Hawk, Great news about your upholstery. I’m still waiting on my side curtains and you have got the whole car done. You must have conections .

There is a Northern Tools about 30 miles from here.  Will try to get by and see if they have one in stock. 
James – as you’ve apparently seen these in person can you advise if they’re as smooth on the unseen side as they appear to be on the top surface?  If so I may well go that way… 
The marine source has stainless steel grab rails that hav…[Read more]

 
James:
Your are right about the countdown
81 days till I drive Mrs. Peel again, 230 days till I retire and drive her every day.
I 2nd your nomination of Greg as 2.3L engine guru..
 luvmytd40081.3521990741

And I’ll just Polk along with my 1.4  put , put ,  put  , Dan R

 Hawk, Look in my photo gallery .enlarge the rear view of my white and yellow cars , I think these are like the one James referred to at Northern Tool. Look at my BCW to see a different type that I do not know where you can purchase but are often seen on MGs. Moss motors has one with a MG crest part #229-100 $38.95 that is top of the line (at…[Read more]

Hawk,
I recently visited our local Northern Tools and played with this handle
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/produc t_6970_200330949_200330949
It was very nice and heavy. I continued to look around and I am planning on returning to get this one, it was the nicest I found. Is this what you are looking for? It’s only $8 in…[Read more]

Greg,
Now WE have a rich source of info….you.
Since you’re in the neighborhood, maybe you can run over and give Mel’s baby a pat for him. Mel has probably got the countdown started, from the day he left Florida.
I have a Holley 2bbl and that gives me plenty of zip on the stock 1974 engine, can’t smoke the tires, but can feel the acceleration…[Read more]

Greg:
You have all the fun
Melluvmytd40080.6617824074

Greg,
Here is a link that Geoff had posted a while back.
http://www.mre-books.com/resto/restomod5.html
I still haven’t done anything with my wiring yet, thanks for the info on that.
James

Mel,
I agree. That site that I had posted also mentioned an MGTE model, I think they meant MGTF. My UK book on the history of the MG states that it was never a factory option on the TD and only came back on the TF because of customer requests. There were several historical differences between that site and my MG books. I am not for sure where that…[Read more]

James:
That site is interesting but I don’t think they are hsitorically correct. 
I would use the formentioned:
http://www.mgcars.org.uk/mgtd/mgtd_mistakes.htm
as a bettter source.  I spoke with my friend who has been restoring TD’s for over 20 years and he agrees that wires were not a TD option.
Personally I love wires and in my case the b…[Read more]

 Hi and welcome to the forum. Look under the General Discussion section and on page 2 there is a topic guages,guages ,guages that has some links to several sources for guages. Hope you can find something to meet your needs.It may be hard to find exact matches for the guages that came with the kit but you can probably find something…[Read more]

Ringo, I would have to be searching a long long time to find that site with me young and good looking….I do remember being young once though.
I am trying to talk my better half into an autumn trip to Hot Springs for all the fabulous colors your trees have. If we bring the MGTD, I would rather not park it in the Arlington garage if we stay…[Read more]

You’re not???  

James
You gotta love the internet. If I looked hard enough I could probably find a site where I was still young and good looking!
Ringo
(Hot Springs is calling, let me know when you’re ready.)
Ringo

Ringo,
I remember that site is where I had done my internet research as well as a stack of MG history books I have. Very good site. Great reading. My books also stated that the wires were not a factory item for the TD line. The site that I posted might have some mis-information, sorry about that, one of those things you stumble on.
James

Well, just to add some controversy on such a fine day, I found this;
“Wire Wheels
Clearly the most controversial item that is faced in the restoration of many a MGTD. Were wire wheels available as a factory option or not? The truth is that they were not available during the production of the MGTD from the factory. The factory was constantly…[Read more]

I need to make a correction in my post. I was wrong. I found a website that did state that the factory did indeed offer wire wheel options in 1952 on both the MGTD and MGTE (never heard of this one) models for a short time. Here is the site for more reading.
http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z1624/MG-TD.aspx
 JasCochran40078.6965625

Mine are recessed and may be the same as Mel’s. A friend of mine has the polished stainless steel. David is right about all the rust and maintenance on many of the baskets, what a headache . I think the TD looks good with wires even tho the original had the vented steel wheels and the wires came back with the TF. In my opinion, either way, the…[Read more]

  Mel  Just took a look at your wheels in the photo gallery. They are different to mine and look good. I have the ones that sit proud of the wheel and look like they were made by the Safeway shopping cart company.                Al