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MG TD TF 1500 - Tappett setting

In the manual the setting is either 0.19" or 0.12" depending upon the engine number. Mine just falls in the latter, but on the cover there is a brass plate that says they should be set to 0.15"

The cover seems to be original, it is the right size, looks like covers I have seen in pictures, the air filter fits perfectly. Any suggestions ?

Paul Spelman

Paul,
To be certain Early or late, Early rocker assy shaft is 14 inches long and the late ones are 14 7/8's long. My data plate on my cover is .019 HOT (engine #18097). My book shows .019 in. HOT.

Don
Don

You do have to watch the settings. Those brass plates can and were changed. Mine is an early 51 and it had .012 on the side but it is really .019. To tight bends the pushrods.
Tom Maine

Beg to differ, but too loose a setting will bend push rods , as the acceleration ramp on the cam is already past & very rapid lift is now in action.Does any one have ideas on clearance for my Chet Herbert roller cam?
Safety Fast, Len
Len Fanelli

If you can identify which camshaft you ACTUALLY have, you have a good chance then to find the proper valve clearances. One thought which MIGHT help with the identification (short of tearing down the engine) is to plot out the opening and closing of the valves as a function of crankshaft rotation. As I recall, the earlier 19 thou. cams had a shorter duration than did the 12 thou. cams which came later. The presence of a plate calling for 15 thou. clearance COULD ALSO indicate that a NON-MG-factory cam has been installed. In the 50's there were a whole slew of aftermarket cams from different makers, including even ones with roller tappets. You could well have one of those aftermarket "hot"cams.
Good luck
Carl Fritz

Just to send a monkey wrench into the above thread, I have a 3/4 race cam and the setting for the exhaust and intake valves are different. Hopefully the PO didn't change things in the engine and not let you know. I keep my cam card in the glove box and when I do eventually get rid of the TD (hopefully not for a long time) it will go to the new owner. Best of luck. Rob
Rob Silverman

Many motors now have Crane Cams-the large lobed ones have been available since at least 1988-those list .018-.019ish on the spec sheets hot. ASL's ".012" cam was made by Crane to duplicate the OE cam, but the spec sheet lists .018in/.020 exh !Bottom line- there is no way to know what cam any motor has in it after all these years, unless you have the card that came with the cam. The brass plate is totally useless. I set my clearance for years at .015", not having any clue what cam it had with no problem- at .012, it seemed a bit sluggish, and .019 was so rattly it drove me nuts. Also, always had to run at idle after adjusting (with towel over rockers), and go one by one to find the always clacking rocker, and tighten it up a bit more. Pushrods, valves, lifters were all fine after all those years- don't think this made my crank break!
George Butz

The setting is all dependent upon the camshaft fitted. Original was wide gap, later cams needed a closer setting. Check old editions of Safety Fast aand the journals/notes produced for the T type register rebuilds. If you really want a full tech. explanation call me or e mail.
Bob Marshall
marshall

This thread was discussed between 29/01/2001 and 02/02/2001

MG TD TF 1500 index

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