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MG TD TF 1500 - Stupid me- problems with TF instrument cluster

Went out tonight to get my ammeter properly assembled in my TF, as the RH side clamp had come loose, making the ammeter and the oil pressure gauge fall away from the receptacle their are mounted to. Loosened the small retaining clamps, and then both the oil pressure and temp gauge fell out of their slots in the centre instrument receptacle and dropped forwards, coming to rest on the electrical wiring.

Lying with my head underneath the dasboard and my feet over the seat backs I still could not manage to both hold the three instruments in place and tighten the small clamps. Gave up after two hours.

Any suggestions, apart from superglue?

desperately,

Jan
Jan Emil Kristoffersen

Jan, get help from a little guy! Small hands can do wonders and some of these little people are smarter than we think! Grin. PJ
Paul S Jennings

Maybe my oldest grandchild? At the age of six she is already much smarter than me in many ways!

Anyway, after a good nights sleep ( it is 7 a.m. in Oslo now) I have decided to actually try super glue to locate and fix the three small bastards, super glue bonds between metal surfaces are easy to break if I would ever need to remove an instrument in the future. And with the instruments positively located it should be easy to pin them down with the clamps. I must say though that having designed these fixtures should not be regarded as the finest hour of British Jaeger.


regards,

Jan
Jan Emil Kristoffersen

My grandkids have helped me lots of times on my TF. I ask, tell them they can do something I can't and I need their help. Makes them feel good, makes me feel good.
Larry Brown

Hint:

remove the entire cluster gauge, assemble individual gauges to it on the bench with cluster face down, reinstall entire cluster.

More work but far less agrivating!

Don Harmer

Don;

that means disconnecting the oil pressure gauge line and coolant temp line. I had hoped not to do that. And with all the wiring behind the dash panel it will not be easy I believe.

regards,

Jan
Jan Emil Kristoffersen

I know you have to remove the lines, but I think that is the safer and in the end easier course rather than trying to fish two gauges in ther at the same time without damaging either, Been there and done that on two TFs in my humble opinion.
Don Harmer

An alternate is to remove the three bolts holding the entire dash and the two screws holding the sub frame and tilting the dash forward.
Then th entire back of the dash is available . this can be done with temp cable in place only freeing the oil line in engine comp if needed for slack.
Don Harmer

Last night I capitulated after two hours of upside down struggle and removed the main frame from the panel. Only two 1/4 inch nuts to unscrew.

I believe i can get the complete cluster back in place if I remove the oil pressure line, while the coolant gauge line is best left in place.

But what are the consequences of removing the oil line? Will I loose liquid, will the pressure be correct afterwards - and how do I prevent an oil leak from the joint?

Thank you for helping me out on this one!

regards,

Jan
Jan Emil Kristoffersen

An update; I removed the oil pressure line, but did not disassemble the temp gauge ine, just pulled it down from under the dash. Thus I was able to mount all three gauges in full visual and tactile control, and the whole assembly was then easy to mount behind the dashboard.

Once more - thank you for giving me advice on this issue.

regards


Jan
Jan Emil Kristoffersen

When rewiring my ammeter last week, I found the easiest thing (this is for a TD) was to remove the steering wheel. Then I could take out the 8 screws and pull the whole dash forward without difficulty.
Geoffrey M Baker

This thread was discussed between 06/04/2014 and 27/04/2014

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