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MG TD TF 1500 - Nut and Bolt Color

I am about to complete body assembly but not sure about bolts that secure rear and front fenders. Should they be plated or painted to match the body color?
B Gruzman

Originally painted
George Butz

My research suggests they were blackened not painted or plated. Regardless of the colour of the car that was being assembled the 5/16" BSF bolts & fender washers were all blackened, presumably to speed assembly. Makes sense. Also extremely difficult if not impossible to tighten a painted bolthead without damaging the paint. Check out Chris Couper's site. Cheers.
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

I am sorry but I have received two opposing answers. Logically I am incline to agree with Peter but he referring to TD may be on TF George was right.
Is it possible that someone else can chime in about this?

Boris
B Gruzman

I used stainless.
Rich (TD 3983) Taylor

Upon further thought, Peter could be correct. I was thinking shiny chrome/nickel plated, they were definitely not that. I'll dig around a little to research this. Any other opinions out there? George
George Butz

B Gruzman: What bolts? There are all sorts of bolt on the front and rear fenders. Most were cad plated.

As Peter says its hard to put up fenders with painted bolts without really messing up the finish. So they were just cad plated (most of which have lost their plating by now). Also the underside of the fenders are either usually very dirty or the bolts have rusted.

Take a look at some of the pictures here:
http://www.mg-cars.org.uk/mgtd/Pictures/TD23834/Thumbnails/mgtd_gallery_td23834.htm

Sorry this is an area that I did not fully document yet.

http://www.mg-cars.org.uk/mgtd/mgtd_bolts.htm

Chris Couper

Malcolm Green suggests that the bolts used to fix all items to the chassis were blackened steel. Page 108, T Series Restoration Guide. I take this to include the front fenders, (notwithstanding that the rear fenders are fitted to the body). The rusted barn find bolts unfortunately don't really shed any light. So unless someone can can cite a more accurate source, I'm sticking with blackened. Cheers.
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

TF's were cad plated with cad plated washers.

Matthew.
M Magilton

What's your source Matthew?
P Hehir

My TF, which was missing many of the original bolts, did have a few originals left and even though dirty, they appeared to be cad plated. I'm going to go with Zink plated ones, as it seems nothing is CAD plated anymore.
Paul S Jennings

TC bolts and nuts were blackened. TDs,-I suspect the same as TFs.

TF bolts and nuts on chassis areas were Cadmium plated.
Yes,many nuts and bolts,setscrews etc.were over painted in chassis black,however others have obvious exposure
but were left unpainted and with Cadmium plate.
If you examine the Factory photo of a TF in running chassis form(without the body)located in the Abingdon grounds,you will clearly see the front extensions of the chassis with the bolts which affix the strengthening
bracket for horn provision.They look Cadmium plated to me!The cross piece for the radiator support between
the chassis front extensions is also affixed by bolts/nuts in Cadmium plate finish.The Vokes Air Cleaners have their outside covers also bolted up with Cadmium plated setscrews.


Evidence really comes from experience of stripping out many TFs over many years! The bottom run of the side engine panels to chassis beams(four setscrews per panel), are usually on 'original' cars,affixed with Cadmium plated bolts with the manufacturer 'Sparts' cast on the head.
And so on it goes........

Cheers for now.
Rob Grantham
TF3719("Aramis")TF9177("Athos").
R GRANTHAM

Peter, 1-my car (unrestored). 2- several other TF's that I have examined, also unrestored. See also for example the gallery devoted to the red car TF9052 on the Original TF midget website.

Matthew.
M Magilton

http://www.mg-cars.org.uk/mgtf/Pictures/TF9052/TF9052_141.jpg

http://www.mg-cars.org.uk/mgtf/Pictures/TF9052/TF9052_238.jpg
Frank Cronin

Cad plated with cad plated washers is what "most" of mine were.
Over the years DPO's used a variety of sizes, mostly stripped and/or cross threaded.
I know it is wrong ...but went back together with stainless (all the same size).
David Sheward

David, did you have a problem getting the proper threads? PJ
Paul S Jennings

So much for my painted comment. Thanks for sharing the knowledge and research, will do my next car (one day) correctly. George
George Butz

Frank C,

Thankyou for reminding us of the reference TF9052 example.

I really like looking at cars with the right manfacturers setscrews in the right place!
The rear guards are correctly affixed with 'Rubery Owen'
setscrews(1/4"BSF) and large guard washers in the photo.
Matches my experience with these setscrews as well.

Cheers
Rob Grantham

R GRANTHAM

Since the question was on fender bolts the answer was CAD.

But other bolts on the car were often painted. This has been discussed many times before. Once an item was assembled someone at the factory (often referred to as the 'lad') used a paint brush to touch up the bolts and nuts. The chassis is a great example of this but it was done elsewhere too.

There is no formula for this hence why I am slowly documenting the finish on the bolts pages. But the galleries of the TD and TF sites are full of good original cars (thanks to posters from this BBS) to show you the finish on almost every place on these cars. And you do need to look at more than one car because there are some differences and you will have to choose which is right for you (NA Export, RHD/LHD, year, model ...).
Chris Couper

Boris doesn't say whether his query refers to a TD or a TF. Based solely on observation it seems like TF's were cad plated. This is not surprising as the blackening process that was used on the earlier T series (similiar to gun metal blueing) was not very durable, nor was it impervious to rust. None of the research books in my possession documents this change. The only reference I could find was by Green. Unfortunately as no colour pics exist it is difficult, if not impossible to be dogmatic. My original fender bolts were (& still are) blackened. There was no evidence of any cad plating under the black chassis paint applied by a PO. I am aware of the history of my car since 1962. Hope this helps Boris. Cheers.
Peter TD 5801.
P Hehir

Gentlemen, I would like to thank all of you for your thorough and well versed answers.
Have a great rest of the week in your garages or on the road in your beautiful MG's.

Happy Motoring.

Boris
B Gruzman

This thread was discussed between 26/02/2014 and 28/02/2014

MG TD TF 1500 index

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