4 minute read
Spares News
By John Durry
2016 after 6 years of working in the mines in Australia, I was contemplating retirement.... my wife & I sat in Auckland airport waiting for a flight to the UK. Unknown to her I was thumbing through the Classic car magazine I spotted a black, RHD 1953 MGTD, I thought it looked rather nice, pictures can be deceiving, so I bought it unseen and had it shipped from New York to Auckland. After a few months of nail biting as delivery was longer that I thought, 6 months later when it cleared customs, I hired a trailer & drove to Auckland to collect it. To my surprise the car was green (pictures can be deceiving). After towing the car home I could see it was a runner but would never pass a WOF due to rotten frame timber & floor timber. Fortunately we had a large garage, this helped with the restoration. I removed the body from the chassis and all the steel panels to inspect the wooden frame and the main side rail timbers were rotten. I sourced the timber, English Ash, from Hutsons in the UK and still produce complete body tubs for the T
Hi All, the big news of the month was the successful swap meet we have just had, we learnt a lot from this first one, think the last one we did was at Hastings Racecourse 1992 or 1993. And we look forward to another one next year, 1st May 2022. We had a lot of comments from the stall holders saying they want to come back and it can only get bigger. The spares department which was also open had a successful morning, at times there was a real squeeze, but everyone commented how well it was set out and so tidy. We have a lot of people coming back to look for “treasures”. A couple of years ago we had a gentleman come to the spares looking for MG bits, and as time went on Paul Boylan was coming just about every week, he gave us some details of his restoration, his MG53TD, he then became a member and now drives and enjoys his restoration. This is the story in Paul’s own words of his restoration.
series. While waiting for the timber to arrive I stripped the black/green paint off the panels, using paint stripper, that when I found the original car was red. Fortunately there wasn’t much rust in the panels, where there was I cut it out and welded in new steel. I then etched primed each panel. Timber arrived and the task of building a new frame started. If you watch the Hutsons video on You Tube it only takes a couple of hours. Approximately 9 months later I finished assembling the body tubs. I then started on the chassis. I completely stripped the chassis and scrapped 65 years of oily crustaceans off it, steamed cleaned, sandblasted and painted it with 2 pack paint. Every component was stripped, springs, shock absorbers, steering rack, brake cylinders, master cylinders, nothing was left untouched, I also stripped the back axle and also fitted a crown wheel & pinion from an MGA which is 4.3-1, the original was 5.125-1. I then took to the engine, it had done 26,000 miles which I think was probarly right as the cylinder bores were all standard. I had the block bored plus 20 and the crank minus 10,000, overhauled the cylinder head, rebuilt the 1 1/4 SU carbs and put the engine back together. I made a frame to run the engine on the garage floor, to make sure the was no oil leeks before fitting it back into the chassis. I reassembled everything back on the car, I had a mission with the doors to make then fit properly, I them asked Tim from A M panel shop to look at the car and price to paint. I would strip the panels off the car for him to paint, a price was agreed on and 6 weeks later I had all the painted panels back ready to fit, carefully fitting the tub, wings and bonnet wasn’t to bad, but fitting the doors was where patience prevailed, I would walk away and come back next day and it worked. The interior came from Hertitage upholstery in California, I fitted these my self, not bad for a first timer. The Dash was cut from mahogany plywood, I made 6 but wasn’t happy with the other 5, I fitted a new wiring loom, rebuild the starter & dynamo, fitted a new battery, and attached the battery terminals, fingers crossed there was no Lucas smoke and the engine started instantly, its first trip out was to VTNZ where compliance and a WOF were given, helps when you were a vehicle inspector. So far the car has traveled 300 miles, preforms like a classic MG should. Until next time.
CLUB SPARE PARTS CORNER
For any enquiries phone Brian Taylor on 027 4436009 or contact the Club’s Spares Dept. on Tuesday mornings between 9am & 11am on 06 835 1483.
