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Hello…New guy here and wanted to introduce myself to the group. I recently purchased a FiberFab MGTD Kit Car built on a 1971 Chassis and powered by a 1970 VW 1600 cc 57HP Single Port Engine. The car has been sitting for a while but I did manage to get it started and it seems to run and operate very good. The front fenders has very minor damage (small crack) where the previous owner ran into the rear of another vehicle. I’m now in the process of cleaning, cleaning, and cleaning…it was parked under a carport but did have a cover on it…anyway it needs a thorough detail. Next step is to get it roadworthy…so I may have to ask a few questions since this is my first VW Kit car. The last VW I owned was back in the 70’s…I’ve forgotten a lot!
HarryNorth Alabamahdtrader 2016-04-10 23:40:33 Welcome Aboard, some pretty smart guys on here to help you, I’m not included.
BillBad Bill
Hey there, you’re in my neck of the woods. Maybe you’ll be able to get to some car shows in the area when I’m at them and it’ll be obvious because I haven’t seen another MG TD kit car anyplace, only real ones. Although now I have another, different car to take too so won’t always be going out in the MG TD “replica”.Hope you got a good deal on your car, mine was $5600 complete with good top and engine, decent shape other than looking old I suppose. Only real trouble was the leaky gas tank and brakes not perfect. Oh, and within a short time turn signals and wipers quit on me. Only had 1121 miles on the odometer, was a 1-owner Montgomery show car (local?), around 2900 now after being to Oneonta a few times and Arab and local cruise-ins.I didn’t know anything about the VW’s so maybe you won’t do anything stupid like I did, which was put on a new alternator belt without checking what torque to tighten it.I just put the nut on the same as I found it, or close enough I thought. Should have been twice as tight. Broke the alternator pulley because it wobbled and had to replace that.Was a year ago. Now I know all about the inside/outside shims for belt adjustment and 43 lb. torque for nut. Still more to learn.Tell about what you’re doing with the car or need to know and you’re sure to get feedback.Welcome and rest assured you’ll get no advice from me.
(Mines not a VW)Lots of help available here.
Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"Welcome Harry
I own a VW kit as well, your car will teach you much, mostly patience. Enjoy the frustrations when they happen because thats what you laugh at at future car shows.Hey Harry, welcome to the group.
You will probably agree that not many accidents are avoided while the drivers foot is on the accelerator pedal. …..and very many are avoided when the drivers foot is on the brake. It seems that your car rear-ended someone. Please don’t fall into the trap of concentrating your efforts on the engine. The brakes should be the first priority. Please give them a thorough going through, possible replacing the little rubber hoses that connect directly to the wheels… and you might want to consider putting disc brakes on the front. You can probably tell that I am a big fan of brakes (you don’t get to be 75 without learning a few things about what’s most important.)
Glad to meet you!
There are lots of “shade tree” as well as actual mechanics here who will be more than happy to help with you questions. Even more valuable is moral and spiritual support!
There are dozens of books providing instruction on working on VW’s out there. I’ve purchased many online as well as my local Barnes and Noble. All you need is a few tools, time and room.
Be sure and post LOTS of pics!
Again, Welcome to the “club”!Amor Conquista Todo
Welcome aboard Harry! Glad to have you!
Your next purchase has to be this:
Click here to order it.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:This was one of the first books I purchased.
It is BY FAR the easiest to use( and worth getting just for the entertainment value!:lol:)
Can also be ordered through Barnes and Noble.Amor Conquista Todo
Wow! Didn’t know others were in the same position!!!! Same situation, and I have no idea what I’m doing. Just took the carb off to clean and rebuild :). Would love to chat with any of you over the phone to learn more. It’s very overwhelming!!
Think my immediate goals are:
Cleaning the carb
Installing electric points
Replacing gas tank (think the old owner let it sit for 25 years with some gas in it)
Maybe replace the BOSCH electric thing
And HOPEFULLY install speakers, some sound system, maybe Bluetooth??Thoughts? advice??
Anay
Sounds like you are new to the joys of auto machine work (aka shade-tree mechanic tinkering).
My very best advice is to never do 2 things in a row to your engine without starting and running the car in between. You will find that if you stick to this rule, it is very simple to pinpoint what is wrong. ex, do not tweak the timing and adjust the carburetor simultaneously. Do one, make sure you got the expected results and hopefully it is better than before, then do the other.
I assume that it runs???? If so, and you think that the tank is gunked up, don’t bother cleaning the carb until the tank problem, fuel lines and filter have been repaired, cleaned or replaced.
And, my last piece of advice is to put your iPod in your shirt pocket and listen to it on the earbuds. Learn to listen to and enjoy the sound of a nicely running engine. Most of us with radios rarely use them. It certainly should be the very last thing on your list of things to do. (Please excuse the fatherly advice, I’m 74 years old.)
Royal2016-05-06 17:50:32
I took a nice stereo out of Bridget for just that same reason.
Fuel tank gunk can be cleaned. Is it rotted out? If not, clean it. You can also coat the inside with POR 15 or similar. But maybe don’t need.The rubber fuel lines–replace. Put a new fuel filter six inches from where the tank lets out. Put another one in the rubber fuel line in front of the fan shroud. Remember, front is front.The Pertronix distributor kits are easy to install and work pretty good. But if she runs with points, set them first and get it all straight.The Muir book is such a great guide.Have fun. Post pics and questions. Roy rebuilds these engines in his sleep.Thanks, just bought the book!
