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MG MGA - Trial Fitting Mk11 Body

Exciting time in my garage! Trial fitting the finished Mk11 body to the chassis. Anxious moments - but it fits well.
Barry


BM Gannon

Let's open a bottle of red!!

Barry


BM Gannon

Barry,

I see that you have the most important piece of equipment in your garage. A refrigerator.


Mick
M F Anderson

Looking good Barry. Is your normal very high quality body shop chap doing the painting?

Soon be time to rebuild the white work horse?

Cheers

Steve
Steve Gyles

Mick, Tactical error! The refrigerator is too close to the car body - difficult to manipulate a slab!

Steve, Andrew is still looking after me, what you see is his great work. I will not rebuild the white car until after your visit!

Barry
BM Gannon

Hi Barry,

Good to hear it fits well.

Couldn't help noticing the other A in your garage has a roll bar fitted. As I'm very keen to fit one to mine but the conventional wisdom says it cannot be done and retain the hood, I was wondering how this one fits?


Chris.
Chris Bond

Chris, The 'white car' has had the rear tonneau panel removed (see below). This made mounting the bar VERY easy. It fits under the soft hood and the fibreglass hardtop.

Many years ago when the car was written off by the PO, the insurance company allowed him to retain the wreck. I found and restored it 38 years ago. It was quite a mess but is now still operating soundly.

It has been my daily driver all that time and is now on the 4th. motor and 2nd. gearbox.

If you are interested in the method I used to mount the bar I can supply details.

Barry




BM Gannon

I would like details and photos as much as you can provide, and I would post it on my web site.

I can see the steel body tonneau has been cut back substantially (similar to those installing a baby back seat). I do not see fore/aft angle braces in that picture. The bar looks like it might be almost low enough to fit under the rag top (but maybe not when positioned that far back).

I recall some older SCCA rules that would allow the roll bar to be "as high as possible consistent with fitting under the convertible top". That has long since been changed in favor of taller roll bar (3" above driver's head), but an early roll bar once certified by SCCA may be grandfathered to be still acceptable (if it was certified in writing and never changed since that date). You pretty much need a continuous log book for that.

Original folding top frame obviously will not work with this roll bar configuration.
Barney Gaylord

Hi Chris. I once saw an MGA with an inverted U shaped full width roll bar. The owner modified standard top bows and welded them to the roll bar. I think the top and wooden header rail were completely separate from the top bows. At any rate, the top bows were "unfolded" from the roll bar, and the soft top was then snapped in place, over top of the roll bar, and the soft top bows. Wish I had gotten a picture of the setup, cause it was rather slick. Im sure the idea could be utilized to fabricate a similar setup. Cheers, Glenn
Glenn Hedrich

Barney, Et Al, I will endeavour to document and photograph the rollbar I made and fitted 35 years ago, and place it in a separate thread.
It is a bit complicated so bear with me -- may take a few days.

Barry
BM Gannon

I installed a roll bar in my long-gone second MGA back in 1969. I took apart the top frame at the "knuckle" and eliminated the lower leg and mounting bracket. I welded a small slotted bracket on the front of each side of the full-width roll bar. The remaining top frame dropped into these slots and folded out and fastened front and rear as normal. The top was folded up and lifted out and stored unattached in the normal place behind the seats, or it could be just folded back to the roll bar and left in place. I'll have to see if I have any photos.

Ken
k v morton

Love the way the cockpit is cut back Barry, that would be great even without fitting the roll bar. My biggest gripe is getting the hood out from under he cockpit rear deck!
Robert (Bob) Midget Turbo

Hi Barry,

Thanks for this info and picture. Yes I would appreciate some detailed info on how it was achieved. I'm not interested in racing regulations, just protecting my head in case the unthinkable happens.

How does the soft hood work? - as Barney says the original frame cannot work and is clearly not there in your photo.

As I'm in the UK a hood is essential!!

Chris

PS. For a daily driver she looks very tidy indeed


Ken,

I'd also like to see photos of your arrangement too!
Chris Bond

Chris,

I haven't been able to find any of the 40 year old photos of my long gone second MGA that clearly show the roll bar. I'll make a drawing and post it when I get the chance.

Ken
k v morton

Hi one of my A's I had back in 70's had a similar cut out behind the seats, I recently found out that the car is still around having been restored twice and is owned by a friend of the chap I sold it to all those years ago and is only about 50 miles from me



gordon


g c pugh

I have started a new thread - "Fitting a Rollbar/Cockpit Extension" - Thanks to Steve Gyles for assembling the photos.

Barry
BM Gannon

This thread was discussed between 30/01/2010 and 04/02/2010

MG MGA index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.