| LIFE OF A GT |
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 | | November 8, 2008 - After some rough sketches and much thinking, I'm leaning away from narrowing the Miata suspension.
The roll centers won't be as well controlled as I thought - thanks to Jensenman on the GRM forums for making me take another look at this.
Luckily, there's an alternative. The fender flares from a Dodge Omni can be grafted on to the MG bodyshell, adding a bit over 2" per side. That should be almost perfect. Time to start hunting Omnis, or see if I can find another car that would make a good donor.
entry 68 - tags: suspension, body | | | .jpg) | November 11, 2008 - A lesser-known alternative to the Omni flares is ones from a Mk1 Golf - aka Rabbit.
There's not as much information about them out there, but they have a better shape in my opinion. I'm going to pick up some Rabbit fenders that are in a junkyard locally and see for myself. I like the hood louvers on this car as well, I suspect something like that will be necessary to keep the temperatures under control.
I think the best order of operations is to strip the MG down and start figuring how to mount the suspension. That'll tell me just how wide the fenders need to be. I'm also going to have access to an LS3 engine and T56 trans going into a Miata, and I'll make the measurements I need to determine just what needs to be done to the chassis and where the engine will sit.
In the meantime, the Camaro will be registered and driven to make sure there are no foibles in the drivetrain prior to installation. I think it's going to be difficult to resist stress-testing the tires on a regular basis, it's that kind of car...
entry 70 - tags: body, plans | | |  | November 15, 2008 - I stopped by a local scrapyard today and picked up a pair of fenders.
They're from a square-headlight Rabbit - one of the ones made in Pennsylvania. We tried to pull one off a German-built cabrio but it was built with much more enthusiasm and far more seam sealer so we could not remove it without damage. One nice thing about living in western Colorado is that the cars are almost rust-free.
I'll cut out the flare shortly and get an idea how it sits on the car. The rears looked as if they'd really work nicely on the back of the MG, but the yard wants $100 per side to torch them out "due to the cost of oxygen and acetelyne". I know it's a pain in the butt to do something like that, so just tell me it's a PITA factor. Don't make up fictional costs! I'll see if the fronts can also be used on the back before I go back to negotiate. The good thing is that the yard had a half-dozen potential donors so I have a good selection - including a pickup! Most of them are two-door hatchbacks or convertibles which seems to have the best shape.
entry 71 - tags: body | | |  | November 15, 2008 - While walking past the Opel GTs parked in the shop at work, I took a closer look at the shape of the fenders.
This might work. They're nice and round without the flattened edge used on the Golf. And there's a good donor in the shop as well - a parts car that is destined to be chopped into pieces.
Hmm..
entry 72 - tags: body | | |  | November 21, 2008 - I cut the flare off the Rabbit fenders today.
Here's the left front fender on the right rear of the MG. Actually, it fits pretty well on either side, it was just easier to photograph this one! It's taped too far back in this picture, but it's close enough to give an idea. I think it'll work.
entry 74 - tags: body, flares | | |  | November 21, 2008 - The flare still needs some trimming to make it fit on the car with the chrome strip, and I haven't decided if it needs to move up or down yet.
But the overall shape is encouraging. It looks like only slight forming will be needed in the rear.
The front's not quite as slick, but I have to pull the side marker light before testing much more.
entry 75 - tags: body, flare | | |  | December 4, 2008 - The tire does stick out a bit.
About as much as I'd expected based on my measurements, which is reassuring. A rough test fit shows that the Rabbit fender flare covers it almost perfectly. I'll pull one of the RA-1s off and test fit with that as well, but I have a good feeling about this - as long as I stick close to the stock +45 wheel offset, anyhow. I should probably make sure the +30 wheels with 205/50-15s fit, as that's what half of my race tires are.
The fairly radical camber is because I assembled this suspension out of spare parts and everything's just finger-tight. No attempt at alignment has been attempted!
entry 93 - tags: body, flares, wheels, tires, suspension | | |  | December 4, 2008 - Okay, I should stay away from that combination.
A +30 offset wheel with a 205/50-15 sticks out 3/4" further from the body. As the math says it should - there should be 20mm more when compared to a 195/60-14 on a +45 wheel. The flares don't quite cover them with room for wheel movement. That's okay, I can run a greater offset. We'll see exactly where the flares end up when they're welded in.
I pulled the rear axle off as well. There's a lot of room under there now!
entry 94 - tags: body, wheels, tires | | |  | October 26, 2009 - I stuffed the rear axle under the car and lifted it into place, just to see how everything fits.
This was a reward to myself at the end of the day, so I haven't actually crawled under to discover what's liable to give me fits yet. I know there will be something. I realized today that the battery I was planning to use - a big burly Optima - won't fit in an unmodified battery box. So I'll have to do something clever down there. Anyhow...
The wheels look good! I'm very happy with that. There's loads of room inside, and I'll probably stick a coilover in there so they don't hang down as low as they do on Masters' car. These weedy little 195/60-14 tires will fit quite nicely under the Rabbit flares too. If I do decide to go fatter - say, a 225/45-15 on a 15x8, which would be a very logical thing to do - I'm going to have fender clearance problems. Maybe I'll just use very good tires and acknowledge the car will be woefully under-tired. I should be able to run a 205/50-15 without trouble if I'm clever with my offset choices. Still, these are +45mm wheels. You don't tend to see too many that are higher than that. I could always get the housing and axles shortened if it comes to that. For now, we'll build for a 205 tire.
You can see here how much trimming the stock fender will need here.
entry 200 - tags: wheels, body, tires | | |  | October 26, 2009 - A 3/4 view of the wheel/tire/fender mockup.
I really like the way this sits. Not so sure about the color scheme though. It's also really tempting to see what I can do about a set of box flares. But that would be anachronistic.
entry 201 - tags: body, wheels | | | January 7, 2010 - Dumb.
Remember my trip to the junkyard to pick up some Rabbit fenders so I could scavenge the arches? At the time, I thought the rears might actually work pretty well but the yard wanted a pile of money for them.
Well, it turns out you can get patch panels to repair Rabbits. New front fenders are available from JC Whitney and others, but even better Rabbitparts.com carries a rear arch repair panel that's exactly what I need. They're only $48 each and brand new steel. I'm going to pick up a pair to see how they work, and I may end up ordering another pair to replace what I have if the shape looks a bit better.
Yeesh. Never thought to check before.
entry 249 - tags: body | | |  | January 17, 2010 - The new fender flares have arrived.
They're going to be much, much easier to work with than the originals. It's interesting to see just how similar the shapes are front and rear though.
entry 254 - tags: fenders, body | | |  | June 28, 2010 - I haven't been working on the MG of late, but I've been acquiring more skills that will come in handy.
I've had to do a bit of bodywork on another car and it's forcing me to develop the ability to lay down paint nicely and also develop more patience! The car in question is a deep, deep black that I'm going to use on the MG, so it's teaching me just how unforgiving black can be.
Once this is resprayed to an acceptable finish, I'm going to dive back into the MG. But I don't think it's going to be driving in a month and a half, an unofficial target I'd set for myself. Not unless I really start to focus and maybe take a few days off work. Sigh.
entry 352 - tags: body, paint | | |
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