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MG TD TF 1500 - .015 TD brass valve cover tag

Folks - Interesting reading, maybe I can help. I seem to recall reading a tech service bullitin 60 some years ago when I worked for a dealer. It stated that valve covers on the new model 1953 TD MK II only, were being issued at .015 clearance, along with a new #40368A distributor. A later service letter was issued that stated to disregard the first letter dated xx-xx-xx as the production change would go to .012 instead of .019. I have never seen anything written up in any articles after that last letter, so it must have been a very very short run, like the non-vented wheels on the early TD's. AAMOF, we never got a letter about that change either. Oh yes, they also changed the fixing plate, weights and dwell curves as well if I recall. My feeling is, they were messing around with some issues on the 53 TD MK II and it didn't work out the way engineering figured. I've never seen a .015 brass tag, nor have I ever seen one on EBAY. My guess would be if you have one and a 53 TD MK II, maybe you have something in very limited production. Could someone take a photo of this tag & cover and post for others to see Not that I don't believe it, I've just never seen one. Thank you. Ozzie
Ozzie

Here ya go Ozzie (see pic below)

Cheers

Larry


L Karpman

Interesting...John Twist always sets T series tappets to .015...
R Dougherty


Well blown me down matey, it does exist! Thanks Larry
Ozzie

My TD, which has been maintained as original, also has a valve cover tag with .015 and it has a 40368A distributor, but is not a Mark II car, or a TDC engine. It was manufactured in March 1953.
This has been discussed before with several other cars reported having the .015 tag, but no factual information as to why. Probably a short production change that didn't make the operators manuals.?
D C Congleton

Dallas. You may be right. My '53 TD was manuafactured in January 1953 (TD24349).

Cheers

Larry
L Karpman

Dallas -
My '53, TD29744, not a MK II, made in August 1953, has the 40368A distributor but the tag on the valve cover is marked .012. Did they make two of these cars exactly alike?

Jan
Janson Hurd

The engine in Lazarus, 28839, has a 40368A distributor and a .012 tag.
Bud Krueger


I am sure that most of the later TDs with the 40368A distributors had .012 tags, but apparently there are some that have the valve cover with the .015 tag.

When I pursued this a couple of years ago, I made these notes from Neil Cairn's book.

"At SC2/18097 the YB gained a new distributor, 40058F type, and the TD gaining a similar version at TD2/24489, type 40367. These had high lift-short duration cams, and the points gap was 0.014" to 0.016" instead of the earlier 0.012".

"D2A4/40368 was in the TD from engine 20942 with MG862/171 and 168553 cams."

This does indicate a period of .015 valve setting for the TDs, but adds confusion to the issue of trying to link the change to the cam or distributor.

There was a belief at one time that these were covers supplied on the TD MKIIs with the D2A4/40367 distributors-?
Of so, maybe some made it on the regular TDs.

The only possibility that I surmised was that the YB type used this cover and some made it on TDs.? I have not viewed a YB type XPAG engine to see if the valve cover is the same, but I seem to remember a different arrangement for the air filer, and not the fitting to attach the hose to the air cleaner as on a TD. Maybe some one with a Y type will know.

Dallas





D C Congleton


Hello again everyone. Being a novice at this I guess I should fill in some more blanks. First, I just found out today that my TD is a MK II manufactured in mid October 1952 but does not have the extra shocks ( mountings are there, front and rear) and does not have dual fuel pumps (holes are there however) Does anyone have a set of 4 of these for sale or know where I can get them? It also does have a #40368A distributor but no oil bath air cleaner (again, anyone have one for sale ). This has been interesting reading and the knowledge from everyone is refreshing. I hope someday I can be of help to someone in need the same way. Is there anything that I have forgotten to add that will lend to this .015 forum? I guess with all I have read there should be no conclusion drawn as there are no facts in writing to back this up (lawyer babble!) Jack

PS - What is Carlisle? Anybody there with TD parts that I can find what is needed on this car?
Jack

Dallas

"At SC2/18097 the YB gained a new distributor, 40058F type, and the TD gaining a similar version at TD2/24489, type 40367. These had high lift-short duration cams, and the points gap was 0.014" to 0.016" instead of the earlier 0.012".

"D2A4/40368 was in the TD from engine 20942 with MG862/171 and 168553 cams."

Reading the quote from Neil Cairns' book, I read this as contact point gap not valve clearance. I have however no enlightenment as to this thread.

Ian
TF4056
Ian Fry

Right your are Ian- confusion on my part! Too many cams I guess ;^)

Dallas
D C Congleton

Have I missed something or, is there some confusion here? The clearence on the brass plate refers to the tappet clearance, not the points gap. the tappet clearance is dependant on which camshaft you have not which distributor.

John
John Scragg

John Scragg -- You have not missed something. One of the posters above was trying to make a connection between the 0.015 tag and a change in dist. numbers occuring at the same time. Also a factory bulleten was brought up which mentioned the change to 0.015 and then was promptly canceled.

I do remember reading somewhere that the cams calling for 0.019 could be set to 0.015 to reduce clatter with little or no loss of power at normal revs.

Doesn't solve the mistery exactly but does shed some light on the subject.
Cheers,

Bob
R. K. (Bob) Jeffers

Archive on .015 tag Bud
Bud Krueger

This thread was discussed between 20/05/2008 and 16/01/2014

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG TD TF 1500 BBS is active now.