Parts required for basic chassis build up
Chassis	Included with secondhand body kit (unused).	Steel box section construction. To be rubbed down and repainted. Inside to be preserved with Waxoyl.
Front Crossmember	Removed from donor.	To be rubbed down and repainted. Inside to be preserved with Waxoyl.
Front Suspension units	Removed from donor.	Consists of upper and lower wishbone assemblies, stub axle and swivel, coil spring and steering arm. To be disassembled and checked for wear. Components to be rubbed down and painted, new bushes to be fitted.
Front Suspension bushes	Bought new.	Rubber bushes selected. Kit purchased includes bushes, and nuts and bolts to overhaul front suspension units.
Coil springs	Included with secondhand body kit (unused).	Downrated for lighter body.
Front damper kit	Bought new.	Spax adjustable dampers, and fittings, used to replace the original integral damper system.
Lower wishbone covers	Scratch built.	Required for SVA compliance.
Front suspension nut covers	Bought new.	Required for SVA compliance.
Steering rack	Bought reconditioned.
Track rod ends	Bought new.
Rear springs	New, included with kit.	Downrated to provide a smoother ride as the new car is considerably lighter than the original. New bushes already fitted.
Rear spring hangers	Removed from donor.	Clean and paint.
Rear spring bushes	Bought new.	Rubber bushes selected.
Rear axle U bolts, seats and rubber pads	Included with kit.	Existing plates cleaned and re-used.
Rear damper kit	Bought new.	Spax adjustable dampers, and fittings, used to replace the original damper system.
Rear axle	Removed from donor.	Inspect, clean and repaint before fitting. Also replaced pinion oil seal and both hub oil seals.
Rebound straps	Bought new.	Old straps were badly perished and fixings rusted up.
Panhard rod fixing	Included with secondhand body kit (unused).	Paint before fitting. Panhard rod connects the rear axle to the chassis to prevent drift when cornering.


Detail for basic chassis build up
	I bought the chassis as an abandoned project. The original purchaser had built a TC and had just embarked on building a TF. For some reason, at this point he had sold both vehicles to a dealer who wanted only the completed TC. He subsequently advertised the parts for the TF and I bought them. Having cleared some space I hired a Luton box van and set off for Bolton to collect the parts. The parts, fitted easily inside the van and have now been safely transported back home where they completely filled my garage and made the side of my property look like a breakers yard. The first job once the parts were back was to establish exactly what parts I had purchased, and rifling through the various boxes I found that I had got pretty much a whole chassis and body kit plus some other goodies as well. In amongst the paperwork was the original invoice and packing list from NG cars limited dated 18.06.98, when they were based in Epsom. I was able to cross check all the new parts against the list and found only three items missing from the kit, the headlight pods, the running board brackets and the badge bar so if anybody has any of these parts, I'd be glad to hear from them. Included in the kit was the chassis and bodyshell plus in addition a fuel tank and dashboard and formers. As well as these new parts I also have a second hand, cracked aluminium windscreen (which I believe is not suitable for SVA approval), and also a secondhand hood which is in very good condition but seems to fit to the windscreen using the pop stud fixings unlike the more modern catch system, I hope to be able to adapt it anyway. There was also a new hood bag. Other new parts included downrated leaf and coil springs and a new pair of brake discs for the front. The sale also included a donor car with v5 that had been disassembled so I now have even more engines, gearboxes and back axles etc.
Chassis preparation

	When I bought the chassis, the body was already fitted to it, so the first thing I did was remove the body tub, and store it. The chassis had already been prepared by the original owner. It had been painted, and had been treated internally with wax oil. The various holes which take the brake and fuel lines had been lined with small bore hose and the rubber strips were glued to the top surfaces of the chassis. These form a good join between the chassis and the body tub, and presumable minimise the shock and rubbing actions between the cahssis and tub when in use. I decided to give the Chassis a couple of coats of hammerite, to tidy it up and provide some extra protection. I rubbed the chassis down to remove any loose paint and to clean the parts where the paint has been chipped and scratched, also to provide a good key for the new paint. Finally with the chassis sitting upside down on axle stands I painted it.
Front Suspension

