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Welcome to the home page for the Barber's MGA restoration
project. Take a look at What's New in our web.
On the 5th August 2002 a 1959 MGA arrived at our house in Essex, England. Nicknamed
Chuggaboom, it is now undergoing a complete 'Ground up' restoration. This site is a record of our restoration
attempts. We are not professionals and our restoration methods could be viewed
as incorrect and of poor quality. We are not attempting to produce a concourse car but to enjoy the journey of rescuing a classic car and to learn new skills
on the way. The information given in this website is based on my own
experiences and should not be considered as expert advice.
Remember most pictures have a large image link. Just double click on the
image to see it.
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Sept 2007
|
Nov 2008 |
 15/11/08
 | This update follows on from the last update with the
modifications needed to the transmission tunnel when you fit a 5 speed
gearbox. It also covers the installation of the exhaust system,
modifications to the inlet manifold in order to fit a brake servo and
installation of new floorboards. |
| Thanks again to everyone who contacted me for advice and for the
comments on
the website. |
| The diary page for Nov 2008
is now on-line,
with the full set of photos in the archive. |
28/07/08
| In general I try to keep the text as brief as I think that a good picture
tells the story. During the course of restoring the MGA I have made more use
of images than available text in order to understand what goes where. This update covers the
reassembly and installation of the engine and a 5 speed conversion
gearbox. |
| I apologise for the late update. I try to do it every 6 months but usually
fail as other more important things intervene. |
| Thanks again to everyone who contacted me for advice and for the
comments on
the website. |
| The diary page for July 2008
is now on-line,
with the full set of photos in the archive. |
28/11/07
| Quite a milestone was achieved in the restoration as we starting putting
mechanical things back together again at last! and got back to a
rolling chassis after completing all the chassis welding, the suspension
rebuild and the conversion to wire wheels. Go to the diary page to see the
hurdles we had to over come to get to this point. We still keep
getting surprises with what we find. This time it was two odd rear brake
drums, the discovery that we had a 26 spline 1600cc coupe rear axle and that
some one in the past had broken off part of the main crankshaft rear bearing
cover through what appears to be an attempt at hammering it out ! |
| Thanks to everyone again who contacted me for advice and for commenting on
the website. |
| The diary page for November 2007
is now on-line,
with the full set of photos in the archive. |
21/06/07
| As promised last up date, as a break from the chassis work, my son
Sam has been renovating Chuggaboom's seats. Again we are not professionals
and have learned from the experience. All I know is that we produced
something that looks good and does what its supposed to. |
| Thanks to all who have taken the time to send me emails of encouragement
and to let me know that the website has spurred them into action to start a renovation
or to restart one. |
| The diary page for June 2007
is now on-line,
with the full set of photos in the archive. |
05/03/07
| Apologies for the long delay in updating the website. Restoration had to
take a backseat for a few months but hopefully things get up to speed again
this summer. |
| At last I have been able to play at being a mechanic and have spent the
last 6 months working on stripping the chassis of engine, gearbox, axle and
all suspension components. It should have been straight forward but as usual
Chuggaboom gave me a number of surprises. |
| The diary page for March 2007
is now on-line,
with the full set of photos in the archive. |
01/09/06
| The major change this update is that the body and chassis have been separated
for the first time in 47 years. All the external metal working was
complete and it was time to get at the inside in order to complete the welding/engine
bay tidy up. |
| Just prior to lifting the body I completed yet more work on the inside of a
front wing. All the wings are still original but have consumed a major part
of the restoration time to date. |
| The diary page for September 2006
is now on-line,
with the full set of photos in the archive. |
27/05/06
| The website has been transferred to a new Windows based provider. The site
was on the limit of the old providers capabilities and was giving too many
errors whilst uploading updates. |
| The last five months have been spent on fitting the doors and catches in
order to finalize the bodywork alignment and fairing. |
| The diary page for May 06 is now on-line,
with the full set of photos in the archive. |
15/12/05
| The diary page for December is now on-line,
with the full set of photos in the archive. The
main effort has been on restoring the front and rear wings and fixings. |
| Coming soon - Body panel alignment and door setting tips & tricks and aluminum
brazing the easy way - just the job for any cracks in door/boot
lid and bonnet skins. |
30/06/05
| The diary page for June is now on-line,
with the full set of photos in the archive. The
main effort has been on restoring the front and rear wings and fixings. |
29/08/04
| The diary page for August is now on-line,
with the full set of photos in the archive. |
26/07/04
| The Barber MGA Restoration site is listed as the top MGA site on CBEL.com
The directory contains a huge number of links to MG related sites and
resources. |
20/07/04
24/06/03
| The page for April - June has been added showing
the epic relocation of our MG from the drive to the garage! |
26/03/03
| The page for March is now online with pictures of
repairing the front wing panels and body work. |
Check the Archive for all the previous news.
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