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| Do you like or dislike the new dashboard ? |
| Yes I do like the new dashboard |
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100% |
[ 7 ] |
| No I do not like the new dashboard |
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0% |
[ 0 ] |
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| Total Votes : 7 |
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| Author |
Message |
bjacko
Joined: 28 Oct 2013
Posts: 523
Location: Melbourne Australia
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 Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2025 8:20 am Post subject: MG TC |
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Good to see the old British bulldog action Ray. Never give in.
_________________
1938 Morris 8 Ser II Coupe Utility (Pickup)
1985 Rover SD1 VDP |
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Ray White
Joined: 02 Dec 2014
Posts: 7128
Location: Derby
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| Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2025 9:34 am Post subject: Re: MG TC |
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| bjacko wrote: | | Good to see the old British bulldog action Ray. Never give in. |
I am sure you Ausies have a good deal of determination too, B.J.
How else could your great Nation have succeeded?
Please keep watching and posting.  |
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Ray White
Joined: 02 Dec 2014
Posts: 7128
Location: Derby
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| Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2025 9:16 pm Post subject: |
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Getting back to the side screens. I don't suppose they will be used that much, however they need to be there for a complete restoration ...but they do take up a lot of time.!
One thing I have discovered is that the frames don't line up when on the car. As I would never be happy with a 'stepped' side window profile I have been experimenting with my own "adjustments".
One issue I wish had come to light earlier is that the front struts are too short to meet their respective clamps inside the door. This comprises a chromed plate screwed to the door card, with a stud and wing nut that enables the slot in the end of the strut to secure the side screen to the door. Correct positioning of this clamp is necessary for the leading edge of the side screen to butt up to the recess in the end of the windscreen fame; it would be all too easy for the closing fit to be a poor one.
I have already detailed my repair to the 'claw' but in addition I need to extend the strut by at least an inch.
Regrettably, I failed to appreciate that I would need four clamps so have just had to order another two at an exorbitant cost of 50 pounds!
One thing I have noticed just in time is the side screens stitching. I had considered using it as a guide for locating the material onto the frames but as can be seen from the photo the two do not match up.
I am tempted to stick the screen material to the frames and offer them up to the car before fitting with screws and chrome trim. That way I can be sure the screens are where I want them.
Once I an happy with the fitting, the material covering the perspex can be trimmed away.
Once the side screens are in place I should have a better idea of where the hood frame mounting plates needs to go. As this is a replacement body tub with new trim, there are no indicators to show where they should be attached; although I do have various measurements to guide me... but as everyone keeps telling me... each car is different, one from another.! |
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Ray White
Joined: 02 Dec 2014
Posts: 7128
Location: Derby
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| Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2025 2:56 pm Post subject: |
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I have reached the point where having taken all the lights off and re- routed the wiring - thinking there was a fault in the loom (but never found it) and refitted the lights horn etc when full voltage reappeared, there is now a reduced voltage in the passenger side headlight.!
The light was working the other day but I needed to replace the halogen bulbs and now I am stumped again.
I have just about had enough of this car and have a mind to throw in the towl. |
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Keith D
Joined: 16 Oct 2008
Posts: 1165
Location: Upper Swan, Western Australia
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| Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2025 3:53 am Post subject: |
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Hang in there, Ray.
You're very close to the end of your restoration. There are always little things that crop up and bug you near the end. But when you licence it and drive it on the roads, it'll have been well worth it. You will know what a great job you have done. Without you, the car would probably still be rusting in an Australian paddock.
Keith
_________________
1926 Chrysler 60 tourer
1932 Austin Seven RN long wheelbase box sedan
1950 Austin A40 tourer
1999 BMW Z3
Its weird being the same age as old people.
You are either part of the problem or part of the solution |
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Ray White
Joined: 02 Dec 2014
Posts: 7128
Location: Derby
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| Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2025 9:10 am Post subject: |
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| Keith D wrote: | Hang in there, Ray.
You're very close to the end of your restoration. There are always little things that crop up and bug you near the end. But when you licence it and drive it on the roads, it'll have been well worth it. You will know what a great job you have done. Without you, the car would probably still be rusting in an Australian paddock.
Keith |
I will see how I feel next week. At present I am recovering from another stay in Hospital so not up to doing much.
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Vintage Fly Guy
Joined: 27 Jun 2024
Posts: 179
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| Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2025 10:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Sorry to hear that Ray, I wish you a speedy recovery. |
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ukdave2002
Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 4240
Location: South Cheshire
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| Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2025 7:51 am Post subject: |
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| Ray White wrote: | I have reached the point where having taken all the lights off and re- routed the wiring - thinking there was a fault in the loom (but never found it) and refitted the lights horn etc when full voltage reappeared, there is now a reduced voltage in the passenger side headlight.!
The light was working the other day but I needed to replace the halogen bulbs and now I am stumped again.
I have just about had enough of this car and have a mind to throw in the towl. |
Hi Ray, hope you are felling better.
Given the many challenges you have faced and overcome with this restoration, don't let this one thwart you so close to the end of the project.
