MG-Cars.net

Welcome to our resource for MG Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

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 - How Long Does it Take to Restore a T Type

When the TD entered my life 18 months ago it took me one day to dismantle it, a week to sort, clean and store all the components and a month to get my instruments restored and order a whole batch of chrome bits and pieces. Since then I have worked on it every evening and every weekend. I have just been taking stock of where I am with the rebuild and must admit it will be at least next summer before I can hope to drive it. Just posting this message so others out there in the same position know they are not alone.


Jan T
Jan Targosz

As a life long restorer of classic cars, I now believe it is important to have at least 1 car you can actually drive, whilst working on other restoration projects. I bought my TD in road going order to drive whilst restoring other 50's cars. Having slaved away in a garage, often on your own, for days, months or years it is refreshing to be able to drive to a meeting, autojumble etc.
Henry Buckeldee

Yes been there, done that, got the T-shirt so to speak. Best thing is to enjoy doing it, its much more fun and easier than doing another car e.g. an MGB. I did my TD in about a year, but it was more a fix what was wrong restoration. The B has taken twice as long and has been a fight with the amount of hard work and problem solving, there was a lot of ill fitting parts and panel work required compared with the unbolt this and bolt on that of the TD. Now all the cars are restored and have MOTs, I miss having a car to restore, you will only do a restoration on the car once or twice in your life so enjoy doing yours until you get another car.

Tatty ( Non-member since 2003 )
Tatty

As the proud owner of a 1950 TD that I restored over the last 7 years...are we ever done? I first restored the car in about 2 1/2 years and then began the tweaking. A lot of money later and a TD with a shorrock supercharger, a 4.1 diff,a heater etc. etc...I am glad that I continued to work on the car. When my TD was completed, I finished off a 1962 MKII MGA for my wife...who hated it!~! Sold that car and got her a 1996 Saab convertible last month. She started screaming at me last night because I was under the car replacing a few things and had her car in pieces ( it was really only the unshield and the brackets) in order to replace the fog light bulbs. Will I ever be done with a restoration, probably not!
Cheers,
Rob (proud non-member since 1997 to paraphrase Tatty)
Rob Silverman

I bought a TD in 1992 from 1951. This car was like a wreck, coming from the States. It tooks me 5 years to restore it, mechanics,body paint. Now the car runs perfectaly well. Since the retoration I have made roughly 7000 Kms.All the job except the body and the paint was made by myself.
Georges.
Georges

I have to agree with Henry. Having something to drive, while restoring another, to me anyway is helpful. Driving the MGB to shows kept the spirit alive especially when seeing a fully restored TF.I have been restoring my TF since '98. It looks as if it will be completed this year. Finally. The restoration process for the non pro is truly the love of the hobby. Finding the time to work on it is the challenge. They do come apart very quickly. But you can't take enough pictures or be too carefull in sorting, marking and bagging the parts. It has been my experience that patience pays off. For those who have been there, aren't those tub rebuilds and door alignments a joy.
Jan, sounds like your getting plenty of time in. You'll be driving in no time. Be patient.
Dan H.
D.E. Hanson

I took one apart one fall. Got laid off in February. Had the car back together and took it to Ohio in June. I put another one together that someone else took apart in about 1 year, but that's about the only thing I did when not working on the job.

G'day
Blake

Jan, I found my 52TD in October, 1988 and got to drive it for the first time in August, 1995. I had a do the frame-off bit to replace some rotted wood and I also had to locate/rebuild an engine and gearbox to replace the Volvo B16B that was in the car. It was a time and money project, i.e., when I had the time I didn't have the money. It was well worth it! Don't be discouraged.
Bud Krueger

Jan, I started my restoration in the spring of 97, working about 12 hours a week on the car. I had to stop after about a 1.5 years due to other demands. I started again a few months ago, now I'm back working at it 18 hours a week.

My car was very rusty, but in good mechanical shape. After complete disassembly: I’ve got the chassis done, the transmission, carbs, starter, generator, and all of the other ancillary items done. Every little piece has been a project. (I would hate to admit how much time I have spent on some of these small items.)

There are many, many pieces in these old cars. I’ve got pictures of my front and rear suspensions laid out on the floor, there are more than 60 pieces in the front and 125 pieces in the rear! (Not including brakes!) That’s a lot of sand blasting and painting.

I hope to complete my car this summer. The engine is at the machine shop now, and should be back in the chassis in a couple of weeks. Then I’ll be sharpening my woodworking skills!

It is a big help having this BBS. I would hate to think where many of our cars would be without the experiences and sharing that happen here everyday.
Evan Ford - TD 27621

Took me about 3 years of spare time to complete.

Chris
Chris Couper

Bought my 51 TD in 1998 and got it running right away, took it apart and worked on stuff off and on every winter but drove it in the summer untill 2002 when I took it in to be painted and put new interior in. That took 11 months. So from start to finish, about 5 years. Worth every nickel of it and had fun doing it. Also had lots of help from other club members here, so it is not a lonesome job..
Tom Maine

In the late 80's, my friend's TF took about 14 months. Started out to get the thing running- parked for 20 years. Turned into a frame-off. No internet help then- trial and lots of errors, luckily, the NEMGTR book came out just in time or a bunch of details would have been wrong. Two of us worked really hard most weekends, and I would take stuff home during the week to work on at night (carbs, starter, etc.). Mostly finished, and won 3rd TF at GOF south. Two years (and many details later- thanks to Tony Roth and guys in Orlando for air cleaners, etc.), won best TF. Was single at the time. A kitchen is a great place to do restoration- great lighting, lots of shelves, heat, running water, and a vent fan! No chance of doing my own great running but not so great looking TD until kids finished with college (oldest is 10 now!)
George Butz

Wow! What a refreshing thread! Seems there are many of us novice garage restorers out there. I got my 1950 TD from my father in June of 2001. It had been sitting in storage for about ten years. His comment to me at the time was: "all it needs is to be snapped back together". Well, that snapping back together involved me taking the car completely down to the bare frame and slowly putting it back together. I spent the first year hunched over a bead blasting cabinet cleaning and painting hundreds of parts. I'm doing everything myself (which basically means doing everything at least twice until I get it right). I now have the motor, wheels, and body tub back on the frame and have been trying to get the motor started for a couple of months. Waiting on a new coil to come in and hopefully she cranks. I hope to have her on the road this summer (of course I said that before last summer too). My advice to other novices is to have some other smaller projects going so you can feel a sense of accomplishment every now and then. I restored two small motorcycles during the process, one a 1972 Honda CB 100, the other a 1972 Honda CB 175. Those were fast and easy projects. It's nice to know there are so many cars "in the womb"!
Robert

Didn't realise the gold seam I had found when I started this thread. Just a small extra comment - I have a box stored away under the dining room table. In it, wrapped in tissue paper, are four superbly restored TD instruments, two beautifully rechromed headlamps, an excellent hornpush and dip switch and a similar ignition and light switch. There are other nice shiny bits that I add each week. When the work in the garage starts to get me down I unwrap all of these and polish them with a nice, new yellow duster. Don't think it possible to find a better therapy.


Jan T
Jan Targosz

Jan,
Mabey you don't realise it, but you have been part of many "Gold Seams" in this fantastic web site,,, I hope that you have pictures of your car to share with the rest of us !!! Visit www.CTMGCLUB.com for pictures of our club's cars and events

SPW
Steve

This thread was discussed between 25/03/2003 and 28/03/2003

MG TD TF 1500 index

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