Thread: 51 MG restoration.

OK, I get it. It works like an older truck. If the seal were to be even with the bearing it would be fine. If you shove it all the way in up against the bent bottom, it will be wobbling. Perhaps a thinner seal installed shallow. Even with the inside of the hub and away from the bent bottom.

An old truck rear end, yup, that’s the splash style, good comparison.
And that’s exactly what I’m up against.
Good news is that the new seal is half the thickness of the original so if set in half depth will be flush still with the bearing and also sitting on a clean part of the axle, so I may just sally on ahead..
Left everything at work as I have the hydraulic press there so no more poking around till tomorrow,after we shut down the plant for the holiday..
Thanks for the ideas gents.

Maybe a good smear of adhesive silicone in the bottom gap after all is assembled.
Some heat on the hub and fetching the bearing from outside in the cold prior to pressing.
Find something round to support the hub at the bottom against the inner wheel flange?

You got this. Christmas Break!

Had the plant shut down at noon so was able to use the press and execute the plan.
Worked a charm actually.
Note the gap outboard of the seal on the good side,

And the bad, well clear of the damage.


Should be reinstalled over the holidays.
Will keep an eBay search alive for the elusive hub, but for the spring, this’ll work..
Went with spherical roller bearings instead of straight roller bearings. Stronger, steel inner cage, and better side loading strength. Should outlive the car now..
Phew..
Onward ever upward men..

Haven’t done much on the car with the holidays but did find the missing front right firewall stiffener on ebay.


This obscure part is what the firewall connects to, and dictates the angle of the passenger footwell, as well as aids in securing the front of the car.. mine was removed when the firewall was modified so I’m happy to find one. Will make rebuild something closer to original that much easier now.

Found a set of rear hubs on eBay as well surprisingly so will be waiting for non bent hubs to redo the rear end to its best state.
Mine may have worked, but I figure that out of round hub would be causing vibration if nothing else. May always have, but why not eliminate it while in the area?

Congrats on the good hunting! I'm glad to see that you are practicing the 6 P's. Yea I've posted them before but they really are so true!

Proper
Planning
Prevents
Piss
Poor
Performance

As I shifted plans to deconstruct the tub inside the garage as opposed to the front tent I built I needed to contain the blasting media still for this to be at all pleasant.
So I’ve come up with a pseudo blast tent around the tub frame itself.


Repurposed some central vac plumbing for the take away.


Feeding my cyclone dust separator, which is fed by shop vac.

Punched some holes at the top to allow air in, and should create a downdraft that should contain the sand. Weighted down the transparent sheeting ‘curtain’ to keep it in the trough despite the blaster blasting..
least that’s the theory, will test it out tomorrow. .
Hope it works as it should neatly collect the blasting media for reuse as well.
.

Looks and sounds feasible.

I notice the two stage to collect the heavy stuff. If more than should make it to the vacuum, a secondary pre-collector might work.

Also I'm wondering how well the filter in the vac will work to keep the air in the garage decent--maybe a hose outside

So the tent is 95% effective. Some gets out my arm holes, but acceptable.

Now to share the mostly expected ugliness it’s showing me.

Skuttle to front quarter panel shows some decay, but slight.
Lower front quarter, much worse.

Basically everything along the bottom 2 feet is f—ked.



Worse than I hoped, but not beyond my abilities either, again, I hope,
Now to start taking these panels off!

Thats too bad, Mike. But your the man to fix it. Better now than later.