MGTD project comes in the shop, we take a first look

We get an MGTD in the shop that you could basically call a stalled restoration. 15 yrs after the project was started the owner decided it was time to enlist our help to finish it. There’s boxes of parts to go with what was described to us as an 85% done car. After that amount of time, what will have to be redone or replaced, and is the rebuilt (15yrs ago) yet unfired engine ok or will it have to come out?

[@mikemoran8757]

It took me back some years when I saw you using the glass plate and sand paper to flatten the mating surface. I cant begin to count the times Ive used that method. Recently tried something a bit different. I got a scrap piece of Corrian from my local countertop wholesaler and fastened sand paper to it. I was always afraid of breaking the glass. Great channel you have here. My first car back in 1973 was a 1966 Triumph Spitfire. Loved that car!

[@aerobaticdancing]

I wanted an MGTC, but they are just to expensive, so I bought a cherry mint Honda Shadow Spirit motorcycle instead for 1/20th the price and got my spoked wheel fix on. A lot faster and more reliable than an MG for sure. Believe me, it's got way more chrome on it than I want to polish... Young people just can not afford to blow $40K on an old hard to find car with hard to find parts that runs and sounds and shifts like a tractor.

[@bladerunner6282]

i had a devil of a time pulling the rear drums off my '53 TD once i had removed the wheel/tire. i had no puller tool, so i eventually put the wheel back on and it gave me enough leverage, by pulling on the tire, to walk it off. instead of the paltry 4-6" of leverage the naked drum provides (diameter / 2) the tire gave me a full 12" of leverage. i was surprised how easily all four drums came off. :)

[@mgbgtguy]

Usually if they are really hard to get off, it’s because the shoes are coming with the drum. You can break hardware if that happens. Otherwise sometimes the rear pull easy, sometimes with just a little effort. The front will alway take a bit more effort as your pulling the bearings too, which should be a “slight interference fit” as they like to say in the manuals

[@bradrock7731]

Subscribed. Love these cars. Made many trips up to Canada back in the early seventies hunting parts for my buddies MGA & My sorry little Sunbeam IMP. Fun going to old boneyards full of MG's, Jags & Morgans, Austins & such. Things hard to find in the Detroit area. I still have an old hardcover MG workshop manual. Nearly 600 pages covering 'M's to 'TF's First printed in 52 & mine is from 67. ( ex library) I wonder if it would be worth putting on ebay, or I should just toss in the bin. I'm at that age & no one wants my old junk.

[@mgbgtguy]

I’m sure somebody out there would love to have that book

[@unpob]

Now you tell me!

[@mgbgtguy]

Don’t tell me you painted the friction surfaces of your brake drums 😁