A Tale of Two TCs

This is a story about the discovery of TC0894 and TC4429, and their subsequent repatriation to England in the mid 90s for future restoration that is now underway.

The account begins with a chance to work in Johannesburg, South Africa in early 1994. I was very aware that classic vehicles found in SA would probably be in very good condition due to the climate, and possibly at an affordable price with around six South African Rand to one English Pound at the time.

The contract I had accepted lasted until late 1995 but it was during the first year there, that I saw an advert in a local Johannesburg newspaper’s motoring advertisement’s column reading something like, ‘MG TC restoration project’. I had always wanted to own a ‘T’ series MG, especially a TC and eagerly rang the number given, to find I was lucky enough to be the first person wishing to view the car.

The viewing entailed a short drive north from Johannesburg to the capital city of Pretoria. On arrival I was shown what was indeed a restoration project!! TC0894 was complete, to a degree. The interior, wiring loom and instruments were all missing. All the wings had been removed, and lay amongst a pile of bits under a small covered area. The XPAG engine was present, and confirmed at a later date by the late Harry Crutchley, to be the matching one for the chassis number. This was fitted with the alloy rocker cover, with hinged Octagonal MG oil filler cap.

All of the steel bodywork was original and in a solid condition as expected, although the ash frame was not in such fine condition, nor properly attached to the chassis in many places. Some small sections of the front wing mounting flanges were corroded but the wings were generally in great shape compared to some I have seen for sale in my numerous, later visits, to shows/autojumbles.

The chassis appeared to be in good condition with only one area of repair required, a crack being present on the lower flange above the front beam axle on both chassis rails.

A set of part finished body timbers also lay within the pile of bits but these had been produced from an African hardwood which is not the best choice for the body frame of a square rigger.

Whilst standing, pondering the possibility and implications of purchasing this rolling basket case project, the seller was keen to explain that the ironwork behind me was also included in the sale. Resting on bricks was the chassis from TC4429 in equally good condition, complete with front and rear axles.

A deal was struck, and pick up date arranged. On the 19th October 1994 a few English work colleagues, my Afrikaans landlord and his brother arrived with his brother’s trailer attached to the rear of his Bakkie (pick up) to collect the MGs. They were duly stored in one of my landlord’s garages until August of 1995 when shipping back to ‘Blighty’ was finally arranged.

19th October, 1994 – collection day in Pretoria

The shipping experience is an amusing little tale.

I live in Worcestershire but have many friends in Essex who had agreed to help me pick up the shipment if it arrived at Tilbury docks in London. So shipping to Tilbury was arranged for the MG, and a vintage motorbike and spares a friend had purchased. However, when we arrived one morning in Johannesburg to pay the shipping agent, we discovered that the container was to be offloaded at Felixstowe!!

The Afrikaans agent did not understand our problem with that, even when we explained the distance between Felixstowe, and our original intended port of Tilbury. Such a distance is nothing to an Afrikaner. They are happy to drive non stop from Johannesburg to Cape Town and back for quick weekend trips, which is the equivalent of us doing something like Lands End to John ‘O Groats, twice!!

The shipping date had been arranged to coincide with my summer trip home, and although the ship was due to call at Tilbury afterwards, I would have already returned to work in Johannesburg by then, so Felixstowe was left as the arrival port.

All the best plans go wrong, and a Dock’s strike at Durban, ensured that I had returned to South Africa before the shipment arrived at Felixstowe!! A final sting was to find, despite assurances from the SA shippers that the cost of UK customs clearance was not included in the price we had paid. Also, the late arrival meant payment for storage costs was incurred, whilst I arranged from distant SA, collection by my friends, who kindly obliged in my absence, and delivered the MG emporium to Worcestershire for me.

On my final return to England it became very apparent that my garage was not particularly adequate, size wise, for the intended restoration. I therefore added some extra space with a rear extension for a small carpentry workshop and brought the front forward, taking the opportunity to incorporate a Steel Beam above new garage doors, to enable easy removal of engine/gearbox.

During most of the past 20 years many other matters have taken priority but I have been
searching for, and finding missing components, at numerous shows/autojumbles. I have also read/purchased almost every book available on the subject of ‘T’ Type restoration.

TC0894, hiding under a dust cover, had therefore been quietly awaiting some ‘TLC’ but a start in late 2008, on what promises to be an interesting rebuild of one of England’s iconic post war sports cars was spurred on by the enthralling presentation given by Mike Sherrell of TCs Forever! fame at the MG Car Club ‘T’ Register ‘Rebuild’ that same year.

