Bits and Pieces

YL5 Paint Code (Sequoia Cream/Ivory)

I recently had an enquiry from Robert Gillam, who is looking to paint his TD MK II in this attractive colour. Robert was trying to establish if there is a read across to a modern RAL or BS paint code for YL5. I made a couple of enquiries, but was unable to answer his query. He came back to me the next day, saying that he had managed to borrow a O.E, (original equipment) YL5 swatch. With a trained eye (he is a professional photographer/printer) he was able to cross reference the RAL chart to RAL code 9001 (Cream). He says it is virtually the same colour….albeit half a tone, (or half a stop) towards the lighter end, it’s a very, very close match.

NTG Motor Services sell a small touch-up can of YL5 for £15.70 plus VAT.

TA/B/C Handbrake Expander Arms

These can crack at the pivot point (see following pictures of damaged one and new one):

Paul Busby has made some new ones. Contact him at pyb.7(at)tiscali.co.uk [pse substitute @ for (at)]

Wiring Clips and Starting Handle Clips

Available from Paul (as above). Stainless, but can be blackened. Exactly as original. Also available, damper core plugs 1 1/8″ dia 3.5mm thick with a note to owners not to use the water jacket type nominally 1.5mm thick. Best way to remove the core plug is to drill a central hole and screw in a 6mm head self-tapping screw, when it hits the end of the shaft it will then extract the core plug. Note there should be a hard fibre disc behind the plug, often omitted by some rebuilders. Paul is making some new shafts for those who want to rebuild their own dampers and have corroded shafts or damaged splines.

Longstone Tyres

I mentioned Longstone Tyres in the editorial – here are their contact details:

Beehive springs on TD/TF Rear Backplates

It’s quite easy to while away many a happy half hour trying to fit these little blighters! I asked someone who I thought would know how to fit them, only to be told “I don’t bother with them!” Well, they must have been provided for a reason and that is to prevent the brake shoes from moving laterally.

An assortment of new and used beehive springs.

Close-up ‘shot’ of a used spring showing hook end which needs to go through the relevant hole in the brake shoe and hook to backplate.

The fixing points on the brake backplate are shown painted white in the picture below. The picture shows the rear off-side backplate. To fit the beehive spring to the top fixing point on this backplate you would need to position it at 180 degrees with the pliers with the hook pointing towards the back of the car, press hard and twist clockwise. It’s the same for the bottom fixing point, except that you twist anti-clockwise.

Easier said than done, but it’s a lot easier with a used one!

More ‘fun and games’ with my TF1500

As part of the plan to get the car up to the specification I want, I’ve recently bought an MGA 4.3 ratio ‘pumpkin’ by post from the Welsh MG Centre in Wrexham. It was bought unseen, so was a bit of a gamble, but I breathed a sigh of relief when the chap who is going to fit it for me gave it a clean bill of health and said it was in excellent condition. Phew! – after all the problems I’ve had with this car, it was good to have something go right for a change.

So, energized for the task of removing the back axle, with the prospect of checking everything (half shafts, wheel bearings, oil seals) I set about in the garage, putting the car up on blocks. The removal went relatively smoothly but I suffered for a few days after with back pain.

Axle out of the car – not kind to the back!

I have removed J2 and PB axles in the past, but they are mere ‘toys’ compared with this axle. I’ve also removed a TC axle, which is definitely a step up from the ‘J’ and ‘P’, but not as heavy as the TD/TF. I certainly wouldn’t want to remove an 18/80 back axle!

As part of the dismantling sequence, I removed the back springs and placed them on the bench in my large shed. Just when I thought everything was going right, shock, horror…..the curvature of the springs is different!

Spot the difference!

The spring in the foreground is definitely a TF spring as it has the part number 500880 stamped on it. It could well be a new old stock spring.

The stamping ‘Berry’ is interesting as you will find the same stamping on original TC springs (part number 99561 – rear and part number 99546 – front). Berry Brockhouse was a manufacturer of road springs and much more.

To quote from a period advert: “When J. BROCKHOUSE founded J. BROCKHOUSE & CO LTD. for the manufacture of Road Springs for carts and carriages, he was building better than he knew. Within a few years he absorbed one after another of his competitive businesses, and one of them – R. Berry & Son of Smethwick – was destined to become the greatest Road Spring Motor Manufacturers in this country. When motors and motor-cars began, Berry’s made Springs for them, and, so the tale is told: they now turn out Springs in their tens of thousands for light cars, medium cars, sports cars, luxury cars, trucks, lorries, and every form of motor transport.

With Road Springs BROCKHOUSE began, and they still lead as they did years before motors were ever invented.”

R. BERRY & SON, MAFEKING ROAD, SMETHWICK, STAFFS

The other spring is not stamped, but it seems as though it could be a TD. How somebody could have fitted these different springs beats me, but that’s the story of my life with this car.

Just a few other problems which were found on removal of the axle and its strip down. The U-bolts had been fretting where the axle had not been properly secured – one is pictured below:

The nearside rear wheel bearing and seal need to be replaced and one of the bump stops had seen better days – obviously not replaced as part of the restoration.

I’ll get it all right in the end!

TD/TF Rear Springs

I was recently contacted by a friend who was in the market for new springs for his TD. “Make sure that a hole is drilled at the end of each leaf”, I said. His supplier wasn’t intending to do this, so my friend needed to know the measurements to pass on to the supplier.

Photo 1 – Rubber pad-interleaf, part no. ACG5232

By taking measurements from the TF spring, I was able to tell him that the (9/32”/7mm) holes need to be drilled 7/8” in from the end of each leaf and half way (¾”) across the width of the spring.

Into these holes fit the interleaf pads shown in photo 1. They were originally made of rubber and are available from some MG dealers.

The problem with the rubber is that it doesn’t wear very well; I have seen them having been flattened and protruding outside of the edges of the springs.

On the advice of Barrie Jones, Technical Specialist for the T Register of the MGCC, I have had some pads made from Nylatron.

The question has been posed “Why are these pads necessary?” Well, on road springs fitted to TCs and earlier models (certainly on the front), the leaves had their ends tapered and chamfered to prevent the ends digging in to adjacent leaves. The pads, being fitted near to the end, raise the end slightly (not much – about a sixteenth of an inch or less) so that the same result as tapering and chamfering is achieved.

I hope this explanation is correct.

New TA/B/C Bishop Cam Sector shafts

Andy King is offering these newly manufactured, using EN24T, sector shafts at £120 plus carriage, plus VAT. Both standard and oversize are available (picture shows a Triple-M and a T-Type shaft). https://prewarmgparts.co.uk

Windscreen wiper repairs

If your windscreen wiper has stopped working/only works if it feels like it, or has never worked, John Hargreaves is the man to go to. He also rewinds dynamo armatures and field coils and does skimming and undercutting of commutators. Jaeger tacho gearboxes overhauls and new cases made.

A lifetime’s experience in this work. jilloggy(at)btinternet.com [please substitute @ for (at)]. John is located in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, Tel: 01782 516154.

TC8365 – Geoff Fletcher

Geoff has been sending me pictures of his rebuild on a regular basis. Some pictures were last shown in Issue 57 (December 2019).

I just wanted to show what Geoff has achieved with the body tub, having started with a fire-damaged and bodged example.