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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 - Is my dash backwards?

Attached is a picture of my dash. This is a LHD '50 TD. After looking at the web yesterday I just noticed something wierd. My ignition key is to the LEFT of the horn button! Everybody else's is on the RIGHT! The Moss catalog, p 46 clearly shows mine is backwards for a TD. It seems to be set up more like a TC. Note that my oil/water and ammeter gauges are NOT adjacent to each other like a TD but more like a TC except they appear to be reversed. The ammeter is on the right and the oil on the left. I guess I can swap them around when I rebuild the dash perhaps? Am I confusing LHD vs. RHD or something?

I'm also missing the "Socket set" accessory plugs. Moss wants $44 for these - jeez! Anybody have any old ones to sell?

(That's Bonnie, my driving companion and helper in the picture.)


efh Ed

Ed

Check out this link for Stafford Vehicle components. I haven't used them but they appear to have many of the bits we need at reasonable prices.

http://www.s-v-c.co.uk/prod_other.html

You should be able to just switch the ignition with the gauge.

Do you know when your car was built?

Brian
Brian Smith

Ed, here is a photo of my RHD TD dashboard which is a mirror opposite of the Moss illustration. All the instruments and controls are interchangeable as you wish so don't worry aobut that part. The starter pull should be under the rim of the steering wheel so that you can lock your thumb around the rim and pull the knob with index and middle fingers.



Jim Merz

Sorry Ed

I should have mentioned that the sockets etc are second from the bottom on the page I linked to.

Brian
Brian Smith

Ed and Jim,

You both have beautiful fascia panels. Here is a shot of mine, as Brian says, you should be able to just swap the two components. And Jim is quite correct about the placement of the starter knob under the rim of the wheel.

Note to be completely correct you probably should be running with the single needle Oil Pressure gauge, as the water temp portion was added at TD13954 in Feb of 1952. Your ignition switch appears to be the correct windowless version- note mine is the spare which was 'improved' with a window. If I get around to fiddling with my original switch, I may fix this.

I will also admit to having added turn signals to my car, and if I lacked the water temp portion would sure as heck have added that as well!

warmly,
dave


Dave Braun

Other thing to check is your Amp guage. Can't tell in the photo if it it goes to 20 or 30. Others can clarify this, but I believe even the early TD;s used the 30.

This is obviously nitpicking for a very nice looking dash.
Bruce-C

Actually, early TDs used the 20 amp guage until Oct 5, 1951 with TD10751 (left hand drive only) when they switched to the 30 amp unit. This was the same time that the flat chronometric gauges were changed to the dished magnetic gauges (speedometer and tachometer). The on-off panel light switch was also converted to a rheostat.

On RHD cars the change took place at TD10779, three days later.

This info is from the T Series Handbook Golden anniversary edition, 1936-1986.

warmly,
dave
Dave Braun

New the truth would come out. My Amp is not original. Think I have a 20 Amp in my spars, might be a project for the winter.
Bruce-C

I'll swap you a 20-0-20 for a 30-0-30 if it's in good shape. The one I have to swap just came back from Vintage Restorations in England.
Cheers,

Bob
R. K. Jeffers

Ed,
Do you need the plug or the socket?

I have a spare plug if you're interested.

Roy
Roy Challberg

Roy, I just need the sockets. I really don't have anything to plug into them - it's just cosmetic to fill in my 2 "holes". (I'm not even sure what they were supposed to be for in the first place? Oddly the TC seemed to have a nice map light built into the dash. Wonder why that disappeared in the TD?) Thanks for the offer anyway Roy!

Thanks everyone else for the valuable input, as usual!! It will come in handy when I work on the dash this winter.

Ed
efh Ed

Ed. I have a spare set of dash sockets. They are in decent shape, but the red bakelite surround is missing on one. The black surround is fine on the other. Just for info, one had a red surround and one had a black surround for polarity identification. Perhaps someone has a spare surround from a broken old unit you could use, and paint red if need be.

If you are interested, email me at lkarpman at tx dot rr dot com

Cheers

Larry
L Karpman

Beautiful dashboards (facsia) there. Quick question if I can piggyback here. What is the importance of the winding on the Coil Wound Dash lights? Mine are whole, except for the windings. I assume it's a resistance issue, but why?

Richard
Richard

Richard -- I think the lights proved to be too bright with out the resistance. You can replace the resistance with a 68 ohm 2 watt resistor. Should be available from Radio Shack. The problem with that solution is that there isn't a good way to mount the resistor.

Resistance wire is not a common item and especially with an insulating coating on it. It's also very difficult to solder to.

I suppose that a little terminal board could be made up and mounted behind the instrument cluster to hold the resistors. It would be a lot of work but you would want the resistors to come out with the panel for service.

Let us know what you decide to do.
Cheers,

Bob
R. K. Jeffers

Bob,

Why did I know you were going to say that. All I could think of was a hobby store that does HO and N scale trains; maybe they'd have similar wire available.

Wouldn't thicker wire give me greater resistance too? I'll have to play with that aspect once I finish the rest of the Dash. As it is I need to send pieces out to be rechromed, and I still need to assemble the Horn and Ignition switches.

Richard
Richard

Roy I noticed that you said you had a spare plug. What is on the end, a light? I thought that the sockets were for a light to plug into. How much do you want for the plug?
Louis
L.M. Levin

This thread was discussed between 09/11/2008 and 13/11/2008

MG TD TF 1500 index

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