This initially entailed a total strip down to the bare chassis in preparation for blasting, repair and repaint. However, prior to dismantling I treated the whole chassis, engine and running gear etc to a brushed on coating of Swarfega cleaning solution followed by blasting with a pressure washer. This is highly recommended as it leaves everything in a reasonably clean state for the strip down.

Technology has moved on since purchasing my two TCs, and I have been able to easily record how every component fits/comes apart with the aid of a digital camera during this initial phase of the restoration. On my PC, I have a photographic reference library, which will be invaluable when reassembly takes place.

The hardest part of this restoration will probably be finding the 3000 hours Mike estimated to complete a first time total rebuild because I also have another very time consuming pursuit; the martial art of Shotokan karate, which has been a very major part of my life for 33 years taking up a large proportion of my spare time. I might be the first person holding a 3rd degree black belt in karate and running a karate club to restore a TC?

The rebuild project is progressing as time permits and the first step after strip down was a trip in 2009 to Yorkshire Chassis (YC) with the chassis strapped to roof bars of my Ford Escort estate.

Ed’s note: (was Yorkshire Chassis, but is now Metalcraft and is based at Idle, Bradford)

The chassis needs to be straight and true for several reasons. Firstly, during the build it is the jig for the body tub build/assembly as there is no hope of getting the body tub etc correct if the chassis is twisted. Secondly, once complete, a good chassis will be key to the car’s correct handling/steering on the road.

Russ Truman at YC tells of many restorers he’s met who skip this vital step and wonder why their cars are so awful to drive once complete, yet they were happy spending thousands of pounds on a beautiful paint job. The old fable of the house built on sand springs to mind here.

Russ checked out the damage to the chassis and declared that he would have to cut off the original dumb irons and fabricate/weld in new pieces incorporating dovetail joints for strength at the junction of old and new.

Bird’s mouth finishers to the chassis boxing, as shown in Sherrell’s TC’s Forever! were also added. This insignificant looking modification is vital, allowing loads in the boxed chassis rails to be transferred to the unboxed rear rails via a gradual change in sectional properties, rather than the abrupt sectional change that previously existed, leading to many early numbered chassis failures in the past.

Further investigation revealed a twisted chassis (not uncommon) that would require a complete derivet of all cross members to enable correct straightening of the side rails as it was beyond the usual method of jacks, chains and blocks etc.

After re-assembly the chassis was to be treated to a blasting followed by etch primer and black paint. I chose black paint for ease of touch up should that ever be required in the future and originality, as powder coating was not around in 1946 at the MG Abingdon works, and those chassis I’ve seen with the latter finish look ‘too good’ in my view.

A few weeks later I returned to find a beautiful black chassis that Russ declared was one of the best he’d seen and as good as the day it left the factory in ‘46. The old and new metal were the 6 same thickness throughout and there was just a hint of pitting in some areas of the old iron work caused by light surface rust, a testament to a life spent under African skies.

The chassis of TC4429 hanging from angle
brackets bolted to the garage wall, will probably
receive similar treatment at some suitable stage to
preserve it for another future project?

On arrival home I quickly fabricated a pair of sturdy timber trestles to rest the chassis on. These have subsequently been modified by the addition of retractable caster wheels on both sides so that the chassis can be moved around as and when required to aid restoration access or free up space in the garage.

I completed the bare chassis work by pressure spraying black waxoil into the boxed areas of the chassis rails for future rust protection. Since then I have had the shock absorbers restored by Stevson Motors of Selly Oak, Birmingham. The suspension with new springs at all four corners and front axle are now refitted with poly bushes throughout including the rear spring front eyes courtesy of a kit that Tony Smith produced to cure the tendency for the springs to move when fitted with the original style Silentblocs. The other bushes were sourced from John James (spring shackle pin bushes) and Moss (large lower bushes in rear spring cast shackles).

Ed’s note: the large lower poly bushes are now stocked by me at 4 GBP each.

The late Tony Smith used to sell the kits referred to above. Before he died, Tony sent me a file with his drawings. I’ve included an article in this issue about the rear spring front eye polyurethane bush modification. Back to Steve…

The rear axle bearing journals were worn, as you would expect, and after much searching I finally found Avanti Engineering close by in Tipton, West Midlands who specialise in metal spraying and were able to restore these.