	The first job was to break down the existing front suspension. I had borrowed some coil spring compressors but found these were not suitable for the MG suspension as they are supposed to fit on the outsides of the spring, there just wasn't enough room to use them. I managed to break the components down though so the next stage is to clean and refurbish the parts. The photograph to the left shows the main components (excluding the coil springs which will be replaced), immediately after their disassembly. In the photograph you can see the lower wishbones and pivot, upper and lower springpans and bumpstop. Also the damper and kingpin/stub axle assembly.
	The components were further disassembled and cleaned using a wire brush. The old bushes were removed and the components inspected for wear. The lower wishbone swivel shows some signs of wear on the ends that pass through the bushes but I don't think its too bad. The spacers on the bump stops are very badly corroded and will be replaced along with the nuts and bolts that hold them to the crossmemeber as I had to cut these off. If I can get the spacers off I will re-use the bump stops. The build manual instructs you to remove the valves from the dampers but doesn't say how, so some investigation was required. First I removed the small plug from the top of the damper but this proved to be simply a filler hole. Next I undid the large hexagonal fitting underneath it and this proved to be what I was looking for. The large fitting is a valve carrier, inside was a valve, washer, and spring (shown left). I drained the oil and removed these components and refitted the hexagonal cover. This seems to have successfully disabled the damping action, leaving the unit free to act solely as a wishbone.
	All components were cleaned and degreased. I painted them using hammerite. Two coats were applied, The picture left shows the front crossmember after its first coat.
	This picture shows the font wishbones and steering linkages drying. They look like bats hanging from the garage rafters!
Rear Axle

	I decided to use the donor axle, which may prove to be a mistake if it is excessively worn. One of the things I noticed is that it was very oily so I decided to replace all three oil seals which are cheap enough from MGB Hive. To replace the hub seals the brakes are removed from the ends of the axle. First the drums come off, there are two small crosshead countersunk screws that need to be removed first. With the drums off, next come the brake shoes. Remove the locating pins and then the springs and finally the shoes. Remove the handbrake adjuster and the slave cylinders from the back plate. To get at the seal, the hub, backplate and bearing retainer plate need to come off. I had to buy a socket for the hub nuts which appear to be larger than the front hub nuts. The rear nuts require a 1⁵/₁₆ socket and after removing the split pin, I used a socket extension to hold the hub against the spanner. The hub can then be removed, I found the best way to do this was to use a socket extension against the back plate to lever the hub forwards and firmly tapped the end of the axle shaft with a hammer. Lastly the backplate nuts are released and the backplate removed. The bearing retainer can also be removed now and this is where the seal is located. I found the best way to remove the seal was to support the bearing retainer on a pair of wooden blocks and drift the seal out from the back (the concaved side). The new seal was pressed into place by hand from the front, and then using a wooden block and hammer I drifted it in so it was flush with the outside of the hub retainer. The new seal is shown left.
	The pinion seal was more difficult. First the flange needs to be removed, and this is where the difficulty starts. The pinion nut that holds it all together is tightened to a fairly high torque. In order to undo it, you need to stop the differential gears and the axle shafts from turning. Unfortunately theres not much to act on to hold against the spanner. To overcome this a pinion wrench was made from a 3 foot length of flat iron bar which I bought from B & Q. I drilled 2 holes 9mm in diameter, 46mm apart and ground a recess into the edge to fit around the socket. The bar was bolted to the flange and using a socket on the flange nut, I was able to release it. Even with the wrench it was still a tough job to loosen the nut.
	Inspection of the differential gears while the back plate was removed shows no major wear to the various gears and pinions etc.
	The panhard rod is fitted to the axle using an adapter which bolts on the differential housing using two replacement bolts for the differential cover. In order that the adapter may sit flush on the diff housing, part of the flange on the cover was ground away.
	The cover was refitted with the panhard rod adapter and the whole assembly was painted with hammerite. Also the other components for the rear suspension were degreased and painted. The rear end is now ready for assembly, once the chassis is prepared.
	Aftrer fitting the cleaned up axle I discovered that pinion gear had a lot of play in it. I think I may have damaged the collapsible spacer when refitting the pinion. Reading the manual I had tightened the pinion to a high torque as specified, but on re-reading the manual I found I had mistakenly followed the instructions for the older 'banjo' type axle. Not having the tools or the inclination to strip down and rebuild the axle, I opted for a replacement, reconditioned unit from MGB hive. I collected it from their premises. When I got it home and studied it I found that it had no half shafts, you're supposed to use the existing ones. Next problem was to get the old ones out. The manual tells you to remove all the brakes and the bearing cap etc. then use a specil tool (basically a slide hammer) to knock the half shafts out. As I didn't possess such an item I had to improvise. I used two bolts and wound the nuts right on, and placed them between the axle and and the hub which I had refitted. I then unwound the nuts alternately, a couple of turns at a time. This gradually forced the halsf shafts out. The haf shafts were easily fitted into the new axle which was swapped onto the car.
Chassis build up

