Issue 33 (December 2015)
Bits and Pieces
The ‘Founder’s Weekend’ is an annual event held every May to celebrate the incredible amount of time and effort put in by the late Harry Crutchley in establishing the MG Octagon Car Club; a Club which started from a handful of members in the Stafford area and has grown into a flourishing worldwide organisation.
The weekend is run on similar lines to the TTT 2 Tours which are held every mid to late August. Indeed, many ‘T’ and ‘Y’ ‘typers’ attend both events.
The organisation of the event is in the capable hands of John and Sandra Vinnell who can be contacted at sandra.vinnell(at)btinternet.com {please replace (at) by @}
Heart of the Shires 2016
Friday May 13th 2016 – Sunday May 15th May 2016
Moore Place Hotel Aspley Guise Village Milton Keynes Bedfordshire MK17 8DW 01908 282000
Friday/Saturday rate for a double room with single occupancy on a dinner, bed and breakfast rate – £89.00 per room per night
Friday/Saturday rate for a double room with double occupancy on a dinner, bed and breakfast rate – £119.00 per room per night
Sunday rate for a double room with single occupancy on a dinner, bed and breakfast rate – £79.00 per room per night
Sunday rate for a double room with double occupancy on a dinner, bed and breakfast rate – £109.00 per room per night
When ringing to book, please quote Octagon MG Founders Weekend to secure the discounted rates.
The hotel will require credit/debit details to secure the booking but payment will not be taken until you leave – the booking can be cancelled up to 24 hours before the day without charge.
Commercially available Capacitors
Following Eric Worpe’s excellent article in the August issue of TTT 2 your Editor has purchased a commercially available capacitor from a reasonably well known source and sent it to Eric for testing. Initial reaction is not favourable but the full test findings will be published in the next issue of TTT 2.
Rebuild Trolley for sale
Having done sterling service for John Cleaves’ TF rebuild John is now offering it for sale for £60 with buyer collecting from Widmer End, BUCKS HP15 6ND Tel: 01494 712466. Here’s a couple of photos of the trolley and also one of John’s rebuilt TF.
John Cleaves’ completed TF rebuild.
Brass Core Plugs
A reminder that brass core plugs are available from Tom Lange at http://mgtrepair.net The set of nine also includes the cam plug, which according to Tom is not included as a brass plug in other sets.
Tom supplies a range of high quality engine parts for the XPAG/XPEG and has a couple of new products in the pipeline, details of which hopefully will be included in the next issue of TTT 2.
MG TD/TF Improved rubber parts
Ever resourceful, Declan Burns is currently making new kingpin dust covers for the TD/TF and NBR rocker cover gaskets for the XPAG. Here’s what he said in a recent note to me:
“I have just finished the mould to make new kingpin dust covers for the TD/TF from quality rubber that will not fail prematurely like the repro products currently on the market. The photos show the special tooling for my friend’s injection moulding machine.
If all goes well we should have these available before Christmas. We also received the first samples of NBR rocker cover gaskets for the TD/TF which we are currently testing. These are slightly thinner than the cork gaskets, are very high quality and are cut on a CNC water jet.”
Update The rocker cover gaskets (pic below) are performing well (no leaks so far!) and a pic of one fitted to Declan’s TD is also shown below.
One of Declan’s new nitrile (NBR) rocker cover seals fitted to his TD.
Further update “The first attempt at injection moulding the dust caps has ben successfully carried out. We started with the Morris Minor caps but the TD/TF caps are similar. Some minor (excuse the pun) adjustments to be done on the machine but it looks very promising indeed.”
And the latest! “The first test TD/TF/MGA king pin dust boots has been done. It worked perfectly first go. The next stage will be to test fit them in case minor adjustments are required on the inner diameter.”
TD/TF Steering Rack Gaiters
Declan reports that he has recently received a sample of these high quality gaiters made by a reputable manufacturer in Europe.
