.             | ||
| Pietaster |
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 Admin Posts: 1576   Location: Burnley, Lancs | |||
| DotMatrix |
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Expert Posts: 4458 Location: Jelling, Denmark | Have been slowly disconnecting all the pipes, wires and other things, removing the interior and generally taking it apart and today I removed the engine from the body in order to measure how straight the front was after the dent and it turns out that the right hand side, the one nearest the dent is pushed back by about 0.7cm but not pushed to the side. haven't measured whether or not it has been pushed either up or down, but that is pretty good. Perhaps it will snap back to almost normal when the front cross-member is cut over on the middle. so that was the good news, the bad news is that it needs a lot doing, at least both inner wings bottom and top, both front floors and front jacking points, both light supports, a full front including cross-member, bonnet, possibly a wing, one or two rear wings, a tailgate, a new windscreen, two doors, and a few of the usual spots around the rear inner wings, possibly a front subframe. Probably also need to be welded bellow the back but I haven't looked there yet. A lot of the things I have as used spares all ready, but its still a lot of welding and I still need to buy a lot of metal parts some of which is hard to get.  Edited by DotMatrix 19/2/2014 9:18 PM | ||
| Eddbmxdude |
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 One wheeled mad man! Posts: 3224 Location: Luton! | Sounds like a lot needs doing  | ||
| Morey |
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 Events Organiser MP Admin Posts: 1923 Location: Somerset | |||
| DotMatrix |
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Expert Posts: 4458 Location: Jelling, Denmark | so when I isn't working on any of the other cars or the house I practice my welding on this and so far two small patches has been mad so only about one million to go  anyway, my excuse is that its a very cheap and crappy welding machine. the second patch ended up looking ok though.   | ||
| DotMatrix |
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Expert Posts: 4458 Location: Jelling, Denmark | the other day I managed to get a little work done on this car. I removed the dented right hand headlamp mounting panel and part of the crossmember. the headlamp mounting panel was quite dented and needs to be straightened or changed before being put back in place.  | ||
| DotMatrix |
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Expert Posts: 4458 Location: Jelling, Denmark | So I have had a bit of time to work on this car lately so removed the rest of the front front crossmember and welded up some rust holes in that corner      | ||
| DotMatrix |
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Expert Posts: 4458 Location: Jelling, Denmark | so I have had time to do some more rust work on this car and its progressing nicely but slowly.      | ||
| zimzimmer |
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| Member Posts: 25 | |||
| DotMatrix |
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Expert Posts: 4458 Location: Jelling, Denmark | zimzimmer - 11/6/2015 9:09 AM blimey lotsa work there, are you saving it or using as parts? I am saving it. But dont know what to use it for yet? Its partly just because its fun to restore it  | ||
| zimzimmer |
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| Member Posts: 25 | DotMatrix - 11/6/2015 10:25 AM zimzimmer - 11/6/2015 9:09 AM blimey lotsa work there, are you saving it or using as parts? I am saving it. But dont know what to use it for yet? Its partly just because its fun to restore it fair play if you have the time skill and funds to do it id love an early A series tro | ||
| DotMatrix |
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Expert Posts: 4458 Location: Jelling, Denmark |    | ||
| DotMatrix |
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Expert Posts: 4458 Location: Jelling, Denmark | Yes I know that the outside parts need a bit of filler and sanding to be spot on, but the rust is gone and its progressing slowly     | ||
| Metromartin |
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 MP Admin Posts: 17870  Location: Gloucester | |||
| DotMatrix |
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Expert Posts: 4458 Location: Jelling, Denmark | Metromartin - 15/7/2015 2:51 PM Keep up the good work! What was the originol colour of this metro? Thanks I believe it was white. | ||
| DotMatrix |
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Expert Posts: 4458 Location: Jelling, Denmark | had a bit of time today to do a little work on this. as the car had a dent in this corner I was pulling out the bent chassis-leg while measuring that the chassis-leg ended up the right place (specifications are in one of my metro workshop manuals)  Edited by DotMatrix 15/10/2015 10:17 PM | ||
| DotMatrix |
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Expert Posts: 4458 Location: Jelling, Denmark |  | ||
| DotMatrix |
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Expert Posts: 4458 Location: Jelling, Denmark | test fitting everything to see if it fits prior to welding everything in. couldn't get a new right hand side headlamp support so we made one instead   | ||
| DotMatrix |
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Expert Posts: 4458 Location: Jelling, Denmark | So I had time do do a bit more rust work and decided to fix a few holes in the floor and before I knew it I needed to change quite a lot.  Edited by DotMatrix 5/4/2016 10:23 PM | ||
| DotMatrix |
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Expert Posts: 4458 Location: Jelling, Denmark | cut the floor panel to size and started welding it in. I hope it ends up looking good.  | ||
| DotMatrix |
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Expert Posts: 4458 Location: Jelling, Denmark | so I had the chance to do a bit more work on this car. sorry for the crappy pictures.   Edited by DotMatrix 23/8/2016 9:48 PM | ||
| Metromartin |
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MP Admin Posts: 17870 Location: Gloucester | Keep up the good work | ||
