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MG MGB Technical - Tab on brake cover - what for?

OK - I've got one that has always puzzled me.

What is the purpose for that tab that is brazed onto
the top of the master cylinder pedal box cover
(...other than to scrape and cut my hand or to catch
onto the fluid container whenever fiddling with the
hydraulics)?

Daniel Wong

Your brake pedal box tab keeps on scraping your hand? I'm glad to hear that it's working correctly. On older cars they often have to be replaced.
Steve

Daniel

On cb cars the throttle cable should be routed across the pedal box and this tab would be the original fixing point. I suggest that a previous owner has re-routed the throttle cable for some reason or simply lost the clamp and not bothered to replace it. If your throttle cable fits OK and doesn't touch anything it shouldn't, why not save the grazed knuckles and cut the tab off!
L Webb

Daniel

I agree with Laurence but I would qualify his comment by saying that I believe the tab is only used as he says on right hand drive cars.

There are pedal box covers without the tab. The one I have is tabless. It comes from a LHD car with duel circuit no servo brakes where the brake light switch fitts into a boss on the pedal box cover. If I remember correctly this combination was never used on RHD and therefore did not need the tab.

David
David Witham

The tab is used to hold the accelerator cable in RHD cars.
Mike MaGee

Ahh-ha! So that's what it's for!

I have a US-spec, '71 B/GT, LHD, (original owner)
with dual-circuit non-servo brakes, and this tab
was never utilized and it seemed superfluous.

I always managed to catch the edge of the brake
fluid can (or a funnel) on the tab and spill fluid onto
the box; or I'll sometimes cut my hand, or snag my
sweatshirt sleeve on the pesty thing.

One day, I had had enough and I decided to grind
the tab completely off. I haven't missed it since
...but I had always wondered what it was there for.
Daniel Wong

Great question Daniel, I've often wondered what it was for but just wrote it off as one of those things that show up on MGs because the part is used on other cars that share common parts. Thanks to our British friends for clearing that one up. Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

This thread was discussed between 15/09/2003 and 16/09/2003

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