Repairing the battery boxes

The battery boxes on this MGA were in poor shape, but with the exception of one small rust spot, the arms were in great shape. We opted to repair the driver’s side inner arm and replace the battery boxes. We had arms on standby if we found more damage or were unable to save them, but we didn’t need them after all.

We have our battery tray pieces laser cut and we form and weld them together on the bench. In this case, we opted for trays that are 1″ longer front-to-back in order to fit a modern group 26 12v battery.

The repair entailed carefully cutting the old battery trays off of the car, while preserving the arms. We then welded the new trays in place after properly fitting them in position.

After welding, we cleaned the heat-affected zones, wire-wheeled the arms, and then painted everything to match the chassis.