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 - TD 19629 Gets Mini Restoration

My TD, last restored in 1973, is undergoing a mini restoration that may take the whole rest of the summer to get through at my pace. I started last fall and am just now finishing polishing the lacquer paint.

It had a lot of garage rash over the last 40 years even though its in mechanically great shape (that happens when it never gets driven).

I am doing the following in my spare time:

Repaint front splash, front fenders and running boards, headlamps and brackets
Fix crack in cowl below windscreen and repaint
Replace wiring harness with new lacquer braided harness
Original bumpers and over riders
Redo much of the chrome
New fish eye fender mirrors to replace flat ones
New tires
General fluids and lube stuff
Original aluminium running board strips and rubber
Replace dash trim with original
Replace much of the rubber
Polish up aluminium



Chris Couper

Done polishing door and cowl.


Chris Couper

Nice looking car Chris - she is coming along fine.

Hope you get it done before all the good weather is gone. :)

Good Job.

Rod



R. D. Jones

Nice project. Love it when they start coming together!
Dave Braun

Beautiful job, but I'm wondering why so much red paint on buffer pad if just repainted?
efh Haskell

Its because I am using acrylic lacquer (shhh. Don't tell the California Air Resource Board - its pretty much illegal in most parts of California to buy it). It has to be buffed to actually shine.

It goes on in very thin layers that melt into each other. Then after its dried (I like to wait at least a week, but the longer the better), I wet sand it with a block and 1500 grit paper. Notice the fender in the rear has been sanded but not polished yet.

Then it requires three to four buffing sessions to get it to shine and remove the sanding scratches. I am probably removing a third of the paint doing this so you really have to be careful near edges or sharp corners.

When you are done you are left with absolutely no orange peel and the finish is as smooth as glass. But now every little defect you never saw jumps out at you so there is a tradeoff :-)
Chris Couper

This thread was discussed between 06/07/2013 and 07/07/2013

MG TD TF 1500 index

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