With the axle casing repainted the differential has been rebuilt with new bearings etc along with a new ratio Roger Furneaux Crown Wheel and Pinion to help 0894 in modern day traffic when finally roadworthy and the rear axle plus differential are now assembled to rear springs to complete another stage of the chassis work. This whole rear axle rebuild featured in another of my previous articles ‘The TC Rear Axle’ published in TTT 2 Issue 24.

Rebuilt rear axle with 37:8 (4.625) ratio diff obtained from Roger Furneaux.

Everyone has their own way of carrying out a restoration and I’ll now relate a few bits of modern technology I’ve applied to good effect so far.

Threadlocking

The nuts on most fastened assemblies on the TC and of course many early vehicles, were originally held fast with the use of spring or star washers. This is old engineering technology and both types of retention can easily spoil that lovely restored and painted component on assembly by tearing the paint surface. The use of nyloc nuts with plain washers could overcome this but in my mind such fasteners look incorrect on a 40s car and in some instances on the TC there is only enough thread available for plain nuts to be used on assembly. For my build I’ve therefore chosen to use plain washers and standard plain hex nuts to avoid this damage and the vastly superior method of
retention that liquid threadlock can provide.

As a Design Engineer by profession I have a copy of the Loctite Design Handbook and within this useful tome they clearly describe the benefits of threadlock products:

Firstly, they completely fill the microscopic gaps between the interfacing threads and when cured form a tough solid thermoplastic which has keyed to the fastener’s surface roughness to prevent any movement of the threads.

Secondly, with the whole length of the threaded interface wetted on assembly the cured solid provides a total barrier to moisture ingress, thereby eliminating the age old problem of nuts and bolts seizing together over time with corrosion.

Corrosion Removal

For cleaning up rusted metalwork (i.e. spring hangers and brackets etc) I’ve been using a product called Deox C. This comes as white granules that are mixed with water to produce a non-acidic 20% solution, which is totally clear. You then suspend items in the solution (which works best at around 60°C) and watch the rust fizz off. An old toothbrush is also handy for agitation of the component surface to aid removal by keeping fresh solution in contact with the metal. The solution slowly gets darker until it is exhausted but one 2 litre mix in a suitably sized plastic container can clean many components. For heating I purchased a cheap plastic kettle for £5 (workshop use only) and use this to heat the solution before use and it works a treat. All of the components I’ve cleaned so far only took about 30 minutes to be returned to an as new surface ready for etch primer, primer and top coat. For larger volumes/ containers you can use a fish tank heater or similar. Once exhausted, Deox C can be safely disposed down the drain as it is completely biodegradable.

Using Deox C saves messy sandblasting and the beauty is that being non-acidic it only removes corrosion and not good base material making it very useful for delicate parts such as brake pipe clips etc which on my African TC have all survived the test of time and just need a quick freshen up in the solution before painting or plating.

For the ‘originality police’ notebook, the following points were observed whilst dismantling TC0894, manufactured on 7th June 1946. These appear to be original factory build, although some contradict production data for early TCs found in many books
I’ve read?

Chrome plated items include, Dynamo top mounting bracket and associated bolt, Tappet side cover, Carburettor mounting bolts, Fan blades, Dip Stick, front water outlet from cylinder head, rear plate/cover on cylinder head, Fuel tank straps and, Starter Motor brush cover band. The rear brake drums also show evidence of having been chrome plated at some stage during 0894’s lifetime and, I suspect that this was not factory standard as no evidence can be seen on the front brake drums?

Body colour ~ black
Bulkhead colour ~ grey.
Engine colour ~ red.
Steering column and drop arm ~ light blue.
Dashboard – Rexine covered, colour ~ Red.
(Sherrel states Rexine replaced wood around TC5113 – TC5742?)
Dashboard centre panel colour ~ grey.
Interior trim colour ~ Regency red (some remnants survive on the door pillars).

I found no record of the body number during the strip down and according to Sherrell’s excellent reference work TCs Forever!, early TCs never had a body number plate fitted. Sherrell states that the body number was however also stamped onto the LH wooden chassis rail but if it was ever there the ravage of time has erased any such marking.

Time and the restoration have moved on since starting this article and the following paragraphs will bring progress up to September 2014.

Having reunited the completed rear axle with the chassis my attention turned to restoration of the handbrake assembly.

The handbrake lever had excess play on the cross shaft and was in need of a re-chrome. In addition the internal operating shaft and top knob and spring were missing and new replacement parts were obtained from Abingdon Spares in the USA.

