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I know this subject has been done to death, but I got the smoothie and the EMPI flat style in and the MG medallions mounted. Paul M was correct about the medallion might not cover the empi logo. It shows a little less than 1/8 inch on two sides. It doesnt jump out and you have to look for it. I am going with the smoothies as I think they have a clean look. Both caps can be found at Chircos for $11.00 and some odd cents and their shipping is about half of other vendors. Now comes the chore part. I am going to take the tires off and bead blast the rims so I can start with a good foundation before paint. Luckily the bead blast will be free as there are good perks from being a mechanical designer at a large Machine/Fabrication shop. 
Mike N Scarlett 40791.5990625 Those are both nice looking, but too bad a little of the Empi emblem sticks out on the flat one, you don’t see it in the photo.
What are you going to do with your wire wheel look-a-like hub caps? If you’re not going to save them for future use, want to sell one or two, or the set? I need one to cover my spare, the P.O. lost one on the road.
You going to paint the wheels metallic silver-gray?If you look at the flat cap just below the M you see a small dark area. That is all that shows of the empi emblem and it would be easy to live with if you go the flat style route. I think it was Newkitman that posted a link of a flat style with no logo, but when I downloaded their pdf catalouge it said the caps had logos. I emailed them twice with the logo question and never got a response. Yes to your paint question about color as far as the wire wheel covers I think I will hold on to them for a while. If I decide to part with them I will offer them to members of this site. They arent in perfect shape, but i do have 5.
A rattle can finish will be fine and is likely the best match for an original wheel. Rremember, these cars were built by an English industry still recovering from WW II. Fit and finish were as good as they coudl do with what they had.
(Potentially interesting side comment: WW II is also the reason British cars of the late 1940’s and the 1950s look like pre-war cars. As their industry recovered, they built whatever they could. In MG’s case, that was basically pre-war designs, the TC, which evolved a little to the TD and TF.)
Here are two sources for the proper wheel paint.
Eastwood’s description says it is for wire wheels, but is the same color as the stock steel TD wheel: http://www.eastwood.com/ew-detail-silver-aerosol-12-oz.html
Or you could pay Moss Motors twice as much (part number 220-560): http://www.mossmotors.com/Shop/ViewProducts.aspx?PlateIndexI D=29570&SortOrder=2
If you want a body shop to handle the paint, this is from an MG- TD forum: “…recommendation of Horst Schach in his book, ‘The Complete M.G. TD Restoration Manual’ … PPG epoxy primer and PPG’s Concept acrylic urethane paint … color match for the original silver was PPG’s DCC 2593.”
GM “Argent” silver is also a close match.
PMOSSBERG40792.464837963
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)
If you want to try to cover the EMPI area before putting the emblem on, I used a sheet of black plastic and cut a disc the size of the area. It kinda broke up the chrome too. I like your MG emblem better than mine.
I was missing 2 of the caps on my basket wires and at the time couldn’t fine replacements. Made my own with the black plastic, then had the 5 plastic stars in a junk box and added a 1.5 ” poly MG sticker. The star is glued to the black disc and the MG stuck on top. The hole thing is then removable from the wheel by double sided tape. Was a cheap fix, I still eventually want to swich to tru-wires. Here’s a couple pictures.
I think your wheels look good Montie. I like your make do with whats on hand approach. I just discovered two of my wheels have a lot of pitting that someone had painted over. The other three will sandblast clean just fine. The two that are pitted are very rough and will never look good exposed. If I cant find two good used wheels local I will just replace with new. Ever notice how a project starts easy and inexpensive and turns out more work and more money than expected? I think I will term this TD Replica law.
Not really complaining here mind you, the tinkering with is almost as fun as the driving.Paul,
thanks for the paint link, its on SALE!
Glad to help!
It’s nice when one gets the timing right!
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)
Please put me on the list for all 5, i would love to get them for my husband.
tks and love ur pics the covers came out great and u really cant see it at all
Angela
Since you have access to a machine shop why not make a thin aluminum disc the size of the recess with the same texture as you emblem.
Gunfighter,
I had already decided on the smoothies. I drilled the mounting hole in a lathe to ensure the medallions would run true. I originally bought one flat style and one smoothie for comparison. I have a complete set of 5 smoothies with medallions mounted. Your aluminum disc idea would be a good idea for those that choose the flat style with logo. It may be cheaper for those without machine shop access to use a hole saw and 16 gage aluminum to make their own disc. I would estimate a shop would charge around $60.00 to make the set of discs for anyone that would like to go that route. That of course would depend on the shop and what area of the country they live. I wound up buying two new wheels due to excessive rust and pitting. I painted them using the Eastman paint Paul M recommended. It sprays very easy and has a nice warm color. I finished them off with Duplicolor wheel clear. I still have three wheels to do. I just need to take my wheels down, have the tires removed and beadblast the wheels before painting. Winter is a great time to do those projects we dont want to stop driving for when the weather in nice. I have decided to keep the wire covers for when Scarlett wants to dress a little different
Hey guy’s I have mounted the emblems on my smoothies but I didn’t like the red color so I removed it and polished the emblems to match the smoothies.
Smoothie and wheel I think looks ok, person taking the picture is questionable though.
Mark K40905.5509722222
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