Projects 1958 MG Magnette build

I've been lurking for awhile and loving the creativity and skill exhibited on the HAMB. I come from a British car background, but my mentality is more aligned with rodders than the tea and crumpet set. That's probably why I was drawn to the MG Magnette, a 4-door sedan with flowing lines that looked completely different than the small sports cars MG was known for. Powered by the 1500cc 4-cylinder shared with the MGA, it was known more for its style than speed. It did have a reputation for good handling, as one would expect from MG. I decided to search for a Magnette project, a car to improve my welding skills on, and allow me to continue learning machining from my father.

With that said, here is my two-year build, documented from October 2008 to October 2010.

Here is the car, pulled out of dry storage in Buffalo, NY. It was advertised as rusty, but complete. It was pulled apart for resto but that never happened.

 

We quickly bolted the external sheetmetal on it and loaded the interior full of parts. The car was trailered from Buffalo to New Jersey, where work could begin.

 

Once home it was time to assess the parts and begin a plan for getting the car back on the road again. It came with some great spares, but everything is rough.

 

The coolest thing about this car is the history - paperwork back to day one. Here is the original bill of sale.

 

I like British cars, I have an MG that I've owend for 30 years, but what are you going to do to this Magnette? Custom? Big V8? Chop and drop?

 

I was tempted by this Sumbeam Tiger 289, but this one will stay a banger!

 

Getting the car into position to begin the teardown for rust repair. The front sheetmetal and doors need to come off to get to the floors and sills where the rust is hiding. These are unibody construction, so there are plenty of box sections to rust out.

 

No surprise... the rust was way worse than expected.

 

My Dad came to visit so we could pull the drivetrain out for an eventual rebuild.




















Taking off one of the lower tie-bars and the rod snapped right off from rust.

 

Are you sure you're in the right place?

 

Next it was time to remove the remaining rust from the chassis

 

nice project. i like the 'different' ideas... it's not a belly button car and to see cars like this slightly modified or original or proper full restoration are my favorites. however... that 'tiger' would be fun! (btw.. i had a mg 1100 as my second car back in '67.)

 

The inner sills had to be fixed first before the floors could be put in:











The toe board box section needed all lower edges repaired, including the gearbox tunnel.







Finally it was time to put some pans in:





The front frame horn was a real mess, so I fabbed a panel and welded it in.

 

Scope creep started here, when I decided that the entire front suspension should get a proper rebuild.

 

Wow! Nice work, it gets better as the night goes on.

 

My Dad manages a machine shop, but for most stuff his small home lathe gets the job done. First up is to repair the snapped off tie bars.









I picked up the remains of a 1960 MGA, which will give me disc brakes for the front end, and a 4.30 rear. The hubs were a mess, so we skimmed them clean.

 

I sandblasted a ton of brackets and suspension components, and then sent them out for powdercoating. I also realized getting my original hardware re-plated was way cheaper than buying new, so a whole bucket was cad-plated.

 

great thread, one of the very first cars I ever got to work on were MGB GT's, my dad restored a couple when I was a kid, they sure do like to rot, they were both from the salt belt too. I feel your pain. I'm glad to see one of these build threads and someone bringing an old girl back from the dead. To the complainers, it's plenty old enough to be here, maby not American but they earned their place. keep us posted on the progress. It's great when these threads get right down into the rust and dirt, and you start to see the car come back.

 

Suspension bushings are only available out of the UK for this car, so we tried our hand at making our own. We started with the bushings sold for an MGB, and turned them down to fit. Also, the wheel bearings on this car were originally ball-bearings. We pulled out the bearing books and realized taper-rollers could be made to work with just a slight mod to the grease seal ring.

 

who made the disc brakes were they Girling? finding a set of those is a rare find in itself. are you going to stay 6 volt or are you going to convert to 12?

 

The steering rack was in good shape, so it just got cleaned and painted. They were originally rubber-mounted, so some polyurethane was turned to replace them. We used the same material to make some new tie-bar bushings as well.

 

Thanks for checking things out guys! They were using 12-volt, but positive ground. I'll be keeping it positive ground.

 

Great job...I just finished a rust bucket British restoration myself. I'll never do that again.

 

Wow amazing skills great job.

 

did those have the dual 6 volt batteries back then ? everyone i remember was rotted out where the batteries would eat through the wells, just like a VW

 

POR-15 was used on all bare metal surfaces. Getting the sills on and aligned was a major hurdle. The inner sills were repaired with a single panel made up on a brake. The outer sills were ordered from England. They fit but took a lot of final work to get everything where it belongs.





















A local guy heard about my project, so he came by with his fully restored Magnette to show off. Also, he wanted me to put disc brakes on his car too.

 

nice work- I like how it seems like this all happened in a day!

 

Nice work. What was wrong with the tiger engine...?

 

I put the car on the lift and painted the underside. I still need to finish closing up the front box sections, but wanted to paint in there first. I also spent a few hours with a wire wheel on the firewall, followed by some epoxy primer. Finally the color coat. This was the original color, Steel Blue. A paint job isn't in the budget right now but I want the engine bay to be nice.

 

Things could really roll once the firewall was painted. After sorting the hardware the engine bay and front suspension started to come back together. I rebuilt the original electrical components.