Long Weekend

The Labor day holiday provided some much needed garage time. The 3 month old was in the garage with me most of the time. I've found she loves it out here. I don't know if it's the fumes, the noise, or the fact that daddy's always doing something funny.

Anyway, what have I done?

- Removed dash
- Removed windshield
- Cut out most of passenger side dogleg

The dash was a real pain. Several hours of laying on my back, bumping my head on gas, brake and clutch pedals and getting dust in my eyes. I think I'm going to rig up something like this so that it is easier in the future. It is inevitable that I will remove it again, so I might as well make it as easy as possible. As I had though, the nut directly above the steering column was not easy to get to. Thankfully, once I got it broken free I was able to turn it with my fingers. Long fingers are an asset in MGB dash removal.

Windshield removal was simple after the dash was out. I have to remember to put it back before the dash goes back in. The mounting bolts are easily reached with the dash out, but I can see how they would be difficult to get to with the dash in.

In the might as well category, I'll be replacing the vinyl that is glued to the car under the top of the dash. It came off very easily in one piece. Now I'm in the process of removing all of the leftover glue from the car so I can glue the new piece down. I figure I can get the material from a fabric store. I might get my wife to help me with the cutting amd gluing. That's her thing, I know she can do a much better job that I can.

Cutting metal ROCKS! Sparks, noise, the smell of burning flesh. Okay, so maybe the smell of burning flesh isn't supposed to happen. Those little sparks are hot. They don't hurt though, so I just went at it with short sleeves. I didn't want to catch my hairy legs on fire though, so I did change into jeans. I took the angle grinder with a metal cutoff wheel to the doglegs. It cut like a hot knife through butter. I was thoroughly impressed.

Apparently the three month old was also impressed. I took her inside because of the noise, but apparently she decided to compete with the noise of the grinder inside. My wife came out and informed me that she was gleefully squealing at the top of her lungs. I heard it later, and she did sound very much like the angle grinder cutting sheet metal. This is the first time she has done this, so we can only assume she was mimicking the sound she was hearing.

The spotwelds along the inside of the wheel well still need to be drilled out and there is still some metal remaining in the curve of the door. There are at least 20 spot welds in the wheel well. That will take awhile. After that, I'll repeat the whole process on the other side and then will be ready for the new doglegs to be welded in.

I've taken several pictures of the process, but will have to wait until they are developed to post them here.