The bright work,

I got into some of the exterior chrome on the MGB over the past few weeks. I had hoped to be able to re-use my windshield, but after closer inspection I found a large chip out of the glass directly in front of the drivers position. From all that I've read, replacing the glass is not an easy job on these. But it will have to be done, and at least I will have the opportunity to polish the aluminum frame members and change out all the rubber seals at the same time. After some careful research I've learned that the correct Triplex glass is available now from Moss for about $600 CAD - a lot of money for a piece of glass!
But it seems to be the only option available that has been made using the original tooling found in England. There are other glass options that are cheaper, but they have fit issues because either the curvature is different and/or the glass a different thickness making the job even more of a nightmare.
I think I'll save up for the proper glass to avoid those issues.
After taking the frame apart, I've begun polishing the anodized aluminum frame pieces carefully. The side pillars were a satin anodized finish, while the top and bottom rails were polished to look like chrome. The top rail in particular I'm sanding down to remove some deep scratches and then polishing out to a chrome finish again...

I also cleaned and polished my 1/4 vent side windows. The chrome is still in great condition on these so they came out beautifully, even the rubbers are still intact and working properly which was a bonus. I only replaced the top corner blocks and the bottom rubber where the frame meets the body. The new corner blocks required some cutting and shaping to fit like the originals.

Same goes for the air vent in front of the windshield, good chrome just polished.
Some of the smaller chrome bits that need chrome work done I am looking into replacing. With the high cost of Chrome these days it's sometimes cheaper to buy new than to have things re-chromed. My door capping brackets and top frame brackets for example will be cheaper to replace. So too would the bumpers, but I've opted to keep my originals because I want to maintain the correct original fit.

The front and rear bumpers unfortunately will need to be re-chromed however. Along with the grill surround. I carefully disassembled them and got to work cleaning and plating all the original hardware. Painting the brackets and bagging the finished components to add to my shelves of finished parts for the car - when it comes time to reassemble everything it will be like assembling a big kit.

In other news, I  re-assembled the air cleaners to the carburetors with new seals, filters and the correct Coopers decals to finish them off.

I also installed a new SU fuel gauge sending unit to the side of the gas tank so it will now gauge the fuel level properly.

Until next time -