The project build as featured in

What is "Project Shed"? I suspect that the picture in the main title gives the game away a bit - I, along with fellow MGF nut case Tim Woolcott, collected an absolute shed of an MGF from the south coast just before Christmas 2007. The car didn't have much attached, as you'll see in instalment 1 of the series - but that's just fine with me. I have been daydreaming about building and driving an MGF based race car for some time, and a freebee MGF shell was just the catalyst to get started. I have also wanted to try out a few ideas, including aerodynamic tweaks and seeing how much of a difference shedding a whole pile of weight would make to the performance of the car. One wonders whether it might be quite a lot! Oh, and the idea is to do the whole thing on as small a budget as possible. I am reckoning on a sub-1000 quid budget to get the car driveable again. And perhaps a further 1000 beer tokens to get the car ready for sprints/hill climbs, track days and racing! Oh yes, racing! The current aim is to get the car ready for the 'all-comers' endurance race at Silverstone's international MG meet (now called MG Live!) in 2010. Given family and job commitments, that is looking like a tall order - but we're going to go for it!

You may already have read about project Shed in the MGF Register magazine, or perhaps in the MGCC's printed organ of all knowledge, Safety Fast (click on the logos above), so this site is serving as a repository of back issues of the building of project shed. Of course, if you've not seen the articles in print, then follow the build here - at current rates of publishing, the articles will be coming out quarterly - so don't forget to pop back (and if I remember, I'll update the rss log! ) - and you'll get the additional bonus of pictures that weren't included in the final printed articles, you lucky things...

	#1: What have I done? It's December 2007. Its cold. Its miserable. And we have a tonne of scrap metal, formerly known as a 1996 MGF VVC! Read more
	#2: Getting down to it The strip down of the shell begins, which offers the opportunity to go all Tony Robinson and do some Time-Team vehicle archeology. Without the geophysics. Or the bloke with the beard. Or the scrumpy-soaked digging Yocal. So not a lot like Time Team at all then, but probably just as grubby. Maybe.
	#3: Foraging for parts What's the solution for one crappy old MGF on your in-laws front drive? Yes, that's right: get another one. That'll teach 'em!
	#4: CSI: London Stripping the donor for its parts - and in the process discovering why the airbag hadn't gone off. Some pillock had rogered the rotary coupler. MG Octagon embossed on your chest, anyone?
	#5: A cunning plan A cunning plan? Well Baldrick dropped a turnip on that one. Tin worms, we hate you.
	#6: Time for a service Holy cow: how hard can it be to do a routine service on an engine? When we're working on the Shed, you can be sure it isn't straightforward. Evil heifers and hungry rodents all conspire against us. Bill Oddy, you can keep your nature watch and stick it up your...
	#7: It looks a bit like a car We had to get our skates on: some darn fool wanted Project Shed to feature at MGFest09. So I gave myself a week to get it back on its wheels. Plenty of time you'd think?
	#8: Rust, glorious rust Just because a mid-90s MG hadn't already had enough rot, I discover that the tin worms had been busy else where too - this time at the front of the car. This is starting to get annoying.
	#9: Collecting parts This instalment is the automotive equivalent to perennial day-time TV favourite, "Cash in the Attic" - only in reverse. I get to spend a lot of money on any old MGF go-faster bits in other people's attics. Still, it distracts me from the proper business of actually building the flippin' car!
	#10: Show time! Man nails bits to ratty old MG in effort to get said MG ready for a car show. Man stands on a rusty nail. Man shouts "Ow" and hobbles about for the next few days. Just how exciting can this build series get?
	#11: Saggy bums and a case of wind Why on earth was my MGF dragging its back end on the floor? And what's all this about wind? Mysteries of suspension and aerodynamics were investigated. It got complicated. I got bored, so cut a hole where I fancied and everyone was happy...
	#12: Joesph Lucas: Prince of Darkness Everyone knows that wires contain smoke: if a wire breaks, smoke escapes. So I meddle with the electrical system for fun. I am sure that this is a recipe for getting my fingers burnt. Or smoked. Or schmoked.
	#13: In event of emergency, pull red rip cord Lots of miscellaneous jobs to do, including fitting an emergency ignition isolator amongst other things. I also watched some paint dry. On the new radiator duct. Yes, my life really is that exciting.
	#14: Whatever next? He'll actually fit a steering wheel?! Scarcely believable I know, but Project Shed has now been fitted with a steering wheel. Will wonders never cease? At this rate, the Shed will actually resemble a car. Shame that there is nowhere to sit yet...
	#15: There's somewhere to sit Isn't it about time something went wrong again? I mean, surely, seats? In the project car? This is looking a bit like progress?
	#16: Ignition start...3...2...1...0.... Holy *^$%! The engine actually runs?!?
	#17: 15minutes of fame: feature in Practical Performance Car Extrovert MG shock! Project Shed gets featured in Practical Performance Car in the "Reader's Cars" section - and why not? After a fettle and some welding at Tech-Speed's motor sport HQ, this MG is starting to look as though it has star potential! Yeah, I know, I am not fooling anyone...
	#18: What a plonker: I've built a car without a heater Only a complete tool would build a car without a heater, and yes, I've been a total spanner. So how am I going to demist the windscreen and keep myself warm? A nice tartan travel rug and a chamois screen cloth? I don't think so either.
	#19: Say "Aahhh" - yes, it is test time! Hilarity at MoT testing station as I turn up with an MG that the tester can't fit into... ha ha!
	#20: Finally on track Stuff falls off. Oops. But at least Project Shed now has a roof to keep the rain out. Mostly.
	#21: Rrrrrr-rrrrrr-rrrrr... &^$%!!! Start darn car, START! Cheap distributor parts from last year's Christmas cracker give up the ghost - shock! The Car won't start and the tyres don't fit. Ah, that's more like it: business as usual with Team Shed.