This weekend while waiting for the TR3's rolling body tub to come back from the
shop, i did a bit of work on the BGT. Every time I have gone to the Portland
All British Field Meet, I have admired the mild customizing those NW people do
on their MGBGTs. Since I had to swap out the petrol tank anyway, I did some
tweeking in the back :*)
First I replaced the pretrol tank. The old one had taken some damage a had a
slow leak at an edge. Before installing the tank, I painted it several times to
provide additional rust protection and to suppliment the minimal paint job that
came on the tank.
I mounted it using all new seals, and a mounting hardware kit. The Kit came
from Moss and at first glance looked nice. However, just as I was getting ready
to mount the tank I noticed that the Moss kit was not up to the factory
standards. The old bolts were grade 5. The ones in the kit were not graded!
The fixings on the new kit were a flat washer and a lock washer. The old
fixings had a nonmetalic washer to go against the body and a flat washer backing
the non-metalic one. I ended up using the old fixings on new grade 5 bolts. So
much for yet another Moss Motors substandard cheap replacement part.
One interesting find though was the Moss motors roll of rubber that gets cut up
and placed between the petrol tank & the body. Not only did it look first
class, but it looked like the ideal replacement for those felt strips that are
used to mount the TR3's petrol tank.
Anyway, I got the tank in. Next I cut cap mount off the filler tube leaving the
flange on. I fitted the filler cap off a TR6 onto the filler tube, securring it
with two set screws. I used the filler tube gasket from a TR6 to seal the
opening where the filler tube goes through the body. For clearence and looks, I
removed both the rear bumper overriders. One of the license plate lights will
be moved to the bumper below the plate. The badges came off the rear of the
car.
It looks (to me) a LOT nicer, and gives a TR6 part to balance the GT6 radiator
recovery bottle up front (Thanks again Chris). Future plans include removing
the side trim, the front bumper over riders, and replacing the stainless front
grill with one of the recessed black grills (minus the trim) from a newer MGB.
Painting plans are slightly modified from the paint scheme of a team Lotus
formula car. The car remains BRG but gets a warm yellow nose and duel racing
stripes. The side stripes get left off. Finally the wire wheels will get
replaced by the minilite look alikes. Its a good thing that there are lots &
lots of MGBs around. I couldn't make my self do this to a historically
significant or limited production car.
TeriAnn
TeriAnn Wakeman One of these days, I'll be old enough that
twakeman@apple.com people will stop calling me crazy and start
LINK: TWAKEMAN calling me eccentric.
408-974-2344 TR3A - TS75519L, MGBGT - GHD4U149572G, 109 - 164000561
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