Crack Tech

A great many MGBs suffer from what's been called the 'Crack of Doom,' the tearing of door skins in the vicinity of side view mirrors. What causes it is up for speculation, but the prevailing theories involve either vibration from the nearby mirrors, weakening the metal, or perhaps closing doors by pushing the vent window rather than the body of the door. Or maybe a combination of both. In any event there are two ways to repair the problem. The first is to replace the door skin, a sure fix, but relatively expensive and time-consuming. The second way is cheaper and faster, and if done right will produce results every bit as good as the first. This method involves applying a patch. If the doors are solid, especially along the bottom edge, it's worth considering.

Bob and Chris Johnson's 1980 MGB was the subject of this tech session during a cold day in February 2008. Bob had already performed repairs on the driver's side door, and invited us to help (watch) the procedure being done on the passenger side.

First you disassemble and remove the door	The  'Crack of Doom'  adjacent to the side mirror mount Note the body filler...a previous owner attempted repairs.	Inside the door a formed piece of metal is trial-fitted.
Next, the metal surfaces are roughed  up, inside and out.	Here Bob is shown applying a series of spot welds using a small spot welder bought at Harbor Freight on sale for around $60.	This inside view shows a series of spot welds as the patch joins the two halves of the crack.
With spot welding complete Bob will fill the gap with a mig weld, grind it flush, and prepare it for paint.	Ron Jacobek, Nate Weight, and Dave Nordby (not pictured) lent assistance and supervision to Bob's tech session.	We weren't sure if we were in a garage or a hangar.