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MG TD TF 1500 - Ignition/light switch disassembly?

The light switch lever on one TD is broken but still usuable; the ignition key, a large MG Octagon, is my wife's favorite.
I've wanted to replace the lever from a spare switch with no key.
I have a feeling I'd be better off getting a new Octagon key blank and have locksmith carve it to fit, as opposed to tearing the two apart and breaking toy tabs, etc.
Any suggestions?
jrn Northrup

You will need to remove the solder blob and all the solder in the threads on the back of the switch. After than you will be able to remove the single nut that holds everything together. I don't know how many bits and pieces inside the switch are spring loaded and ready to disperse themselves to the far, dark corners of your work area, so beware as you disassemble it. Cheers - Dave

PS. You could send the switch to Craig Seabrook at The Whitworth Shop(I don't have his web site on hand, but someone on this site will) and have him do the job for you.
David DuBois

The parts won't spring very far, and to be certain you want to do the disassembly in a large clear plastic bag. The two tabs on the lock cylinder that go through the back of the switch are the parts you don't want to break, the rest is pretty simple.

warmly,
dave
Dave Braun

Removing the switch from the dash is harder than taking it apart.

Here are some pictures that might help.

First a picture of the back of the switch. The nut is hidden by a piece of insulating paper in the picture. Apply heat with a soldering iron while removing the nut.

Evan Ford TD27621 EXL/NA

After the nut is removed, the lockset can be removed from the front.

You could swap for the other at this point.

Evan Ford TD27621 EXL/NA

If you want to remove the light switch, You will need to disassemble the body. The switch is held to the face with a circlip.

Evan Ford TD27621 EXL/NA

Here is a picture of the clip removed.

Evan Ford TD27621 EXL/NA

As an alternative, you can use the lock number on the front of the lock-set to order a pre-cut key. If you want an octagon key to match, you can copy the key on an octagon blank.

I only had one key. I ordered an octagon blank and had it cut at the local hardware store. My original is now a backup.

Good luck with the swap!
Evan

Evan Ford TD27621 EXL/NA

Great set of switch disassembly photos Evan. What about preserving them on Bud Krueger's web site for all to review?
Jim Merz

Here is one more picture of the ignition switch parts lined up pretty much in order of dis-assembly. (As a side not, the bottom row of parts is the horn button disassembled.) I have pictures of each step in the process if it would be of any assistance. I hope it helps.
Patrick

D P Earles

Patrick and Evan, If either (or both) of you wants to send me your photos, I'll add them to the website and give each of you credit for your efforts in the caption.

warmly,
dave
Dave Braun

FYI, most electronic stores sell a copper de-soldering wick which really sucks up the solder and makes the removal of the nut much easier. The nut then doesn't stip the threads in the removal process. Just lay the wick on the solder and apply heat with your soldering gun. Be careful in holding the wick due to the fast and efficient transfer of the heat to your fingers.
Jim Merz

Hello Mg enthusiasts,

I bought my TD 11201 2006 in the Netherlands. One told me that she comes from the USA. I suppose, that the car comes from Ohio, because the key is stamped "National key, Cleveland, Ohio" Has anyone an idea, who was former owner of this car?

Where can I found Dave Brown's Website?
Harthof Klaus

Klaus,

Try this link.

MGT Car-Body-Engine Serial Numbers http://www.niagarabritishcarclub.org/mgtnumbers/numbers.html

Also sent you a list of web sites to your email.

Cheers, Jim
James Neel

Gentlemen,

The pictures Evan sent me are now on the website. I placed them in the electrical section of the restoration, although they could have just as well gone in the instrument panel section.

Sorry, Herr Klaus, that I sometimes post in expediency and don't provide the URL for my site. Incidently, National Key in Cleveland, OH is a large national company and they sold their key blanks to locksmiths all over the country, so the likelihood that the car was in Ohio is very slim!

http://www.dbraun99.com just go to the mg td 15470 restoration section and proceed from there.

Thanks Evan!

warmly,
dave
Dave Braun

Hi Dave,

Just a quick note that I didn't see the photos there.

There's also a funny link when I go to your main site and then try to go to the mgtd15470 link. There's an extra slash (forward slash, not a backslash) in the link. It may explain some of the problems people have had in getting to the photos.

Again, great site and it's been a world of help.

Dave
D Runnings

I did not have any problems reaching Evan's pictures on Dave Braun's site following the instructions from Dave.

DP, you wrote:I have pictures of each step in the process if it would be of any assistance.
Do you mean this as a kind of step by step instruction. That would be great to see!
greetings, Huib
Huib Bruijstens

Dave Runnings,

That appears to only happen in Mozilla Firefox. I'll look into it.

Dave
Dave Braun

I took the easy way out- got a big blank from Moss to please wifey and had our mobile locksmith generate the teeth. He also whipped up a spare from a GM blank that just happens to have an octagon. For what its worth, the TD key is an FA and the GM key has no designation.

Bottom line is I gave locksmith a $20 and now have 3 usable switches with keys. He would've asked less, but he's always been there, Johnny on the spot, when any of us scored a keeper from the auto impound auctions.
jrn Northrup

Well, that was interesting, Dave R.

About a year ago, I updated my main page index in Word instead of Wordpad to take advantage of the spell check features of Word. When I saved it, it added in a bunch of spurious code that probably will be useful someday when HTML 4 is really strictly enforced... but also had the effect of making all the links in Firefox busted by adding the extra /. I never noticed, and chalked it up to Firefox being less than stellar. Imagine that... Microsoft Word being in collusion with Microsoft IE to screw up other browsers!

So, I re-edited in Wordpad and took out the spurious information, and fixed the / and lo and behold it works.

And I just discovered that Firefox has a spell checker built in for typing (like right here) and a bunch of other cool features I think I'll play with.

Short answer, it is fixed, but you may have to refresh your browser when you go to http://www.dbraun99.com as it may just bring up page that is stored in your cache.

Thanks for pointing it out, Dave R.

Warmly,
Dave
Dave Braun

Dave, I just tried it with Firefox and it still adds the backslashes (even after reloading). BTW, I don't host Ttalk on my own. I use an outfit called Aplus for $10 a month, but I'm probably going to move it shortly. They do not support all of the FrontPage extensions.
Bud Krueger

That fixed it for me...

Word processors are a no no for anything going to be coded for a web site or going to a printer... I have to change all the articles people send me for our newsletter to plain text before i send it off for pasteup(or what i used to call pasteup)
pita but necessary
gblawson(gordon)

Dave B,

It's now fixed it for me as well. I did need to refresh the page as the old pages that are in cache came up first.

Dave
D Runnings

Sure enough, the problem is from not clearing the browser's cache. One tends to get lazy when working with a terrabyte hard drive.

It's a good idea to get in the habit of clearing your cache occasionally. Think of as the once-in-a-while run up to 4500 rpm to 'blow the carbon out'.

Bud
Bud Krueger

This thread was discussed between 29/01/2010 and 04/02/2010

MG TD TF 1500 index

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