Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Vintage Fly Guy]

A wise decision I think. Hope he traces the fault and it's an easy fix.

[Ray White]

Regarding the issue with the steering wheel boss, I spoke to Melvin Rutter today to find out what progress - if any - had been made. I was again asked to send my original boss; but as I had explained before without the original steering wheel I have no means of moving the car about.

Surprisingly, they don't possess an MG TC steering column ...so I have asked for the original boss be returned. As it has been put back into stock they now don't know which one was mine!

The original boss would not clamp onto the shaft. If I get it back I will try heating it and pressing it onto a mandrel the same size as the shaft.

If I get one that was too tight to go onto the shaft, I plan to 'start' it on by gently taper reaming out the end of the boss. Hopefully, once started, it should go on.

[Ray White]

John Marks received the tachometer and can find nothing wrong with it. He has tested it on his calibrator and it appears to be working steadily at various speeds. This is a mystery and he will return it to me in due course. He thinks the cold weather may have contributed to it not working by making the grease "sticky" but in truth he is as mystified as I am.

Meanwhile; on a different matter, I have reminded Melvin Rutter that I would be happy for them to return the steering wheel boss to me. He wanted me to send the steering column to him...but I have already spent too much on postage and I am determined now to fix it myself.

While awaiting the return of parts, I have started the job of fitting the hood. Working alone is not ideal. However, I managed to fit the frame myself but not without causing some minor damage to the paint. I have temporarily covered the area with a blob of red cellulose but it will need to wait for warmer weather before I can repair it properly.

I bought the fabric top and side screens way back in 2019 before I realised that the car needed a whole new body. The delays this caused have meant that I took little interest in the new hood. I had chosen the superior "Stayfast" material over the cheaper option but only time will tell if it was a wise decision as I don't know how much wet weather the car will be driven in.?

On first offering up the hood I realised that I am missing the two lengths of webbing that will need to be attached to the hood bows. Not having an existing hood means learning as I go along. Indeed, if I hadn't insisted to the previous owner that I needed the frame at least, I may not even have had that!

Today I contacted Pickerings - who made the hood and side screens - and was informed that the webbing would not have been included, but was available at an extra cost. Their webbing is simply sold by the metre and does not come with the pre drilled (pocketed) holes as do those in the kits supplied by moss.

Given that I will have to carefully make these holes to align with the hood bows I have decided to source 5 metres of 2" herringbone webbing more cheaply elsewhere.

While I await the webbing, I shall start by wrapping the front wooden rail (new) with the separate length of material that has a seamed flap that should cover the join between the hood and the windscreen.

I am following some 'on line' instructions thus:

http://www.caroholic.com/images/TC%20Top%20Installation_Moss.pdf

https://www.mgbits.com/additional/HoodSide%20Screens.pdf