Inca Yellow

getting a 1979 MB GT back on the road

Bodywork & Exterior Spares

  • Door mirror plinth kit
  • Lower channel glazing rubber, side window
  • Uniroyale Rallye 380 tyres x 5
  • Paint spray (Halfords)
  • Bodywork filler and mesh
  • Wheel nuts x 16
  • ROStyle wheel mask
  • Wiper blades
  • Touch-up paint
  • Paint spray

See all the spares we have bought.

Bodywork Notebook

  • 1967 MGB Restoration

    A full strip-down rebuild blog. This guy's built a pretty impressive body shell rotator.

  • Wheeler Dealers MGB GT

    This is a five-part upload to YouTube of a TV show. In this episode they buy, restore and sell on an MGB GT. They only cover bodywork stuff, but they do seat recovering, rust treatment and prep work for a full respray and have a quick visit to the club headquarters.

  • Front valance refinish

    Good post here about getting the front valance off - seems a bit of a nightmare. Have a look at the rest of this guy's site - he's got some good custom jobs on his roadster.

  • Restoring ROstyle wheels

    The word on the forums seems to be that the plastic mask from Moss is better than the die-cuts from the Club as it can be re-used - and also should be quicker to apply. Martin here says to make sure to keep the black matt and the silver shiny - and make the edges fuzzy for the factory look.

  • MGB: How to fix a loose door mirror.

    Should really do this.

Bodywork

Work done on the bodywork so far. This page will mostly be yellow then.

Dented

August 12, 2010

This is the sight which greeted me when I walked in the garage the other day. Not good. Our mountain bike rack had detached itself from the wall bringing two bikes down with it, right onto the car.

keep readingDented

More engine bay painting

May 2, 2010

While we've got all the engine block 'unplugged' we've got a really good opportunity to get access to the bodywork which is normally obscured.

keep readingMore engine bay painting

Painting the engine block

May 2, 2010

With all the other work we've been doing in the engine bay, the engine block had started to look pretty tatty. First decision was what colour? The 'proper' colour for this production year is black, but I wanted to be able to see the shape of the block and so decided on the more traditional MGB block colour of maroon.

keep readingPainting the engine block

Engine bay - nearly finished!

February 7, 2010

The engine bay is rapidly approaching a finished state, so it's time for a before and after shot. On the left is the engine bay pretty much as we pulled it out of the garage (the funnel was our addition!), still with the green ignition leads. Over the past (nearly) two years we've done a lot of work in it, as well as elsewhere on the car, having replaced wires, pipes, coil, plugs, points, filter, cylinders and loads of other parts.

keep readingEngine bay - nearly finished!

Dales run

October 18, 2009

With the nights drawing in I'm trying to get as much driving in as possible, so we took off in the MG for a run around the Yorkshire Dales. We clocked up around 100 miles in all, passing through a bunch of lovely villages.

keep readingDales run

License plate holder

October 17, 2009

I'd noticed the top of the rear license plate holder was a bit rusty, so I decided to remove it for a clean-up and fresh coat of paint.

keep readingLicense plate holder

Nearly lost the exhaust!

October 4, 2009

It was probably something I should've checked when I took the car on, but in the end I came across it just in time. While checking the rear diff. was topped up I noticed the exhaust's rear saddle brackets had totally rusted through and the exhaust was being supported by about a centimetre of rusty metal.

keep readingNearly lost the exhaust!

New tyre run

July 25, 2009

I realised that I'd not posted any video of the car moving for a while, so as I had some new tyres and it was a nice day, we took a quick run out to our nearest B-road. The new tyres and adjustments definitely give the B lighter steering and a much smoother ride.

keep readingNew tyre run

Tyre choice

July 25, 2009

The tyres which have been sitting on the B for the past year or so are around 20 years old. Although the treads are still very good, almost like new, the rubber has perished somewhat (it's recommended you change tyres at least every six or so years) and could result in a blow-out. Before I do any more driving they need to be changed, else I'd be likely to find myself facing the wrong way down a B-road.

keep readingTyre choice

Cleaning the engine bay

July 19, 2009

The engine bay had been saved - like much of the car - by a Waxoyl coating applied by a previous owner. Where the coating hadn't been applied the paint in the engine bay had rusted, I suspect largely due to the attention of the mice inhabitants. However now the car is getting constant attention I feel happy enough to remove the coating and reveal the pristine paintwork beneath. It will also make a huge difference to how the engine bay looks as the yellow paint really sets off the components well.

keep readingCleaning the engine bay

Runoff gutter repair

July 5, 2009

The bodywork at the corner of the windscreen had suffered over the years a little and had finally succumbed to the water runoff from the windscreen and roof. A small rust hole had appeared, so a little repair job was required.

keep readingRunoff gutter repair

Restoring the Rostyle wheels

March 31, 2009

All the Rostyle wheels, even the spare, are suffering from surface rust. Following some very good instructions I had a go at restoring the spare wheel to a just-off-the-factory-floor look.

keep readingRestoring the Rostyle wheels

Workshop mate

June 8, 2008

A bit of an indulgence, but I needed a workshop mate and this'll be sitting on the car quite a lot, so why not have the MG logo on it? Ordered from the MGOC, this does a great job of protecting the wing and unlike the towel I was using doesn't keep slipping off. It could do with some weights sewing into the bottom of it as occasionally the wind does shift it.

keep readingWorkshop mate

Touch-up paint

June 8, 2008

I found this touch-up pen in the armrest console. Not wanting to risk uncertain age paint on the car I ordered an aerosol and new touch-up pot from MGOC Spares.

keep readingTouch-up paint

Driver's footwell

June 8, 2008

The floor looks to be in good shape, apart from this bit under the pedals. It looks like rust has eaten through part of the floor, but it doesn't look fresh. I'll treat it and keep an eye on it.

keep readingDriver's footwell

After a wash

May 26, 2008

Back home and after a good wash the MG is looking very smart. Amazingly the tyres have stayed inflated, which is good as there will be quite a bit of parts to buy and if I can put off buying a full set of tyres for a while it'll help.

keep readingAfter a wash

Ready to move

October 27, 2007

Collection day - she took a bit of a push to get out of the garage. Luckily the tyres inflated and stayed that way and once we started pushing, the brakes released. Thanks to all the helping hands.

keep readingReady to move

Uncovered

April 21, 2007

The MG has been sitting in my grandad's garage for about 17 years, so it actually looks in pretty good nick. The tyres are totally flat which is to be expected.

keep readingUncovered

Videos

Pull up a chair and watch some cine.

Spares

Making the engine shiny, bit by bit.

What it's taken so far.

About Inca Yellow

A while back I inherited a 1979 MGB GT. It had been sat in a garage for nearly two decades and was in desperate need of a bit of attention. Knowing absolutely nothing about cars and even less about engines I, of course, decided to get it back on the road.

read more

Work areas

© Adam Liptrot 2008

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