1953 MGTD

[wayno]

I just found out that ethanol free gas can be bought at the "76" station on 164th and 1st street across from Parkrose Hardware in east Vancouver, didn't know it till today, I made a run in the MGTD just to see if it is true, and it is true.
It's $3.something a gallon right now, but it's good to know because I only knew of the one Ma and Pa place in Hazell Dell on NW 119th before today, this one is close to me.
OK, so on my way down to check this out above in MY MGTD I seen something I had not seen before, a light on my dash started flickering, now I knew what the light was for, but I thought that it had burnt out or something, because when I wired it up it stayed on all the time, you see it is a low fuel light, I don't have a fuel gauge, the MGTD never came with a gauge, it came with a low fuel light, so initially when I wired it, I thought the arm in the tank was stuck in the down position(rusted/float had sunk or had holes in it) even though I had filled the tank, so I bought a new unit to put in the tank, well one day when I turned the ignition on, the light didn't come on anymore, that is the reason I thought it had burnt out or my wiring had failed, well it is working now, when I went around corners or hit the brakes it flickers, so maybe after another few miles it will just stay on, and I will not have to empty the tank to put the new unit in because the old one works, it's kinda nice when something works itself out, that don't happen a lot around here.

[izzo]

A low light is cool, too!

3 something a gallon for ethanol free eh? Shoot it's not that much down at Sand Lake lol

[wayno]

Here it is with the new top installed, the car needs a bath real bad.








I drove as far as I ever drove it today, I had to change the fuel filter, as it was plugged and the engine was starving for fuel, then something got into the needles I think and it would miss badly just above an idle, while on the freeway I pulled the choke all the way out and it seemed to get better, then when I pushed the choke back in it ran way better, I think I flushed the needles when I pulled the choke out, it has dual SUs.

[wayno]

A low light is cool, too!

3 something a gallon for ethanol free eh? Shoot it's not that much down at Sand Lake lol

It's $3.72 a gallon, and as far as I know, these are the only two stations that offer ethanol free gas in Vancouver, this new one is inside 2 miles of me, the other one that I have been buying it at is all the way across town(10+ miles away), that is nice for me, no special trips across town.

[wayno]

So I started here today, I cut all my dash wires one at a time and wired them into two plugs so I could remove the dash board, it didn't work out like I wanted, as the water temp gauge is mechanical, but it loosened the whole thing enough to twist and tilt it so I could slide it thru the hole it was mounted in.
I covered the dash with a vinyl covering, and then put piping/welting around the top edge, they put welting everywhere on these cars.
I started here.

Here it is installed.

The gauges need cleaned up from the over spray from when it was painted.

This is the best one I could get from inside.

This one was thru the back window.

I need to get under the dash and bundle the wiring now and then tuck it up so it cannot be seen.
I also traced the dash board onto another oak grained piece of plywood like this one I covered, I will cut it out and stain it so it is nice, and then eventually change it out so it looks more like how it came out of the factory new.

[izzo]

Looks good. Are you going to clean/restore the gauges and bezel?

[wayno]

The gauges actually look fairly good, but the guy that painted the car didn't cover them when he primed the car and got over spray on them, I need to clean them up.
I go thru phases of working on this car, I am in another phase right now, first one was to get the title, and put an engine/transmission in it, the next phase was getting it painted, then it went into storage again for about 3 years, now I am getting it derivable/presentable, I am going to try and get it dependable, the next phase will be either to make a header for it to get rid of what I did, or I will put a 1500cc Midget engine/4 spd. in it I have right now that has been run on a test stand for well over an hour, I have a dual SU package for that Midget engine, I am thinking in the end I will go with the Midget engine, then the last phase will be to spray it again, put it back to what it was originally, RED.

Looks good. Are you going to clean/restore the gauges and bezel?

[wayno]

I received these today, I won them on ebay, I bought them for the frames mostly, but it is nice to see how they were made from the factory.


To mount them I need to drill the door where the mount is, then once they are mounted good, I am likely going to have Todd make new covers for them, they are not going to be original, I want them to be user friendly, so I will likely make my own design, or rather Todd and I will.

[izzo]

pretty simple stuff really. nice

[wayno]

I actually am not impressed with the door curtain frames, nothing lines up with anything, front, back, top, or bottom, the rear curtain frames fit great.
It's like they belong to a different model, I will admit that the top has been mounted like in the position of a MGTF instead of a MGTD, but that would not account for the bottom, front, and rear, the top should have only been the issue.
I guess I wasn't impressed with the MGTDs at the British Field Meet either, a lot of them looked strange to, things were not lining up on them either, my plan is to talk to RATDAT3 about it and see what he has to say, I might need to cut and shape the frames to fit the openings on my car.
Here is the right door curtain installed in the rear mount(No front mount right now, it is ordered).

Here it is with a socket holding it up so the rear line looks close, notice how the front line isn't even close.

Closer view of the front, you can see the socket near the top.


The rear curtain frame looks good.

Here is the curtain from the inside, you can see the front mount arm is not connected to anything, I have that ordered, you can also see the socket.

I knew the top would not line up, as the top frame is mounted about 1 inch higher, so I knew that wasn't going to line up, but the front and bottom are not right either, I will figure something out, I always do.

[wayno]

I received this side curtain mount hardware today, 2 front curtain mounts and "L" nuts, and two post mounts/sockets that screw into the top rear of the door.

[DRIVEN]

And then they'll fit?

[wayno]

Here are the passenger side frames in position, it will work for me.

I'll do the driver side tommorrow.

[wayno]

Here are the left side(driver side) curtain frames installed, I am to the point where I need to set an appointment up with RATDAT3 to discuss what needs to be done next.



I have a feeling this is going to be a lot of work to make and have it look nice/right, and what I mean by right is that it will keep the water/rain out at least when it is sitting still, I have no doubt these cars leaked like crazy when driving down the road in the rain, and I am talking about leaking everywhere.
To be very clear, when was the last time anyone has ever seen one of these cars driving down the road with the top and side curtains on it, it's just not done in the Western US.

[wayno]

I modified the side curtain frames today to make them fit their openings better and then painted them today(first coat), I am getting ready to take the car to have the curtains themselves made.
I cleaned the top a couple days ago, and put the water proofing on it yesterday, I used "Star Bright Waterproofing" that I bought from "West Coast Marine", it was $55.00 a gallon, and I used a third of the gallon on this top.

Here are the frames hanging from my ceiling fan drying.

[wayno]

The side curtains are on the MGTD now, the snap needs to be finished.




I will get better photos when it isn't raining.

[draker]

Wow really looks nice.

[DRIVEN]

Ever so proper.

[Taterhead]

Hey, lookin good. Did Todd do the sides?

[wayno]

Hey, lookin good. Did Todd do the sides?

Yes Todd did them.