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MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG TD TF 1500 - 1.5' Air Cleaners

Ordered a set of aircleaners from Moss...two identical boxes/part numbers/items... One backing plate fit and one didn't...the holes were to close together by about 1/4".... Had already painted them to match the engine, so had to do some drilling...


gblawson

Ordered a set of rear koni tube shocks from Moss. RH mounting plate fit perfectly, LH plate holes were off by 1/32. Try drilling in 1/2" steel plate. Was sucessful after two ruined drill bits.
James Neel

I think those are the air cleaners I had on my TD MKII
when one of them had the center stud become loose and
ended up getting sucked into the engine. It punched a hole in the #1 piston. I have since secured the center stud, after rebuilding the engine!
Steve Averka

Well you have just killed all the advantage of the big carbs, and a whole lot more besides. It should be a criminal offense to sell those things. Following is an analysis of what you got for your trouble, as compared to an MGB OE filter, from earlier posts of mine:

"As if that's not enough, this same car has a pair of the wretched but flashy "Stellings & Hellings" air filters fitted. I've been telling him for a long time that they must go, and I am tired of having to clean the carbs every time I see the car, which usually has less than 2000 miles between visits. So I measured them,and these are the results, formerly posted on the Spridget board:
Air filters
Crappy "Stellings & Hellings" filters for HS4 SU. May not be real S&H, but the design is so bad as to make this irrelevant.
These are the chrome ones with perforated chrome sleeves on both sides of the foam element.
Airflow area available:
84 holes @ .190dia. = 84 x .095sq x 3.14 = 2.38 in sq per filter.
That is maximum at the inner sleeve, reduced by alignment of the similar outer sleeve and foam.

Airflow area of OE paper, gross:
3 3/4 D X 2 deep x .8 estimated screen coefficient = 33 in sq per filter.
Actual element is unfolded size = .550pleat width x 2sides per pleat x 3depth x 76 pleats = 250.8 in sq.
Note that ONE pleat has nearly 50% more filtering area = 3.3 in sq. than the entire S&H filter!
The S&H has about 7% of the gross and 1% of the element area available in the OE unit.
This means that not only is it very restrictive, but also that air velocity in the media is so high as to make any useful filtration impossible.
S&H also has a bad backplate, further restricting air flow, and it is so flimsy as to not retain the gasket, which shrinks into the intake, making it worse still. The car I am working on has about a 1 1/4 hole through the shrunken gasket, which is the correct 1 1/2 original type."

At the very least, remove the perforated chrome sleeves and the foam and throw them as far as possible. Then look through some filter catalogues and find a paper element that fits inside the housings.

Sorry!
FRM
FR Millmore

FRM
You go man!! Thanks for the low down on the "Stellings and Hellings" repro's. I have been looking for some scientific informaiton on the airflow and adequacy of those thin little filters.
I'm taking mine off ASAP. Too bad that on the TF there is soooooo little clearance.
Tom Norby
Tom Norby

Tom -
First try to find a suitable paper element to fit the things.
Don't know for sure, but you might investigate use of the K&N tapered filter sold for late MGB w/ booster and twin SU. Pricey but decent, get them from Jimmy (brainfog!) guy on the MGB Experience in Texas I think who is excellent on all things SU.
These do have a significant problem in that there is a screw head that hits the vacuum chamber, very bad - a dent or even pressure on the chamber will screw up the carb, possibly permanently. As supplied by K&N they give you a 1/4" thick cork gasket which acts as a spacer. But you cannot tighten the filter down on a soft material, and the cork WILL migrate away from the joint. I have made and sold 3/16" aluminum or phenolic spacers to cure this using the spacer plus two normal gaskets. I've also made internal airflow correctors/stubstacks for these.
On the TF, it might even be best to use a modified or made from scratch backplate to eliminate this problem and get more clearance by offsetting the filter. Jimmy might be able to supply the K&N element only, but last I talked to him a couple of years ago it cost almost as much as the whole thing.

FRM
FR Millmore

Hi guys: I believe I once read of a modification to the original TD oil filter to use a K & N filter instead, that I would like to try. Any sugestions?

Thank you and Merry Christmas and Happy Mging!

Stuart
Stuart J. Ramos

I'm with Fletch on this one. I bought the repo S&H because the TF came to me with next to nothing for filters. I was pretty dissapointed. No scientific data but it was obvious there would be major airflow restriction. I bought a pair of K&N's but there wasn't enough room to fit the one to the front carb. So I put on a set of the "bumble bee" Weiland type on I had laying around and ran them till I put the blower on. I suppose they wern't a great filter either but certainly better than the S&H. After the blower mount I went back to the K&N's and put the pair on the B also. On all three I cut the inside bolt spacers down and mounted the radised B canister castings inside the filter housing. I suspect I still have some high flow restriction due to the size of the filter housing but it's about as good as it will get without coming up with a remote filter mount.
Jimmy Hilton is the man Fletch refers to. Texas I beleive.
LED DOWNEY

Perhaps someone can explain why there is no mention here of the origional oil bath air cleaner. Works great and the most simple approach possible. What am I missing...........again?
With warm regards,
Dick Thomas
Dick Thomas

Dick-
The OE setup is fine for trundling about with everything more or less stock, excellent filtration and quiet. But we are talking about one with bigger carbs and mods, and also about TF. The TD oil bath won't fit, and is not really suited to vigorous driving, since the oil splashes about and gets sucked into the engine.

FRM
FR Millmore

Dick... your not missing anything, but I would need an air cleaner manifold that fits 1.5" carbs ... last one I saw went for the price of a good used car on eBay...

And FRM... whew.... go easy.... Once I have things back together I will see what clearance I have and adjust the screens/filters accordingly.... punched metal is easy to change, there are tons of filters out there and all I will use is the chrome front and backplate...which wasn't all that flimsy...although I will check the gaskets as you pointed out after a bit of use....
As for the 'airflow' figures...I so 'suck' at all that stuff....hahahahahahahahahahah...(I crack me up...)

Oh...I just noticed my comment title...I think I got the 1 foot 5 inch models, so perhaps that will allow a bit more air???

gblawson

FRM:
Thanks!! Guess I come from the other side of the coin whereby Stock is Good.
A Most Merry Christmas!!!
Dick Thoomas
Dick Thomas

...ok, guess I'm getting carried away, but it must be that non stock 'RED' paint on the engine and all the chroming the p/o did......

gblawson

Gord -
You know you are supposed to use good ventilation when painting, right?
1.5 ft filters of such a design MIGHT flow enough air!

FRM
FR Millmore

This thread was discussed between 18/12/2009 and 20/12/2009

MG TD TF 1500 index

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