How do you clean the gas tank????? I have one fuel filter on but didn’t realize I should put a second one on… Will do!
After 2-1/2 years of ownership, I know nothing about my car EXCEPT that I did successfully install a RetroSound radio, speaker enclosures, and speakers, and I did get everything to work. Having said that, I would NEVER in a million years recommend ANY of those products. They are absolutely AWFUL. The radio is the best of the bunch — it’s “okay” although very poorly designed. The speakers are merely bad and poorly designed, but the speaker enclosures — are an absolute abomination. Even though they’re supposedly made for the speakers, you still have to cut an opening for the speakers, and the material is so soft and yet so thick that it took me literally hours to cut through. It’s too thick for a knife, too small an area for a saw, and the plastic would simply melt all around my Dremel cutting tool, requiring a second cut through the melted stuff. After painting them (they’re simply cheap black plastic), you get to try mounting them on the mounting tabs in the back that aren’t long enough, so you are trying to get a tiny screw into a tiny hole in the dark with your screwdriver at an odd angle. After you do that, you’re ready to discover that the speakers will go into the hole you made, but the screw holes in the speaker won’t line up with the enclosures. So, you cut off the existing mounting tabs and make tiny holes with your own screws. You do that and you connect the wires, and voila, you’re done, right? Wrong. That’s just when you discover that the speaker grilles that appear to be shaped to fit the speaker enclosures … really aren’t. So, after you cut into the edges of the grilles and cut away a little bit here and there, you find that one end or another still sticks out — assuming you were careful and never completely broke them, because they are extremely fragile. So, you finally use a final F-bomb and just use double-stick tape to hold the ends of the little bastards in place.
I estimate I put about six hours into EACH speaker (that’s right, EACH speaker) and probably about 19,000 F-bombs. As stupid as I am mechanically, I’m not stupid on stuff like this; it’s just incredibly poorly designed and the company has no concern whatsoever. This is just cheap Chinese-made junk being sold for exorbitant profits. The problem is, without these &*%&*# enclosures, I couldn’t figure out any other way to mount four speakers (or even two speakers) in the car. The good news is that they work and now that they’re on, they look okay if you don’t look too closely at them (of course, it helps that they’re right next to the incredibly crappy kick panels made by the so-called “professional” upholsterer — kind of like an average girl likes to stand next to an ugly girl so the comparison favors her). Hopefully after a few years of psychotherapy, I’ll be able to forget my experience with them.johnsimion2016-05-06 22:58:52
I cleaned mine by using some Kerosene and an old
Chain. Dropped in the tank and shook it forever.
Poured it all out and rinsed with more.
Used a Jc Whitney product to coat the inside of the tank. Been using for 10 plus years.Anay, If you want to save yourself from building up your abs and biceps, buy a new tank. They are not too expensive, but be careful to order the right one and you might have to have the fill neck cut and re-welded on.
Or, use Schu’s shaken but not stirred technique. Put a piece of chain in the tank and shake away. If you are fortunate enough to know someone with an old cement mixer, you can strap, tie, bungie etc the tank to the mixer and let it do the shaking while you do something else. (This can be a noisy, but effective, technique.)
…and my last piece of advice is learn how to use our (the tdreplica.com’s) search engine. especially the advanced search. Many of us have discussed these issues in the past.
Pictures please.
You guys are the best. Will def first try cleaning the carb a bit, just because I already took it off and it looks fun. Then I’m going to add the second fuel filter because that’s just a cheap, bandaid solution to the tank because it doesn’t seem “that bad”… Then will debate cleaning vs buying a new one… I live up in Milwaukee so limited months to take him or for a ride – Marty, my wife named it Marty, after watching the back to the future trilogy… Pictures to come sometime next week!
Sometimes I see Roy’s comments and think, “man-o-man, Roy’s neighbors must love him.”
Love that cement mixer as a tank cleaner idea!It’s probably obvious, but if you are going to clean the carbs, replace those filters before you try to run the engine.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)
Welcome aboard Harry. Glad to have you with our gang. (Hmm…does that mean Paul is Spanky?”) But I digress. You WILL enjoy your TDr ride. Not just the driving part but building/fixing and even us! 😆
newkitman2016-05-07 13:03:35Allen Caron
VW based 53MGTD - "MoneyPenny"
"If one thing matters, everything matters" - from the book The ShackSince we are talking about fuel system cleaning, I saw a great tip on a website about evaluating tanks and motors which have been sitting a long time – divide and conquer. They built a temp fuel tank out of a 1 gallon can which can be hung near the engine compartment to fuel the carb directly. That way motor testing can proceed without the possibility of drawing who knows what from the main fuel system. Also less messy connecting and disconnecting various fuel lines.
Cleaning and repairing the fuel system was the biggest part of getting my TDr back on the road. Cleaned the carb at least twice. Runs great now. 🙂Mis-quoted (of course): “Neighbors? I don’t need no stinking neighbors.”
…and Kall, I have for many years used an old 1/2 gal lawnmower fuel tank with a built in shut-off valve to test an engine suspected of having sat for a while. Works great. First drain the carb float bow. Disconnect the line from the fuel pump to the carburetor and plug. Hook up the lawnmower tank directly to the carb by putting the tank on the roof and use gravity to eliminate bad gas as a problem.
DON’T FORGET to use a golf tee to plug the outlet of the fuel pump.
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