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MG TD TF 1500 - TD 3983 'Little T'

Well I am always throwing out random questions but hadn't posted a picture of where I am at so far in my restoration of TD 3983 so here is where I am at so far.

I purchased the car a couple years ago as a total basket case. The car been taken apart around 1972 in Florida where it moved around with its owner a few times before being sold to a gentlemen in Georgia who stored it in Alabama until he lost his storage and had to bring it home to Atlanta. He thought it would be a good project but later decided it was beyond his capabilities and sold it to me.

I hauled the chassis and all body panels to Cor Industries and they fitted up the body and took it all back apart and painted.
What you see here is the tub temporarily back on the frame for the journey back home and soon it will be pulled back off so the frame can be powdercoated.
As you can see the doors fit perfect now but I am sure when its time to all go back together that will be another story.

Oh, and those scuttle braces/towers you see painted red will be stripped back off and powder coated or painted to match the frame along with the toe plate that was also painted red.

I have a long way to go but with all the wealth of information found here and all the other MG sites I will piece it back together a little at a time.

Regards,
Richard Taylor



Richard Taylor

Richard -- Thanks for sharing, and the color of the tub looks terrific. Good luck on the restoration process. I'm in the same general phase of restoration, but proceeding in a different order of restoration. I agree that the folks who contribute to this site are an invaluable source of information and assistance. You most likely have already set up a library of resources, but if you want any suggestion I would be pleased to provide. Some of what I have listed can be viewed at my web-site:
www.mgtf54.jeepaw.com

Cheers -- John
John Brickell

Richard, nice project and a lovely color red. Would you have a picture from the tub in daylight? Greetings, Huib
Huib Bruijstens

Great progress, Richard.

If you decide to paint and not powder coat the 'A Towers' you might consider carefully masking them and painting them in place. Before the engine is in they aren't hard to install whether they are on the scuttle or not. The toe board I would paint, not powder coat.

Can you find a satin finished powder coat? Remember, the chassis finish was not gloss. Powder coating is not impervious to damage, and it can scratch. The advantages of powder coat are two fold, it can be applied in thicker layers due to the bulk of the VOC being already removed when the powder is made, and it cures rapidly with moderate (less than 400 deg F) curing temps with low VOC emissions. Since it goes on thcker, it is more durable. That said, I used Rustoleum 7777 on my chassis and all under bonnet and suspension parts, and it is holding up very well.

Make sure all the threaded holes in the chassis are plugged before powder coating, and be prepared with BSF taps to run through every chassis thread prior to reassembly.

warmly,
dave
Dave Braun

Nice looking job so far. You might upon completion or even now put the car on the Merson list. When it is finished or even now, put a photo on Gordons website with the other owners. It is a long way to completioin but you will love it when it is done. I would not get rid of mine for all the money in the world. To much work into it and love to drive it..
TRM Maine

Quick question...what is a *toe plate*? I'm not familiar with that term (even went back to "Scuttle Muttle" to see if it was mentioned there.

Gene Gillam

Dave, I have researched and found a couple places here in Southeastern Ky. that powdercoat frames; one I have already looked at an example of their work and wasn't impressed and the other I am thinking about taking my rims to and testing their finish quality and go from there. I have found sites that list Satin Black so know its available and if not I would just paint because gloss black is not an option. Eastwood has that new chassis satin black paint with porcelain that is suppoose to be really tough.
As soon as I get my big compressor going (5hp 80gal Ingersoll Rand) I can hook up my blasting cabinet and plan on buying one of Eastwoods powder coating systems and try my hand at some smaller parts so I might do the A towers myself.

Gene, that should have been "Toe board"; I must have had eating on my mind. I think I picked that terminology up from Daves Website but seems like somewhere I read they called it the firewall. Its that thing the gas pedal linkage is mounted to:)

We need to create an MG TD dictionary.

Regards
Rich
Richard Taylor

Rich,

Thanks for the clarification on the nomenclature...now on to my real question. On the TCs the *toe board* is painted body color, are you sure it's painted black on TDs?

According to http://www.mgcars.org.uk/mgtd/mgtd_finishes.htm the firewall (which should include the toe board) is painted body color.

Gene
Gene Gillam

Gene,

Chris lists the firewall as body color and the scuttle as black, along with the gearbox cover and the prop shaft cover as black.

A lot of us agree that the scuttle and the firewall are the same thing. In this case, it appears that for Chris, the scuttle is the toe board. Kinda makes sense because technically, a scuttle is a small opening in a deck... which is why you scuttle a ship to sink it, and the toe board is removable.

While Chris has an amazing amount of detail on his site and has done a lot of valuable research, there are a few things that crop up that are open to interpretation.

That said, my firewall is ivory, my gearbox cover is aluminum metalic (don't care, it is covered by carpet and your head has to be 3 feet under the car to see it) my prop shaft cover is satin black and my toe board, which bolts in from the inside and that the gearbox cover bolts to, is satin black (again, covered with carpet). My floors are also black, but gloss. Not saying I'm right, but I'm close.

warmly,
dave
Dave Braun

You know what guys; I could leave it body color on the engine side and paint it satin black on the interior side and it would at least be 50% correct:)

Now I have a question. Chris site list the interior of the tool box as black (of course with white felt) but does that mean the interior of the lids are black and exterior body color?

Regard,
Rich

Richard Taylor

Dave,

Okay...just wondered because a TC toe board is normally body color on both sides (or at least on the engine compartment side).

Gene
Gene Gillam

Richard,

OK, this doesn't work all the time, but often I ask myself what would be easiest at the factory: When the bodies were made, the interior of the toolbox was painted. It is possible that all of them were painted black on the inside, and then left to dry. The next step was painting the outside body color, no muss no fuss. So I would expect to see some 'overspray' on the black interior even with the top of the toolbox closed.

My reaction is "Why bother" when most of us are painting our tubs we have enough paint and enough time to just paint all around and inside the firewall and toolbox with body color. Mine is.

Of course my 'Easiest at the factory" theory falls apart when you consider my long and convuluted argument for running the carb overflow pipes THROUGH the hole in the engine bearer plate in a 'Z' formation. Since then, I found a picture that shows the pipes simply going OVER the engine bearer plate... which does make more sense as "easiest at the factory"

Yep Gene, the TCs were done differently... they are a real cross over from the small model runs to the mass production which led to the MGA and MGB!

warmly,
dave
Dave Braun

Thanks Dave,

Since it is already Red I will install the felt and leave it at that. I have considered just painting the top and bottom of the lid black. I have already chipped the paint here and there on the hinge and fasteners just playing around with it and since the primer is white it really stands out. Oh well, these are the moments when its time to stop and have a beer.

Regards,

Rich
Richard Taylor

Huib,

Here is a picture of the rear splash apron in natural light to give you a better idea of the color. It was computer matched using an old can of touch up paint Moss use to sell and was called Autumn Red, which was the original color of my car. If its a true Autumn Red who knows but thats what I'm calling it:)

Regards
Rich


Richard Taylor

Rich

Thanks for the pictures, your car looks great so far and I am sure you will enjoy it once finished. I finished TD 3376 about 6 years ago now and have used it extensively during the Spring, Summer and Fall. I have even taken it out a couple times in the Winter when the roads are dry and the sun is shining although my better half isn't as keen to travel in the winter without a heater!

I have posted some of my restoration pics on my web site at:

http://members.shaw.ca/briantsmith/

Brian
Brian Smith

This thread was discussed on 08/12/2009

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