To remove the lever the offside handbrake cable operating lever needs to be removed from the cross shaft. To enable removal, two taper pins need to be extracted. This seemingly tricky operation was easily achieved. I put a round steel bar in my vice that had a diameter that allowed it to fit in between the two tails of the pins that protrude into the bore of the cross shaft. Then by sliding the cross shaft over the bar and using the cross shaft as a lever and moving it sideways allowed one taper pin to be pushed out. Having removed one pin the other could be drifted out using a punch inserted through the now vacant opposing hole.

Careful use of a hacksaw and file on the weld between the handbrake cable lever and shaft enabled weld and lever removal.

The collar by the handbrake lever is held in place with a slotted headed grub screw. With the aid of a few heat cycles from a small blowlamp and an old screwdriver ground to precisely fit into the worn / corroded slot of the screw this was carefully extracted and the collar removed allowing the handbrake lever to be finally removed.

The old bush in the lever was badly worn but the mating cross shaft outer diameter was in surprisingly good condition without wear. The two end outer diameters that assemble into the chassis spherical bearing assemblies were also in great condition.

I acquired an ‘Oilite’ bush of correct length and outer diameter for the handbrake lever and had the bush bore machined to give a close fit onto the
cross shaft.

The lever was taken with other parts for rechroming and the result was stunning and totally unrecognisable from the original ‘as found’ state.

Prior to fitting the new bush I drilled a hole in the bush wall that would line up with the hollow end of the lever so that lubrication of the ‘Oilite’ bush can be achieved during future maintenance by adding oil from the top of the lever after removing the screw on knob.

Prior to reassembly, the various parts of the assembly were de-rusted (Deox C), repainted with etch primer, primer and black top coat. Some painting had to be left until the offside handbrake cable lever was welded back in place after refitting the two taper pins. The taper pins on my assembly had to be matched to the correct bores to enable correct flush fitment. The grub screw for the collar next to the lever was remanufactured from a suitable BSF bolt cut down and slotted to suit a screwdriver.

I have read articles on this assembly where the author questions the reasoning behind using a fixing screw at this location and not welds as per the handbrake cable levers and the other collar on the opposite side of the handbrake lever?

As a design Engineer by profession I’ll offer my reasoning. The collar secured by the grub screw is threaded along with the mating hole in the cross shaft. On reassembly, the collar can therefore fit onto the shaft in one of two orientations. However and significantly, only one particular orientation of the collar will allow a grub screw to assembly/engage with the thread in the collar and the cross shaft. This means that at Abingdon all those years ago the collar and cross shaft must have been tapped ‘as one’ and probably drilled ‘as one’ on final assembly once correctly positioned, to achieve the required fit of handbrake lever between the two collars, thus making the cross shaft and collar a matched pair. This would have been a preferable and reliable assembly method to achieve correct fits when compared to the alternative of welding both collars.

The chassis spherical bearing assemblies were taken apart and new bearings and rivets obtained from Digby Elliot. The mating outer diameter at each end of the cross shaft was measured and the new bearings were supplied machined to suit, resulting in a very close fit between shaft and bearing. After de-rusting (Deox C) and repainting the bearing assemblies were riveted back together with the aid of a rivet snap, custom made punch and an old Arbor Press I have acquired. The restored handbrake assembly was then bolted back onto the chassis.

When complete I expect my TC will be a vehicle that is only used on a limited mileage basis. Most vehicle mechanical assemblies are designed to move regularly to keep everything in working order and long periods of inactivity can cause deterioration of components. The brake assemblies are one area of a vehicle that can become victims of such inactivity and most notably wheel cylinders and master cylinders due to ingress of water into the brake fluid. With that thought in mind I decided that the purchase and fitment of bronze wheel cylinders and master cylinder was an expense worth bearing for long term reliable function of my TC’s brakes.

The rear brakes were then re-assembled and handbrake cables installed. However, the simple task of refitting handbrake cables was complicated by the new bird’s mouth finishers that had been added to the chassis during its renovation. These needed a little fettling to enable the handbrake cable levers to move through their full angular travel without fouling the chassis. The earlier choice of a painted chassis against powder coating enabled easy restoration of the chassis finish once the fettling was complete.

Having overcome that issue everything was fitted and correctly adjusted.

The brake and clutch levers have been repainted, re-bushed and reamed to suit a new oversized pivot shaft that was manufactured to match the chassis pivot shaft bracket bores that required reaming to remove wear and ovality. Having read the excellent article in TTT2 on this very subject I added drillings and a grease nipple to enable lubrication of the assembly from the outer chassis end of the shaft.

