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 in the northern prairie evening sun

Well gentlemen:

The front fenders went on today, the fog lights are in, the gas tank is on. Back fenders tomorrow followed by the inner instrument panel [it's just about time for the cabinet maker to work his wonders on the outer instrument panel - a piece of walnut veneer for the gauges that needs two extra holes for the boost and oil temp gauges.] Next week, the seats will go in for [hopefully] the last time, the convertible top bows will go on [nicely sandblasted and painted black to match the black Stayfast on the convertible top,] the fuel pump will get strung from the back.

Electrics are still a few weeks away, but closer now than they were - that's good

Small steps, but pretty ones. I hope we're getting more pre-war all the time. My goal was to make it look like a 1930's Type N Magnette - I think we're going to be pretty close. It's the first time I've seen the black and green in that beautiful long orange light - it works.

It's really going to work...

Dave



Dave Jorgensen

Picture number two from this lovely evening...


Dave Jorgensen

and picture number three - a real Kodachrome moment [may it rest in peace.]


Dave Jorgensen

and the final one for the night - I tried real hard to get the black and green on the door to match the pre-war idea.

We're in a heat wave in Alberta - temp in the low 90's - and it's nice to see this and feel a little bit cooler and more relaxed. In the words of Albert Einstein:

Wahoo.


Dave Jorgensen

Gents, the final one for the night:

Geoff Love had never seen the picture of the blower and header, so here's how it sits. As well as the Judson, you can see the hand fabbed and ceramic coated header. Now if we can just stop taking the flippin' pictures and start driving the little beast...

Best wishes to you all from sunny and warm Alberta,
Dave




Dave Jorgensen

Dave,
Remarkable vehicle and outstanding pics! THANKS for sending them along. The complexity of your undertaking leaves one breathless.
Dick Thomas
EX TD13583
Dick Thomas

Dave -- How did you rig the oil temp sensor? Did you weld in a chunk with the correct threads or adapt the drain plug?
Thanks in advance.
Bob
R. K. Jeffers

Dave, beautiful pictures show all your hard work and attention to detail. Who made your headers? These are the first I have seen fitted to a RHD TD.
Jim Merz

Dave, what a whopping blower! I hope the 60 year old cast iron block can withstand the pressure that thing can put out. Makes my TD's Shorrock seem insignificant by comparison. I had seen pictures of Judsons before by I didn't remember them being so long. I bet the car will go like a screaming cat.

Bob, I adapted a drain plug by tapping for the thread on the temperature sensor's fitting. That way I can remove the sensor allowing some oil to drain and by then removing the altered drain plug, the last dribbles of oil will come out
G.E. Love

The oil temp pickup:

Bob, we drilled a pilot hole on the back right quarter of the oil pan, and then welded the threads to fit. I wanted to use velcro and JB Weld, but my welder hit me on the head with the side of his MIG feeder and told me we were going to do this properly...

Dave
Dave Jorgensen

Jim, about the headers:

About three years ago, I found a really nice set of mid-50's cast iron headers [2-into-2] on eBay. Once we got them here, we cleaned them up, but when we tried to put them on it was only then that we discovered that they were too wide and only fit a left-hand-drive car - doh! That right-hand-drive steering column really sits in close to the block.

So my guy Ken Miles [no, not THAT Ken Miles, but Ken Miles of Miles Import Auto in Edmonton, Alberta] took on the project of fabbing the tubes a little piece at a time. As you can see, they're still 2-into-2 as they make the bend at the bottom of the oil pan, but we'll join them right there and then run a single pipe back in the stock TD position right from there. as you can see, they sit REALLY close to the block. Once the headers came back from the ceramic coaters [we've got a shop here in Edmonton that does this,] they looked like a million bucks. I hoping that with the extra heat generated by the Judson, that coating will help keep underhood temperatures down a little bit - the last thing I want is a fuel percolation problem just as we hit one hundred miles per hour. When someone asked a year ago if there was any way to duplicate the headers, I asked Ken if he'd like to make another few sets - but he just looked at me and growled.

For the final touch back there, I think we'll run a chromed Brooklands horizontal fishtail exhaust pipe right out the back - if we're going to be silly, we might as well go all the way.

