1970 GT

[glenn93]

i have to say james you dont mess about bish bash bosh straight in to to it no flaping about like me well done keep it up

[jamezz666]

Today i got a bit caught up with things and have been on and off it all day as i had someone coming to buy the (COUGH COUGH) lada i had so i never got chance to do the filler and primer but below are some photos of the metal work done on the arch

Colin thanks for the information, when it comes to the spraying i'll call a few places up to see if they can sort out the paint for me! I had a thought with what i'll be doing today Colin, i'll be painting the rear panel black as it should be but to give it a little touch, i'm going to paint the lips on the bonnet vents black ( i know it's not original but hopefully it will look nice) I have a question to which i've been pondering around with for a few days.... are mg rostyle wheels the same as vauxhall? as they seem to be the easiest and cheapest to find and someone told me stud patterns are the same?

Rizzo cheers for the comment and i have found much much more rust but if i find any now i coat it in Aqua Steel, it's some sort of rust converter sealent thingy majig and it seems to be doing the job!
My goal is to have it up and ready by 2 months time but i will try and have it done in a month with hard graft and a push at that haha. I just don't want to feel like i'm letting my dad down with his Hb, so i have to get that done this year... He's not really into power house vehicles or car models such as the GT, he prefers the smaller engine Hb's purely because it makes him feel more relaxed and like he wouldn't get challanged to race by people. I luckily found someone who had a centre console for my dads SL which took so long to find! it was out of an automatic but it's in very nice condition and in the same colour as the interior... black !

I'll stop babbling on now and keep everyone updated daily !

[Colin]

Colin thanks for the information, when it comes to the spraying i'll call a few places up to see if they can sort out the paint for me! I had a thought with what i'll be doing today Colin, i'll be painting the rear panel black as it should be but to give it a little touch, i'm going to paint the lips on the bonnet vents black ( i know it's not original but hopefully it will look nice) I have a question to which i've been pondering around with for a few days.... are mg rostyle wheels the same as vauxhall? as they seem to be the easiest and cheapest to find and someone told me stud patterns are the same?

Sounds good, James. I have looked at MG rostyles compared to the Vauxhall items too. The Vauxhall rostyles turn up for sale occasionally but MG ones are obviously more common. MGB rostyles are a little too big being 14" diameter (unless possibly with 60 section tyres?) but the slightly smaller Midget 13" rostyles should be readily usable.

As you say the MG Midget rostyles have the same 4 x 4" PCD. I'm not entirely sure about the offset however. Judging visually by the 'dish depth' (for want of a better term) between the Vauxhall and MG 13" rostyles I think the Vauxhall items might have a slightly shallower (by about 1/4" to 3/8") offset - with the MG wheels possibly increasing the track width by that amount each side - but I'm by no means certain about that.

The only way to be sure would be to measure and compare. I think Fred has some MG Midget rostyles so I will try to check this when I next visit Fredshed at some time over the next couple of weeks.

[jpsmit]

MGB rostyles are 14" and 4 X 4.5 inches.

Midget are 4 X 4 - but I am quite sure the wheel studs are smaller.

And, in terms of the lipd on the Bonnet vents - I believe they are supposed to be black - I have never seen them body colour except on your car.

[Colin]

MGB rostyles are 14" and 4 X 4.5 inches.

Midget are 4 X 4 - but I am quite sure the wheel studs are smaller.

And, in terms of the lipd on the Bonnet vents - I believe they are supposed to be black - I have never seen them body colour except on your car.

Hi J.P, So, the Midget wheels could be used but it would be necessary to drill out and chamfer the mounting holes slightly? Is that correct?

Re the bonnet vents, I'm going to have to disagree slightly with you there, J.P. Don't forget the 1970 Canadian models (Epic GT and Viva GT) all had matt black bonnets anyway. I've never seen a standard spec UK '70 model Mk II with black vent trims. Unfortunately, the '70 model year UK brochure doesn't clearly show the bonnet vents.
But in any event it's James' car and James' choice, so black bonnet vent trims it is.

Here's a UK period road test picture apparently showing body coloured bonnet vent trims...

On the other hand, please also see the South African spec GT brochure pic with black bonnet vent trims...

[chrismc]

Hi J.P, So, the Midget wheels could be used but it would be necessary to drill out and chamfer the mounting holes slightly? Is that correct?

Midget wheels fit on with no modification. We have them on Joes firenza. I think they may be slightly narrower but look fine.

[1972nail]

Yes, Midget are 4 1/2" whereas viva rostyles are 5".

[jamezz666]

Just a quick update as i'm about to shoot out for dinner. need to finish off the filler work on the arch and get it primed which will happen tomorrow and the pictures of the spare wheel well has had a plate tacked in but i forgot to take pictures which i'll do tomorrow after i finished the arch!

Hopefully once the car is done, i can find some vauxhall viva rostyles... was the hc rostyles the same as the gt or was they a slender wheel in comparison?

[jpsmit]

Re the bonnet vents, I'm going to have to disagree slightly with you there, J.P. Don't forget the 1970 Canadian models (Epic GT and Viva GT) all had matt black bonnets anyway. I've never seen a standard spec UK '70 model Mk II with black vent trims. Unfortunately, the '70 model year UK brochure doesn't clearly show the bonnet vents.

Thanks for this - we might actually have been saying the same thing - I had forgotten MKII didn't have the matt black bonnet - so, I have seen matt black with black trim and body coloured bonnet with black trim but other than this car I don't believe I have ever seen a matt black bonnet with body coloured trim

does that make sense?

[kriswalsh]

You should have a look on ebay, someone is selling some rostyles for a viva for £150.