Contact details for Declan are as follows:
Declan Burns
Liedberger Weg 6A
40547 Düsseldorf GERMANY
Tel +49 211 371529 after 5pm.
Email : declan_burns@web.de
Note: declan underscore burns at web dot de
Brake Cylinder Reconditioning
Mention has been made before of the services of Contract Auto Engineering Ltd of Stourport, Worcs.
http://www.classiccar-brakes.co.uk
Chris Bristow has recently received his TC’s wheel cylinders back from them and the charge was £35 plus VAT per cylinder, which included new rubbers and hydraulic testing. However, the downside was that the promised turnaround time of 3 weeks actually took a good 2 months. Unfortunately, this seems all too common these days with some suppliers.
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Contract Auto Engineering Ltd |
Telephone 01299 828117
Items available from Mick Pay
Filter conversions for TAs after engine No.1514
Filter conversions for TAs before engine No.1514)
Filter conversions for VAs
Filter conversions for early wet clutch VAs
Engine restraints for TAs.
Engine restraints for early wet clutch Vas
Webbing for rear VA restraints
Petrol filters for various early cars
Brass spark plug holders
Brass fluid reservoir for early cars
TA air filter conversions, drawings only (courtesy John Mansell)
T / ABC Spares boxes, pictures and drawings only
New Shell label for spare oil tin, Others could be made if you could send me a reasonable old one, torn is not a problem.
Repairs carried out to many items for older cars
For details and prices ring 01227 721518 or email mg188@btinternet.com
All of these are made to order.
An Aussie Christmas
Twas the night before Christmas; there wasn’t a sound.
Not a possum was stirring; no-one was around.
We’d left on the table some tucker and beer,
Hoping that Santa soon would be here;
We children were snuggled up safe in our beds,
While dreams of pavlova danced ’round in our heads;
And Mum in her nightie, and Dad in his shorts,
Had just settled down to watch TV sports.
When outside the house a mad ruckus arose;
Loud squeaking and banging woke us from our doze.
We ran to the screen door, peeked cautiously out,
Snuck onto the deck, then let out a shout.
Guess what had woken us up from our snooze,
But a rusty old Ute pulled by eight mighty roos.
The cheerful man driving was giggling with glee,
And we both knew at once who this plump bloke must be.
Now, I’m telling the truth it’s all dinki-di,
Those eight kangaroos fairly soared through the sky.
Santa leaned out the window to pull at the reins,
And encouraged the ‘roos, by calling their names.
‘Now, Kylie! Now, Kirsty! Now, Shazza and Shane!
On Kipper! On, Skipper! On, Bazza and Wayne!
Park up on that water tank. Grab a quick drink,
I’ll scoot down the gum tree. Be back in a wink!’
So up to the tank those eight kangaroos flew,
With the Ute full of toys, and Santa Claus too.
He slid down the gum tree and jumped to the ground,
Then in through the window he sprang with a bound.
He had bright sunburned cheeks and a milky white beard.
A jolly old joker was how he appeared.
He wore red stubby shorts and old thongs on his feet,
And a hat of deep crimson as shade from the heat.
His eyes – bright as opals – Oh! How they twinkled!
And, like a goanna, his skin was quite wrinkled!
His shirt was stretched over a round bulging belly
Which shook when he moved, like a plate full of jelly.
A fat stack of prezzies he flung from his back,
And he looked like a swaggie unfastening his pack.
He spoke not a word, but bent down on one knee,
To position our goodies beneath the yule tree.
Surfboard and footballs he left for us two.
And for Dad, tongs to use on the new barbeque.
A mysterious package he left for our Mum,
Then he turned and he winked and he held up his thumb;
He strolled out on deck and his ‘roos came on cue;
Flung his sack in the back and prepared to shoot through.
He bellowed out loud as they swooped past the gates-
MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, and good onya,MATES!’
With acknowledgement to ‘Anonymous’.
Ed’s note: Some items have been held over to the next issue (the February 2016 issue, which should appear around the middle of January 2016).