The wiring on these cars is very simple, so it shouldn't take much to track the fault down  |
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Ray White
Joined: 02 Dec 2014
Posts: 7128
Location: Derby
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| Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2025 12:40 pm Post subject: |
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| ukdave2002 wrote: |
The wiring on these cars is very simple, so it shouldn't take much to track the fault down |
Hi Dave. It is not the wiring as such that is the problem. Yes, the wiring is simple - although I have complicated things with extra relays and fuses - but the issue is the route that the loom takes through the chassis. Being a 'midget' the areas where the chassis legs are boxed are tight which makes squeezing the wiring through them a hell of a struggle. It took me days to fit it all up then I had a reduced voltage to the off side headlight. In addition to removing the headlamp I had to remove all the other wiring which entailed disconnecting and removing the wires from the indicators and sidelights, the horn, and the fog lamp. Feeding the wiring through the wing stays is also a faff as the wing itself has to be disconnected ...but it had to be done again.
Then I couldn't find the fault as full voltage had returned....so it all went back in again.
Now there is a voltage supply drop with the near side headlamp! I have checked the switch and there is 12 volts present at the point where the wires go into the bound harness. I can only think there are bad connections somewhere in the loom.
I think my only remedy (apart from opening up the bound loom to find the fault) is to run new wires to the headlamps. It would not look very nice... and besides I just can't face doing anything with the car at the moment. |
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bjacko
Joined: 28 Oct 2013
Posts: 523
Location: Melbourne Australia
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| Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2025 7:10 am Post subject: Wiring |
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Sorry to hear you have been sick again. We want to see the MG back on the road and you fit as a fiddle.
Sounds like a dodgy earth connection between the head light and the chassis/body.
_________________
1938 Morris 8 Ser II Coupe Utility (Pickup)
1985 Rover SD1 VDP |
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Ray White
Joined: 02 Dec 2014
Posts: 7128
Location: Derby
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| Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2025 6:21 pm Post subject: Re: Wiring |
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| bjacko wrote: | Sorry to hear you have been sick again. We want to see the MG back on the road and you fit as a fiddle.
Sounds like a dodgy earth connection between the head light and the chassis/body. |
Thanks for your good wishes. I got home this afternoon from the Nuffield Hospital (appropriate??) hopefully for the last time.
The fault/short is somewhere in the wire feeding the lamp. With no light fitted, the problem persists with a direct earth to the battery. |
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alastairq
Joined: 14 Oct 2016
Posts: 2121
Location: East Yorkshire
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| Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2025 6:54 pm Post subject: |
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I'd be getting a box of joiners, of some sort [to suit?], and cut the wire where it goes through anything....trace the short back until I know which length of wire has the issue?
_________________
Dellow Mk2, 1951 built, reg 1952.
Fiat 126 BIS
Cannon special [1996 registered. Built in 1950's]
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Ford Pop chassis, Ashley 1172 bodyshell, in pieces. |
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Ray White
Joined: 02 Dec 2014
Posts: 7128
Location: Derby
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| Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2025 7:19 pm Post subject: |
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| alastairq wrote: | | I'd be getting a box of joiners, of some sort [to suit?], and cut the wire where it goes through anything....trace the short back until I know which length of wire has the issue? |
I am naturally reluctant to sacrifice an expensive, brand new fabric braided loom ...but what choice do I have?
I have plenty of wire (plain purple and plain yellow) so I suppose I could take new feeds to the high and low beam terminals in the lamps from connections under the dash?.
Another frustration for me is the fact that I have needed to make custom "bullet" connectors (filled with solder) that fit into the over size bulb holder terminals. I also had to adapt the original bulb holders as the new repros had rather too big a diameter to fit into the reflectors. I would have to chop my new bullet terminals off the "correct" wires and re solder them onto the new wires which is not something I had planned on doing.
On these lights you have to move the bulbs back and forth in the reflectors to adjust the beam. The bulb holders are recessed in the reflector which makes handling the bulbs tricky.
What is even more tricky is that I have bought 60/65W halogen bulbs that I have discovered can only be fitted by holding by the metal bayonette. Any Attempt to turn the bulb by the glass (protected from hands by cotton gloves) will result in the globe breaking away from it's holder.
I managed to ruin two new bulbs before learning my lesson and I have been unable to get a solder repair to 'take'. At 50 quid for a pair of halogen bulbs it is not just frustrating but getting expensive too!
Sometimes you just have to walk away.
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bjacko
Joined: 28 Oct 2013
Posts: 523
Location: Melbourne Australia
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| Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2025 6:58 am Post subject: Voltage Drop |
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I doubt there is a break in a loom unless you find a break in the braiding AND the wire covering. It sounds like a bad connection at the lamp end.
I bought Halogen bulbs for my 8 (6Volt) but never used them as I found the replated (Rhodium plating) reflectors gave me ample light. I do not go out in the dark in my 8 normally but I got caught out on one of our rallies and got people flashing headlights on high beam at me, so they are bright enough.
_________________
1938 Morris 8 Ser II Coupe Utility (Pickup)
1985 Rover SD1 VDP |
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Ray White
Joined: 02 Dec 2014
Posts: 7128
Location: Derby
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| Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2025 9:03 am Post subject: Re: Voltage Drop |
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| bjacko wrote: | I doubt there is a break in a loom unless you find a break in the braiding AND the wire covering. It sounds like a bad connection at the lamp end.
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As I said, I have tested the feed wire with a multimeter connected directly to the battery earth terminal and found a reduced voltage. The connector is out of the picture at the moment.
I don't like to think of a poor connection within the loom but as this has happened intermittently to the other side as well it seems like too much of a coincidence. |
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