Old Biddy’s seasonal slumber.

We had only one good day in the last two and a half weeks when the weather was worthy enough to do any work on the car. Needless to say that winter looks like it is coming early this year. Therefore, the decision was made to put the car to bed.

After cleaning up our yard for hopefully the last time today, I pushed Old Biddy out into the driveway to give her a quick rinse off and thorough rub down.

 

When done, I started her up and drove her back in to cover her up for the season. I always put sheets or old bedspreads underneath the outer cover for extra protection. Her battery cables were then disconnected and I said “Night night.” to her.

 

This does not mean I will stop working on the car for the winter. Oh no! There are still many things that need to be attended to such as finding seatbelts, and cleaning up the sun visors, and the never ending quest to find six of those lag bolt looking things that attach the front grille on. I would love to hear from readers on advice to find these parts. Stay tuned.

Thanks for visiting.

Toddy

Two metal plates that made me smile.

After jumping through, over, and around hurdles the past three weeks, I was finally able to get back to the local high school shop to fabricate the blanking panels. These little parts have been holding up progress!

I made two 4 ¾” x 2 ¾” pieces of 18 gauge sheet metal which will become the bases for the 1100 strikers. I used the Austin America striker. as a pattern for the holes.

 

I brought them home and screwed three ¼” x 28 screws into the sliding bar nuts (located inside the pillars) to hold them in place. The passenger side lined up beautifully!

 

And the driver side took a little bit more patience to attach, but it fits nice now! Once everything is measured and mocked up on both sheet metal pieces, the holes will be countersunk so that the screws will tighten up flush to them.

 

The next step will be to locate the position of the actual MG 1100 strikers and drill  holes into the sliding bar nuts to accept the screws. If the bar nut is not behind a new screw hole, nuts will be welded in place (onto the new sheet metal bases) to accept the screws of the striker.

 

But first, although the doors are already on the car, they still have to be aligned correctly and set up. Thus the reason for the blue tape, to protect the paint. Hopefully that operation will get done within the next two weeks. It is already getting cold outside!!

Thanks for visiting.

Toddy