Customer Reviews

Mgb: Guide to Purchase and D. I. Y. Restoration

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is NOT the foundation book for MGB maintenance and repair. That honor is still held by the Haynes MGB 1962 thru 1980 book published in the 1980's and often delivered as part of the "kit" to anyone buying an original MGB, as I just did.

This book, however, is a really superb rendition of modern guidance, with superb photographic essays of complex operations. Although it has a color cover, all of the photographs are in black and white. The book is a real build on top of a normal repair manual, with sections on history, buying (BUY THIS BOOK BEFORE YOU BUY AN MGB), and then bodywork, interior trim, mechanical, electrical, and so on.

The third book that I recommend is Anders Ditlev Clausager's "Original MGB With MGC and MGB GT V8." This is a coffee table book, a "this is what perfect looks like," and it is both inspirational and just plain delightful. I drove my 1964 MGB across the country in the four days after I bought it (at 2500 RPM most of the way, 65 mph, but on special stretches of Iowa, doing 4000 RPM for sustained periods) because I love this car as a sports drive, not a driveway show car. Still, it is really great to see what perfection without regard to long haul rallying looks like, and I could not do without all three books.

People - The Restoration manual is exactly what it claims to be- A RESTORATION GUIDE! If you are looking for step-by-step body-work help, or a trouble shooting guide look elsewhere. This is a Restoration Guide!!! This book assumes you've done the dent-removal & painting and are ready to re-assemble. We've got 4 MG's and are currently restoring a '68. There's no substitute for having a picture or diagram to guide you & this book is loaded with both. I only wish we had got this book 2 MG's ago! Don't attempt a re-build without it!

While it has some photos and covers some topics that the standard repair manual does not (such as cutting out rusty body parts and replacing them), it lacks information you need to trouble shoot. If you want to work with what you have this is not the book for you. If you want to buy new or used parts and stick them on, this book is for you.

The introduction and section on buying an MG are very well done and useful. This section is probably worth the cost of the book. The sections on the restoration process is disappointing. The book has plenty of pictures, but they are so small and of mediocre quality that they aren't very useful. When explaining how to do various jobs, the book is somewhat superficial and wouldn't be of much help if someone really doesn't know how to do something. I find that the Official Workshop Manual is much more useful than the Restoration Manual.

This book has been around for a good 15 years and is still one of the best on the topic of MGB restoration. The only flaw, and its a big one is that a lot of the photos are horrible; dark and hard to make out.

After receiving the book, I was really disappointed in the picture/illustration quality and size. The black & white pictures appear like they are a copy of a copy. Very dark, not very clear, fussy almost. Most pictures are small 2"x 2", not what I expected in a manual of this subject. The text also lacked some detail/specifics, i.e. when it recommended a common bolt to replace an unavailable pivot pin, it didn't give the size and length. Things like this is what I was looking for in a restoration manual. I can figure out most things on my own, I was looking for some experienced insight and tip & tricks specific to my vehicle, not sure I got it with this book. If I've seen this book at the store before I could buy it, I may not have.

There is a lot of really good information in the book that is not in the workshop manuals. However, there is not a lot of explanation of the processes for some of the jobs in the book. Nevertheless, its still the best book of its kind. What I would like to seel is three or four more complete books covering separate phases of restoration in greater detail. Also, more coverage of the difference between different years would be great.

The gripes most people seem to have are along the lines of: "It doesn't show me how to do little things..." That's right, it doesn't, because a restoration is no little thing! It's a long, meticulous process with a lot of attention to detail. The book is good for it's intended purpose.

I purchased this book thinking that it would have real details about restoring my MGB roadster....NOT Really...Yes, it does cover many items, but not in the real detail that one needs to do a restoration....
I was disappointed overall....It was almost "generic" in nature, and just wasn't the book I thought it would be....
Most folks that are taking on a project like this, are already pretty decent mechanics, but have not necessarily worked on British sports cars....Otherwise, they wouldn't need a book to help....
I read through it once, and never picked it up for help again....
Much better off with Internet forums, Chilton publications, and factory workshop manual.

A good start for the novice restoration hobbiest. I don't think this is the only book one will need to do a restoration on a car. You will need others, but this will get you started.