I bought a 1953 MG TD from third owner last fall and am now in the final phases of completing a total restoration. Absolutely every part has been either refurbished to near new or replaced with new. Obviously there are some items not available as new and some replacement items not near the quality of original. That said, I have not attempted a 100 point Concours or "no expenses spared" restoration, but an "as true to original" but with some improvements revival of the car.

I did have the engine rebuilt with "no expenses spared". My good friend and British car mechanic/engineer with 50 years of experience was adamant about double nitride hardening of the crankshaft before having it turned, acid dipping the block to remove every trace of cooling system corrosion, removing all the oil gallery plugs and manually, laboriously wire brushing them shiny clean, having Demitri Elgin personally build the cam shaft, harden it and the tappets/followers, and "blue print" the rotating mass including the flywheel and clutch assembly.
The head was magnfluxed and x-rayed to insure no cracks as was the crankshaft, and Novato machine installed the more modern valve seats, but Doug lapped all the valves by hand and completed the installation testing every spring for proper pressure. All the studs and connecting rod bolts are ARP brand specially supplied by Tom in Maine(expensive! but worth it). No internal engine fasteners were re-used as that is a recipe for potential disaster, though routinely done by cost cutters. The ARP fasteners were about 450.00, but if you're going to go to the trouble to rebuild a 60 year old engine, why not insure it's working life for another 60 years?

The original block had very deep scores in #2 cylinder from a loosened upper rod connecting bolt. They are almost impossible to torque properly due to clearance issues. The ARP bolts have Allen heads and are easy to torque as well as being stronger. The block was bored to .60 over and a new cylinder sleeve pressed into #2.

We also decided to add a variable oil pressure valve and modern spin on oil filter adapter. Unfortunately, due this being an early '53 block, we were unable to fit the Al Moss Rear Seal unit with any confidence that it would actually work. We spent numerous hours fitting, measuring and dry testing the unit and seals and Doug even made some modifications to the adapter and had the flywheel flange on the crank polished. It became clear that other machining to the rear cap and block would need to be done to possibly make it work, but we decided to revert to the stock seal set up instead.

Doug has since made further modifications to the Al Moss kit and had a centering tool built to enable a more accurate installation of the adapter

You can read about the seal here: http://www.mgexperience.net/article/mgtd-oil-seal-modification.html

I will post an update soon.

Cheers.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/2012 10:20AM by kenzmyth47.

Looks real nice Ken, show us more pictures when you get a chance.

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Early 1974 MGB with OD, SU HIF's, 72 spoke chrome WW's, Schlemmer Pertronix, DuBois fuel pump, Limey's relays.

oooh, pretty!