- This topic has 18 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 8 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Here’s my new (old) VW-based, fiberfab replicated, MG TD bought from the original builder/owner. He started putting it together back in 1984 and finished 1989 by Specialty Auto-Sports in Knoxville TN.
Very different thing for me, not ever having a VW or little sports car before, so learning all I can as I go along with it… “it”, because no name given yet.Might as well show the VW engine, said to be a replacement 1600 (lacks a number below Gen pedestal), Dual Port with Weber Progressive carb.
And looks like it does not have the doghouse oil cooler I’ve heard about behind (or is that in front) of the fan shroud. Must be the older style less efficient oil cooler.
Found the 009 distributor might be 90 degrees CCW, or thereabouts, from where it would be if on an original engine. Has made my attempts at checking timing confusing, especially considering it only has the basic crankshaft pulley with just a TDC notch and dimple (5 degrees BTDC?).So I discovered the notch (small line) for where the #1 spark plug wire goes on cap is where the #2 wire is connected instead.Anyway, I got the 3000+ RPM 32 degrees advance done with it like that. Problem is, the engine won’t stop when shut off and even backfires (rarely). Won’t run if I move wires to supposedly correct positions.First tank full of 100% non-ethanol 87 octane gasoline mixed with old gas– was bad idea, need to drain and flush tank!LRH2015-03-18 03:34:22
Bob, welcome to the fun. Where in Dixie are you from? Nice looking TDr.
I like the red engine tin. One of the best jobs of sealing the engine breathing air from exhaust air that I’ve seen on a TDr.
Most likely, you do have the doghouse oil cooler. If you can’t get your eyeball in there, use a mirror or even your hand. On the front of the shroud, just forward, and slightly inboard of your coil, feel for a hump in the tin. About a 2″ deep hump. That would be the tin that covers the doghouse.
Regarding your wiring: Some old school mechanic put the distributor in the car, “knowing” that it really doesn’t make any difference where it is pointing, the only important thing is that the wires be put on such that when #1piston is on the compression stroke and at TDC (+/-) it fires. This is true on every car that I am familiar with. Except for air cooled VW (and possibly Porsche).
As you know, when the points open because they are on one of the high spots of the 4 distributor lobes, the coil fires. So, it would seem that it makes no real difference how the distributor body is put on, you can just move the wires to “correct” the firing without changing the firing order.
BUT: VW engineers (pretty smart dudes) knew that #3 cylinder was being cooled by the air which had just passed through the oil cooler and therefore was hotter than the air used to cool the other 3 cylinders. Therefore #3 was likely to run hot. So, they decided that the way they would compensate for this extra heat was to slightly retard the firing of #3 compared to the other cylinders. They re-ground the lobes on the distributor shaft such that the lobes are slightly asymmetrical. #3 is slightly different and will always fire with slightly less advance than the other 3.
Solution: Rather simple. At TDC, take the cap off, loosen the distributor clamp, rotate the distributor such that when the cap is on, the rotor is pointing to the wire that SHOULD BE #1. Then carefully put the wires on and re-time.
All done, and you hardly got dirty.
Bring it to Carlisle in May. Meet the gang. Get lots of tips on TDr’s.
Royal2015-03-18 06:23:02
Bob, you may have already discovered the on-line site or Rob and Dave’s VW Resource: www.vw-resource.com
You really ought to buy John Muir’s ..Complete Idiot book also.
Good luck with draining and flushing the gas tank. In many cases, this can be very very troublesome and cause sudden breakdowns at the most inconvenient times. If there is a bunch of gunk in the tank, it is often the best to replace it.
How do you like the Weber Progressive carb? I have that carb and it smokes on hard acceleration. Mechanic says this is normal. It’s not oil smoke because it’s black and I have good compression. Personally I think it just needs more adjustment.
Also wondered how your Weber fits under the engine cover. My car is also FiberFab and the Weber sits up so high that it goes up inside the spare wheel. Yours seems to fit better.
Can’t say much yet about the Weber because I still think the engine isn’t tuned right, except in regards to black smoke I’ve not seen any but been wondering if it runs rich. I haven’t dared to make changes to the mixture screw until I know the engine timing is good as can be.
Enough power going up hills without excessive downshifting if I keep the RPM’s above 2500, 3000 or so. I just don’t know when the secondary kicks in because I haven’t noticed anything but smooth acceleration. I need more miles put on to learn about it, only 100 as of now and mostly easygoing driving. Got to admit I’m having to get used to being squeezed in between the steering wheel and seat back so it’s like learning to drive again.😆I’ve seen pictures of other replicas with what looks like spare wheel cutouts, I was guessing that’s to make room for the carb+filter but I thought might also be to release heat. Wondered if that might be bad for a tire, unless the temperature moderates to only 150 degrees or something less than rubber damaging temps. Mine is completely enclosed and carb+filter seems to fit okay that way. Not sure about the filter I have, I know others can look taller/thicker, so maybe this one being short/thin helps in that regard.Also seen that this fiberfab design has a upward angle or raised top to the trunk (erm, engine hood) compared to other kits.Thanks for the summed up info Roy. Yes, I’ve seen and bookmarked that VW web site. One of the first sources for VW stuff I was finding when I knew I needed guidance sooner than later! Obviously popular. Likewise thesamba.com
😀I need to wait on valve cover gaskets before I check true TDC for #1. Going to give it another go based on what you were telling me, or maybe I can get that #1 on the distributor “notch”– which only looks like a tiny thin little line on mine here– somehow.Been 35 years since I rebuilt my 1st, and last, car engine. Basically same thing aside from the nuances of a air-cooled VW.:?:lol:Oh yeah, Carlisle PA, Imports & Kits event… Of course I couldn’t help noticing that event! 11 hour drive…? Would be same as going to Orlando FL. I’m in north central Alabama. However, brother and sister are going to visit me at that time in May.