However, unlike the author of the previous article I used black Nylon 66 washers in the assembly in preference to phosphor bronze. My reasoning for this is that the only side loads these washers see are from the two spiral springs that form part of the lever shaft assembly and Nylon 66 is more than adequate for the task.

More significantly, the addition of bronze into the assembly introduces a path for electrolytic corrosion that did not previously exist as the steel shaft, pedals and chassis now have the greater negative potential (-.75V) when compared to the bronze (-.20V) promoting accelerated corrosion of these items which are fully exposed to atmosphere and hence moisture.

The phenomenon of electrolytic corrosion is detailed in another of my previous articles ‘A Negative View’ published in TTT2 Issue 24.

To stop the shaft rotating within the pivot shaft bracket I also used a different method from the previous author’s interference fit.

The diameter of the hole through the chassis is larger than the hole in the pivot shaft bracket. This design feature ensures that on assembly at Abingdon the pivot shaft would never foul the chassis and conveniently allows a small slot to be filed into the bracket at the chassis interface to facilitate fitment of a mating anti-rotation pin in the pivot shaft. By only slotting the bracket no stress raisers are introduced into the chassis (i.e. by a sharp cornered slot). Using a round needle file I made sure the slot in the bracket finished in a rounded end to eliminate sharp corners that could promote cracking.

The anti-rotation pin was fabricated from a broken HSS drill bit.

The pivot shaft has been produced with a larger diameter head at one end to enable fitment of the grease nipple and eliminate one split pin that was a feature of the original design. Adjacent to this larger end diameter a suitable mounting hole was drilled in the pivot shaft ensuring it did not break through into the central grease bore. The anti- rotation pin was assembled into the pivot shaft using Loctite for retention and on final assembly provides a very positive anti-rotation feature.

A modern rubber cover was introduced onto the brake rod connecting brake lever to master cylinder to protect the articulation joint from road dirt and moisture.

This simple modification is detailed in another previous article ‘TC Brake Rod’ published in TTT2 Issue 26.

New cunifer brake pipes have been made and fitted, complete with stainless steel wire coil protective sleeves. The wire protective sleeve was sourced from a company in Redditch, Worcestershire, UK that specialise in manufacture of wire coil. I choose an open wound coil which differs from the original closed coil used by MG but this does facilitate easy flaring of the second end of the brake pipe by allowing the coil to be
compressed and clamped, enabling fitment into the flaring tool. Once the second flare is produced, the clamp is removed, allowing the coil protector to expand/fit between both brake fittings.

The next task on my list is stub axles. I have had the stub axles machined to remove badly worn and cracked axles and have a pair of new axles (sourced via John James) to press in which was the main reason for sourcing and acquiring the old ‘Made in England’ Arbor Press mentioned earlier. The bores produced in the machined stubs have been carefully honed so that the resultant fit between bore and axle will be at the upper end of an H7/s6 interference fit (-.0006 / -.0019in) i.e. maximum -.0019in interference on assembly.

Once that job has been completed the front brakes and steering can be re-assembled after more painting which will hopefully result in a rolling chassis before the close of 2014.

I’ve included a few photographs to accompany this article, which should be the first of many as restoration progresses.

Steve Cameron ~ TC0895

Useful contacts:

Chromium plating ~ Marque Restore ~ 024 7662 2225
Chassis work ~ Metalcraft (ex Yorkshire Chassis) – 01274 612492
Coil Spring Protectors ~ Bywell Springs and Pressings ~ 01527 66551
Handbrake cross shaft spares ~ Digby Elliot ~ ‘Beam Ends’ (by Newton Cross Roads) Whiteparish, SALISBURY SP5 2QL 07836 754034
Metal spraying / machining ~ Avanti Engineering ~ 0121 557 1153
Rust removal ~ Deox C ~ produced by Bilt-Hamber ~ www.bilthamber.com
Shock Absorber restoration ~ Stevson Motors ~ 0121 472 1702

Ed’s Note: Also recommended for shock absorber restoration is Raj Patel of Recon and Return. Services include lever arm and link arm re- bushing. Re-bushing is notoriously difficult (actually, well nigh impossible) so why not let an expert do it for you? Raj is at 39a Avenue Road Extension, LEICESTER LE2 3EP. Telephone 0116 244 8103. He usually offers a quick turn around and In the words of one of our subscribers “Raj is a good guy”.

Also, for chromium plating, I’ve had work done by S&T in North Bristol with excellent results. Pricey, but that’s what you have to pay for the best. I’ve just taken some J2 door hinges and a headlight rim there and nearly fainted when they gave me the estimate! www.stchrome.co.uk