Beck TD, Part 30 - Unbending Beck

I am so grateful to my friends at Lancaster Mitsubishi for putting up with my crusty old MG. Even though they are obviously a new car dealer, they also have a large used car lot, and have factory trained techs on the German cars that were my projects for so long. Somehow, they are also willing to work on Beck, even though it barely fits on their equipment!

So far, Beck TD has been on both the alignment rack, and now, the frame machine. The results were stunning! The photo on the left is from Part 26 when I got a front end alignment, and it shows the severe hit that the front cross member had sustained some time in the distant past. That resulted in a serious caster misalignment that I suspected was the cause of the steering having poor self-centering performance. Sorry about the dangling wire - that is now attached to the new driving lights.

The photo on the right is the result after Dave in the body shop put the muscle on Beck with the frame machine. That is waaaay better, and the first drive, even without a realignment, tells me we're on the right track for the tracking, so to speak.


I had been talking with body shop manager Meredith for a while about this project, but it was only now that I was able to get Beck over to the shop. Here I am handing over the keys. That's Dave between Meredith and me.

They got Beck on the frame machine, and realized that the usual fixtures to firmly hold the frame and body didn't quite fit a 1952 MG. Imagine that. Meredith had to go buy some huge posts to make a framework under the car:

At that point, Beck could be strapped down to be able to resist the immense bending force of the ram:

Dave got to work, and soon the cross member was straight and square:

My job was easy but scary - back the car off the frame machine.

This is the first time I've ever had frame work done on a car, and I am impressed. As I noted earlier, the steering self-centering is much improved already. After Cor, Troy and I complete the disc brake conversion, Beck TD will go back for one more visit to the alignment rack, where we can use shims to get the caster perfectly in spec.

The other hoped-for outcome also was realized. I was aware that Beck TD was "crooked" - the right rear fender extended about an inch farther back than the left. Now, they line up! A great result for all the remaining improvements I'm dreaming about. Thanks, Dave and Meredith!

Continue on to Part 31...