or that should be 😀Almost forgot… I will look again for the doghouse style cooler but from what I had seen elsewhere of them it would be easy to see on the other side of the fan shroud. To me it just looks like an ordinary and rather thin shroud, nothing special behind it… unless its lower down than I expected.Thanks for the incentive to do a double-check!LRH2015-03-19 02:55:52
Welcome aboard!
Sounds like our friends here have you on the right track. Definitely need to turn the distributor those 90 degrees and move the plug wires accordingly!
There is a southeastern US caravan of our friends in the Speedster club. They come from as far south as Florida. If you are interested, I can hook you up with that group.
For what it’s worth, flat towing a VW is easy if you don’t want to drive the 11 hours in your TDr.
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
Yep, Paul, did that Saturday morning. Set timing advance for 32 degrees at or above 3000 RPM, really helped. Got to its first (for me) car show that day, tough competition so no prize/award this round. Not thinking about getting awards at all. Not yet anyhow!
I was lucky to get a tow bar for the car from seller, along with everything else. Just got a hitch put on my small sedan last month, before I ever considered getting a MGTDr, for hauling a motorcycle. Hate to miss that event, but like I said, already planned visit of brother and sister won’t allow for it this year anyway.Oh, meant to also say thanks for the suggestion or offer to join a club but that’s just not my kind of thing. Talking cars at car shows, yes. 😀 Clubs… nah. Or else I’d probably have joined a motorcycle club years ago.One of the MG sports car guys mentioned something like that at the car show, too. Guessing that was “speedsters”. I’m slow to catch on with names, both his and the group he’s with. Although I’m going to see him at another car show nearby in June if we both get there.LRH2015-03-23 04:33:30
Sorry…I wasn’t suggsting you join a club.
In fact, the Speedster Owners Group is only a “club” in the sense that we are. They are entirely web based.I was suggesting that if you did not want to make the drive to Carlisle PA alone, there is a caravan that comes up to Carlisle from the southeast. I can connect you with the guys that are takign that drive. Some come from as far as Florida. There are several “pick up spots” along the way.Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
PMOSSBERG wrote:wasn’t suggesting you join a club.Oh I see, reread what you were saying before. I get it now. I’m such a lone wolf I think everyone else is in some sort of club! LOLAt the very least I would love to catch a glimpse of a caravan of these cars traveling to the show. I see car show-bound cars every now and then going either north or south on I-65. I’m guessing the Florida people would be using I-95 and I-85 in the east to get to PA.On that note, got a look at the “registry” map here at tdreplica.com (added myself too) and most concentration of MGTDr owners around the eastern US or high population areas. Not too surprising, statistically, of course. Yet some places are obviously lacking in MGTDr’s. Probably more likely to be 10X that out there somewhere, I suppose some of you know the manufactured and/or sold number. Not that I’m asking.I’m not sure anyone knows accurate production numbers from the various manufacturers. I’ve never seen a reliable source.
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
Paul. Along a similar note, wasn’t there a spreadsheet of list of members by type of TDR? Like so many had London Roadsters, Duchesses, MiGi, fiberFab etc?
Allen Caron
VW based 53MGTD - "MoneyPenny"
"If one thing matters, everything matters" - from the book The ShackAllen,
Not directly. You can divine it from the registry. But anytime you’ve seen me post something like that, I went through teh registry and did it manually.
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
Hmm. I do love a good challenge. Let me see what I can do.
Allen Caron
VW based 53MGTD - "MoneyPenny"
"If one thing matters, everything matters" - from the book The ShackAllen, if you have decided to take this on, please be careful. There are a few TDr’s that were called Migi.
The very first/original TDr was sold in February 1975 and was designed and engineered and built by a company in Florida named Daytona Automotive Fiberglass. It was named a Daytona Migi (in hopes of warding off a suit by Morris Garages). Then (about 1982) came the Daytona Migi II. I have never seen a Daytona Migi II, but it was a Chevette engine model with a center hinged hood, fold down windshield and knock-off wheels. (I have some poor pictures of a Daytona Migi II.)
Fiberfab, “stole” the Migi name and started making the Fiberfab Migi (about 1976). The earliest Fiberfab Migi’s were really re-badged Daytona’s, but FF did make changes over the years. Then after a Federal Court order in 1982, Fiberfab was barred from using the Migi name, so after 1982, all Migi’s were Daytona’s and Fiberfab continued making TDr’s that were not Migi’s.
Interesting.
I had been reading some about Fiberfab while getting my car and one of the things that worried me was how Classic Motor Carriages had ‘bought Fiberfab but used their own molds’ according to Wikipedia.That was 1983 and the kit for mine was acquired during 1982-1984, and all I know it the title only says Fiberfab with the date March 1984.I don’t know much else about all that except how customers sued the company for bad business practices, and my car’s builder/previous owner is a lawyer.🙂
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.