After the body & frame had been cleaned up via blasting, I knew where all the damaged areas were. Most - especially the major damaged areas - were visible before, but a few new ones showed up that hadn't been quite as obvious before. I made two major purchases to help with repair: a welder and an air compressor. I began by removing the right side rocker area. I started there because it was in slightly worse shape than the left side and I needed something to refer to and copy. Once that side was done, then I repaired the left side and reversed the process, using the finished right side as my reference. I used POR-15 to coat the interior of the inner and outer sills. I guess only time will tell how well that worked.

One thing I learned about my amateur welding was that I didn't think I could do well enough on the exterior panels to have them look OK. Those areas included the lower portion of both front fenders, the dogleg of both rear fenders, and some holes in the rear valance. There were also holes in the trunk lid from a luggage rack. I was planning on a luggage rack, too, but the holes didn't line up so they would have to be filled and I sure wasn't going to tackle aluminum welding. I also knew that the radiator duct panel would have to be replaced. I began removing that, but got worried when I saw all the weld attachments to the inner fenders. I was afraid I was going to do more damage than I could handle.  

I had been looking for someone to do the painting and I knew for some time that he'd also have to tackle some body work. I spent quite a bit of time looking for someone. I found two local body shops that also did work on older cars and felt good about both of them. However, I eventually found a local individual whose "job" was body repair and painting. He ended up being my choice for the body repair and painting. He had an out building that he used. He would take on just about any job from simple body repairs on current vehicles to classic car restorations. He was also willing to do as little or as much as you wanted. I visited him and was impressed with his work that was in process at the time. I also realized that it looked like most of his work was on older cars. Just like the body shops, he'd never worked on an MGA and this did bother me some. But his attitude made me feel like he'd do a good job. Over time, I learned that he was very particular about things and was reluctant to do anything he didn't think was right.

My original plan had been to separate the frame from the body before I took the body out for repair. I figured I'd repair the frame, then get it powder coated, and then start assembly. I was hoping all that could happen before the body was ready to be dropped back onto the frame. However, after I talked to him and his concern about fits with just the body I decided to deliver both. In hindsight I was glad it worked out that way. He eventually offered to do the frame repairs and I knew he'd do a better job than me in a lot less time so he did those repairs, too.

I visited often, but sort of missed seeing all the work being done. You'll notice I really don't have any pictures of work in proces, just completed repairs. I was able to retrieve the frame after about five months of work. It was just another couple of weeks before the body and the related parts were painted. It ended up being another six weeks before I had the chassis built up and completed to return to him for the body drop.