More goings on..

Weather has been brilliant around Colchester for thew last few days so the MG has seen a fair amount of work.

First off was the audio again, I wasn't 100% happy with the Alpine radio I fitted, it looked a bit too 'Death Star' for a classic car. I wanted something modern-ish for "reliability" but didn't want anything to ugly. I settled for a Blaupunkt tape deck off eBay for £20. Its a tape deck, but for an extra fiver I've also got a cable that hooks up to the rear and allows conenction of an auxiliary device, such as an iPod.

I had an experiment with other antennas but didn't seem to have much luck, so I've done away with aerials for the time being. If I really want FM, I'll plug in an aux device!

Whilst upgrading the head unit I also decide to do something more permanent for speakers, and loom up the wiring nicely. I also replaced the radio console as the old one had been butchered slightly to fit a previous unit. In a new console the Blaupunkt fits perfectly with a mounting strap behind to hold it in place. 

You may also notice a new gear knob and gaiter. The number 7 pool ball is a close match for Demask Red. Front kick panels have also been refitted and screwed in.

New radio console, head unit, gear knob and gaiter.

I spent a long time trying things out for some speakers. I didn't particularly want to install speakers in the door cards, as this wouldn't be subtle and wouldn't have been normal in 1972! For that reason I didn't want to install in the rear quarter panels either!

First off I tried install speakers in map pockets in the kick trims as this seemed common in left hand drive cars. However in right hand drive vehicles it obstructed the linkages of the accelerator pedal and potentially got in the way of the bonnet release switch.

In the end I decided to hide some speakers under the dash, mounted to the dash reinforcement bar. I found some "Radiomobile" speaker pods that looked small and discreet enough for the job. The speakers were hooked up to and ISO block to the head unit. I also run some speaker cable to the rear boot area, I want to add some Blaupunkts to the rear wells, between the rear aches and rear lights. So far its all sounding good!

Left dash speaker.

Right dash speaker.

They are very discreet and not easy to spot, job done! An other important purchase was a tape box. I can now pull a tape out of a box and swap it in the radio within 20 seconds!

The essential tape box.

Today I've mostly been cleaning the car again. Nigel was foamed, rinsed and washed. I cleaned the wheels with 'Mothers' chrome cleaner and then used the compressor to dry the them for the first time. Worked incredibly well, very, very few marks at all!

Nigel was also polished with Auto-Glyn super resin polish and the waxed with Meguiars carnauba wax. The results were pretty incredible:

Three pics showing the car after a good clean!

Parked up with the daily driver.

I'd also managed to get hold of a decent dust cover from a company on the net. The fabric is supposedly very breathable and is elasticated at the bottom. Looks like its going to be machine washable as well. 

Kept under the new cover.

So Nigel was put away for the rest of the day. He's off to the garage tomorrow for some work to be done, more updates on this coming soon!