	I decided to start at the rear of the chassis. As the rear axle is heavy and difficult to manoeuvre, I started by standing the axle on three axle stands, 'in position' as it were. With Dads help we turned the chassis over and rested it in roughly the correct position at the rear, on top of the axle. The front was supported on axle stands as well.
	Here you can see the first problem encountered. As the build manual points out, many replacement springs include and extra lamination clamp fitted around leaves one and two at the front. In practice this is not required (the original springs don't have it). Unfortunately it gets in the way when the front of the spring is positioned in the Chassis tube, and prevents the bush from lining up with the chassis hole.
	I removed the clip, by cutting the domed fixing with a hack saw and bending the clip open using a stout screwdriver. The clip pops off and leaves the shank of the fixing standing proud of the spring leaf. I ground this down wityh a grinder. The spings now locate correctly.
	With the spring clamp removed the spring was fitted to the chassis, the picture left shows the spring fitted ready to drop the axle down onto it. The axle is lowered on a trolley jack and the U bolts and various mounts and plates are positioned before tightening up all the nuts. The correct sequence from the top down is pedestal, axle, upper plate, upeer rubber mount, spring, lower rubber mount, lower plate, damper bracket.
	The spax instructions said that the existing damper brackets can be used but need to be reversed from side to side. This was done and the spax were mounted on the bottom mount points. However, the springs being new and the chassis having insufficient weight to compress them, means that the top mounts don't reach. Also the rubber rebound straps don't reach. Pending the resolution of these issues, I put the road wheels on for convenience and moved to the front.
	At the front of the car, the crossmember was prepared by fitting the upper spring pans and the bump stops and spacers. The whole crossmember was then bolted to the chassis with the four large stud and nut sets. The sequence for the fittings from the top down is - locknut, washer, chassis, rubber washer, chassis, stepped rubber washer, metal plate, locknut.
	The stub axle and steering linkage were assembled. Initially I didn't realise the linkages were handed, but if you get it wrong, the track rod ends won't locate in the linkages because the taper is the wrong way up. The hole in the linkage needs to be widest part at the top.
	The lower spring pan and wishbones were assembled next. A replacement ¹/₂" nut, and bolt are required to replace the original damper linkage fitting. I left a little slack in the fittings to allow the location of the pivot bolts and bushes later. Also note the fitting of the lower spax damper mounting bracket on the rear wishbone. The front wishbone has been drilled and tapped to accept the fixings for the wishbone covers required for SVA.
	The springpan was fitted to the front crossmember.
	The disabled damper is fitted to the crossmember. When fitting this, the upper spax damper mounting bracket is sandwiched between the damper and the crossmember. New (slightly longer) bolts are supplied with the spax kit for this purpose. Also notice the large pile of concrete bricks placed on the chassis. This is to allow me to fit the front springs detailed below.
	The upper wishbone was fitted with the stub axle assembly 'hung' from it. It is easy at this point to place the assembly into the upper wishbone the wrong way round. Notice that the kingpin (the vertical piece) sits 'inside' of the fulcrum at the top, and it sits 'outside' at the bottom. This ensures the stub axle sits 'horizontaly'. I wanted to fit the springs now to save coming back to this point later. As mentioned in the breakdown, I don't have the correct type of coil spring compressor, so I weighted down the chassis and placed a jack under the lower wishbone. The jack was raised to compress the spring against the added weights and the lower fulcrum pin was fitted. This is not a straightforward operation as all the new bushes are tight, and the various washers all have to fit on the pin as it is inserted. The only advice that can be givven is to be patient and persevere. Once the pin is inserted all the nuts can be tightened. It is important not to tighten the bush fittings fully, until the weight of the finished car is on the springs and it is standing on the ground.
	The steering rack was added whch is a simple bolt on job. I had expected that there may be some difficultiess with it fouling the chassis, as this was Chris Humphries experience, but it was fine. The track rod ends were screwed on and loosly located in the steering arms. Finally the road wheels were fitted temporarily to allow the chassis to stand and also to be moved in and out of the garage. There are a small number of items that still need to be attended to but due to the tightness of the springs and the requirements of various small parts (nuts, bolts and washers etc.) can't be done at this stage: Mount tops of rebound straps at rear. Align and fix rear dampers. Fit panhard rod. Fill rear axle with gear oil. Align and fix front dampers. Apply grease to front stub axle assemblies. Tighten all front and rear bush fixings to correct torque. Recheck all front and rear fixings are tight.