Dave
Dave Jorgensen

Dave ,
BEAUTIFULL!
Hope you keep us updated with more pix.
I am drooling over the supercharger ..I want it for my TF! (wonder if it would fit under the bonnet?)
Cheers,
David 55 TF1500 #7427
David Sheward

Dave.
That blower looks large enough to push the HINDEBBURG.. What is it?
Sandy
Sandy Sanders

Dave and Sandy:

Yes, the blower will fit under the hood of a TF - I'll scan a picture from a 1955 Road & Track that shows that it just barely fits under those non-removable TF sides.

The blower is a Judson - I found it in the classified ads in the back a 'Sacred Octagon' abut four years ago when I started this whole crazy thing. I had it shipped directly to George Folchi, the Judson guru in New York state, and he rebuilt it before sending it on to Canada. It runs at 6 psi and we've magnifluxed the crank, line-bored the block, and balanced the rods - here's hoping that everything on the bottom end works well together.

It'll be driven hard every summertime Saturday morning; I run with a bunch of Miata-turbo, 911, and 944 Silly Buggers over our twisting lake roads, and if I'm always last to the restaurant, then I'll always be buying them breakfast - and we can't have that, can we.

Dave
Dave Jorgensen

Dve,

... absolutely gorgeous. What you forgot to tell the folks, is that you're running an XPEG block.

Have you had the engine running yet?

I think that guy in the Miata will be buying once you get mobile!

Gord Clark
Rockburn, Qué.
Gordon A. Clark

Dave, do not run a tight belt on the Judson whatever you do. That it what blew my engine. The crank tends to want to wobble a bit and if the belt is to tight it will break the crank. Also make sure that you get the mixture right. To lean and holes in pistons are a result. I had a Judson on mine and if you go back in the archives you will read about my problems. I rebuilt my engine with a new MOss Crank, new venolia pistons and new rods from Crower Rod but had to sell the Judson to pay for the crank. Very expensive. THe car will go like H... and mine ran smooth as silk right up to the end. Treat it with respect and watcht he heat buildup. Good luck the car looks great and you will love the power the supercharger puts out and the sound is like nothing else on a t series car.
TRM Maine

Wow!!! Really nice!!
George Butz

David:
About the Judson and the TF, here's a link to the Judson online register that shows the Road & Track TF/Judson test from 1954 - you'll see that it really does fit.

<http://vwjudsonregister.tripod.com/mgtf-road_and_track.htm>

Gord:
I wish it was an XPEG block - I'm so far from originality that the extra 250cc would be nice and I wouldn't worry about concours judging. No, even though my car is a TD2, the engine is actually a banana-port block with a small clutch and a TC starter. Somewhere along the line, I think the car really got pranged badly, and the big-clutch engine was something that got swapped out. So we're running a 30 thou overbore on an early XPAG, which I think gives me 1280cc.

TRM:
You're right, that crankshaft wobble worries me too - I still wonder if I should get a Moss crank under there before I get the whole car mobile. George Folchi supplied a double-pulley system with toothed belts and recommended the same loose tensioning - but I'm still worried about the crank, as it's such a long stroke that the torsional forces on the bottom end must be REALLY large.

It's all small steps, isn't it.

Best,
Dave
Dave Jorgensen

Dave, What is a "banana port" block?
P.W. Lester

A banana-port block:

[Gord, help me out on this one; I think I've got my dates and details right.]

From 1945 with the introduction of the TC and the XPAG all the way into the 1951 TD model run, all XPAGs ran a 7-inch clutch, and the water jacket circulation holes as you looked down from the top of the block were oblong - shaped like a banana.

Somewhere in late '51 or early '52, the TD got a bigger clutch and the water jacket was revised for better cooling. When you look down the cylinders from the top of that block, the holes in the water jacket are round.

The clutch size, associated bellhousing and trans changes, and the revised castings for engine cooling are what separates a TD from a TD2 serial number, and the banana-port block from the round-port block. I think the earlier block has differences in the crank journalling as well, but I'm not absolutely sure about that.

Gord, do I have that all right?

Dave
Dave Jorgensen

Dave,
Thanks but I keep getting:
"Sorry, but the page or the file that you're looking for is not here."
message from the link.
I'd love to see that.
David
David Sheward

Thanks for the explanation. My '52 has a 7" clutch and a TC type starter so it is probably one of these "banana port" engines. This little car is a continuously unfolding mystery. By the way, your car looks terrific! Paul.
P.W. Lester

David... remove the > from the end...
gblawson(gordon)

Excellent Dave, Vroom Vroom... Soon,soon.
LED DOWNEY

This thread was discussed between 25/07/2009 and 27/07/2009

MG TD TF 1500 index

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