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MG TD TF 1500 - Radiator Cross Mounting Rail

The pic below was taken by J. Barry during restoration of his TD & I've just lifted it from another thread. It seems that prior to disassembly the RCMR was installed on his car with the two holes closest to the rear. I've raised this issue here a while back as this rail can be mounted either way. The orientation impacts on the fit of the bonnet(hood). Holes to the rear may make the bonnet appear to be too long while the holes to the front may make it seem too short. So it seems the correct RCMR orientation depends on the length of the bonnet. I have seen a bonnet here extended by about 20mm with the tell tale weld marks still evident on the inside of the panels. This was done presumably because the RCMR was fitted with the holes to the front thus making the bonnet appear to be too short. The solution there was to extend the bonnet rather than reverse the RCMR. My car when purchased in 1969 had what seemed to me to be an overlong bonnet by about 20mm & my solution was to reverse the RCMR. JB how was the fit of your bonnet prior to disassembly & did you end up with a good fit around the radiator? If this rail was installed on the line making the bonnet appear to be too long this would give credence to the tale of a guy with a pair of large tin snips on the assembly line. The only other way to correct this involves a hell of a lot of disassembly. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Pic


P Hehir

In the long distant past the cross member on my TD was discarded by a PO. An alternate radiator from a German car was fitted. In returning it to a normal configuration I found that installing the cross member in a "NORMAL" configuration left a large gap and the center bonnet support would not fit.
Reversing its orientation solved my issue.

Jim B
JA Benjamin

Peter,
I think this has turned out to be a matter decided upon by the individual car. The way the factory intended and the way it works best are not (65 years later) necessarily the same.

Below is an old picture of the bracket that came with my car. It was beat up, distorted and modified with those cutouts.
I believe the factory intended the sweeping curve section to be towards the front. This would allow room for your fingers when placing the nuts on the radiator bottom studs. My PO not only had it backwards but cut grooves to allow that finger access.
Mort


Mort 50 TD

Thanks Jim & Mort. I'd pretty much arrived at the same conclusion. I've found on my restoration journey that there are an amazing number of items on these cars that can all too easily be installed the wrong way around or upside down, sometimes with disastrous results, like the middle camshaft bearing. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Hi Peter,

From all I've read, the rounded side is in front. We had no major issues and the fit is good, but not perfect (of course). The radiator side supports give quite a bit of adjustment. We used the Moss tub seal at the back end of the bonnet, which pushes things forward a bit in comparison with the original seal. Still, not a big problem.

Jim
J Barry

Thanks JB. The side supports certainly will tilt the radiator top forwards or backwards, but does nothing for the interface between the side panels & the radiator chrome shell at the base. The other solution I've seen adopted is to butcher/elongate the mounting holes, which is something I'm loathe to do. The perforations for the headlight brackets in the top of the mudguards also impact on the final position. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Mine has the rounded side in the front and everything fits as it should. PJ




Paul S Jennings

This thread was discussed between 28/06/2015 and 30/06/2015

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG TD TF 1500 BBS is active now.