New World Datsuns...

lol. always something else to fix isn't there.

I worked on the car today, I have been fighting an issue for a while, the left front running light has not worked in a long time, and the turn signal is about half as bright as the right side, I also put two lights in the dash that tell me when the turn signal is on/blinking, and the left one comes on when I turn the lights on even though the turn signal is not on, the left rear running light is also half as bright as the right, so I have been chasing wires all day, keep in mind that I had all this working 3/4 years ago.
When I put it back together after each piece was painted it seemed to work then, but I only needed to get it home, so I wasn't worried to much about the lights, I had brake and turn signals, so I was good to go and I did.
Well I finally figured it out several hours later that the left front running light and the dim left rear running light were two separate ground issues, the bolts holding the front turn signal/running light housings were not grounding out on the fender, I used a wire with alligator clips on the front housing and it started working, so I started to add an extra ground wire to the bolt and the paint scraped off and it grounded out before I connected the other end of the wire, and the ground wire in the rear I sanded one spot under one of the screws that holds the housing on that the ground wire was connected to and that issue was resolved.
Next thing was when I turned the headlights on, the rear lights kinda looked like they were trying to blink when I turned the turn signal on, it turned out I had the wires on both sides backwards, or maybe I just put the bulbs in backwards, the bulbs go in both ways, it's kinda strange.
I was never able to figure out the headlight switch on this car, so today I gave up on that for now and just wired in a regular headlight switch, now that works properly also, so other than the license plate light I am good on the lights, I put tri-bar headlights in the housings, I think they look better myself.



I also pulled the bottom piece off the windshield frame and removed the old rubber inside the groove, then installed the new rubber piece that belongs there that I received with the rubber kit I bought from Moss several years ago, after I installed it and cut the extra on the ends off, I decided that I might have done that wrong, I actually cut some of my skin off the end/tip of my left index finger with the razor blade, I wasn't careful, and the blade was new, I didn't even know I did it till I seen the blood.

I drove it around for a while after I fixed the light issues, all sorts of people were waving and yelling "Nice Car", I get more attention with this car than I do my RHD Mini, and folks really like that one a lot.
While driving around my feet and legs started getting hot, I think I need to start fixing all the holes in the floorboards and firewall, it was like the heater was on full blast, and it's over 80 degrees out right now, I didn't like that it felt like my feet were on fire a couple times.

OK, so I worked on the driverside floorboard this morning, I tried to block most the gaps to slow down the hot air blowing on my feet, I don't believe that the duct tape did much, but the shaped piece of metal helped.

I had to cut a hole in the metal just above the brake master cap so I could fill the reservoir when needed, so I made a plate that swivels out of the way, you can see it pushed to the side in the photo below.

I wasn't sure how well I did on centering the hole over the cap till I took this photo, looks like I did all right.

I took it for it's longest drive today, my feet/legs were still getting hot, but not as bad as the last time I drove it.
I also took it on the hiway today, it drove a lot smoother than I thought it would, but everyone was passing me, I was going fairly fast, but I couldn't tell what my RPMs were, but they were fairly high, I guess they would be with something like the 513 gears it has in the rear, I need to install a tach.

Well today I piped a fuel return line, I removed the tank drain plug and put a fitting in its place, I ran it for 5/10 minutes without any issues.
I also found out yesterday that my car has a fuel gauge of a sort, there is a light on the dash that comes on when one gets down to about 3 gallons, so I wired it up and turned the key on, the light came on as I only had a couple gallons in it, so I added another 4 gallons, but it stayed on, so either the float has sunk(holes in float), the arm has sat so long in one spot that it froze in that position, or the electrical part has given up after 60+ years, I searched the part and found it for $55.00 from Moss, or $48.00 from LBCC, plus shipping for both places, I suppose that it is better than using a stick, I will figure out what else I need before I place an order.
I still think in the end I will convert to the MG Midget engine, but for now the A15 will move it around.

I installed the door cards I have had in storage for several years now.


And the part behind the seat on the sides, that is all I bought, as that was all that was for sale at that time.


I am just trying to put this car together with everything I have for it, here is another thing I bought for it back then.



I have no top for it, but back when I was looking for this stuff, I found an aftermarket hard top, but it was on the east coast, I could not afford the top and shipping, nor could I afford to take the chance on damaging it in shipping, so I bought the frame for the rag top.

Over the last week or so I have been thinking about how terrible the TD drove, especially on rough roads, it was awful, when I went over the speed bumps on my road the front end would bounce around, so i was thinking it needed better shocks, this morning for some reason I decided to check the fluid level in the front shocks, so I removed the bolt and put a piece of wire down the hole, pulled it out and it was dry, now I am not used to these types of shocks, I had filled them up the last time I had it on the road, I just assumed they were full.
It's like a different car now, it's way more controllable, I drove it down the freeway at the same speed that the people in the right lane were driving, the engine was screaming, but it drove just fine, but I think I need better gearing in the rear.
It has strange shocks, they are the upper control arms.

What kind of oil does it take ?
Glad to hear it is driving better

510freak » Sun Jun 07, 2015 12:58 pm wrote:What kind of oil does it take ?
Glad to hear it is driving better

It uses this stuff.

Wonder if it is similar to fork oil

510freak » Sun Jun 07, 2015 2:17 pm wrote:Wonder if it is similar to fork oil

I have no idea, I bought 2 bottles of it, if things go the way they did this time, I suspect I will need at least a bottle a year, I have no idea where the fluid went, there are no wet spots/leaks that I can see.

I have bought a few parts for the car, I bought a dual SU package for the Midget engine I plan to install in the future.

I also bought some hubcaps and beauty rings for it, I bought them for #125.00 shipped, and today I found another set on ebay going for almost $400.00 for just 5 beauty rings, so I believe I got a deal.

I also bought a convertible top for it, it said it came with all the hardware, but when it arrived it was a little lacking in hardware, but it looks good so I am not going to get upset, but I am going to have to wait for the all British meet at PIR so I can look at a MGTD with a top so I can figure out how to install the top, and what I need to install it.
I bought some other convertible top hardware, the rear side frames in back of the doors, I have one side of the original cover that came with the car, I am a bit confused on them also, mine don't look anything like the original curtains.

The top will wait till I have more of an idea about what I am doing.

I bought this luggage rack for the MGTD from a guy in Eastern Canada last week, and it arrived today, so I installed it to see what it looked like.




I actually thought it was a high type, so I am kinda surprised, but it will work just fine, I likely will never use it anyway, and I could likely install a high one also if I wanted to like the one in the photo below.

Looks good. I like the low mount style better anyway.

DRIVEN » Tue Aug 18, 2015 6:10 am wrote:Looks good. I like the low mount style better anyway.

Thanks, it wasn't the type I thought it was going to be, but I can live with it.
I am going to have to order new bolts and spacers for the rear bumper now, when I was taking them out to mount the rack hardware the bolts either broke the head off, or the spacer was basically stuck on the bolt, so it stayed where it was till the bolt came out of the frame, then I had to use a pipe wrench to turn the spacer while I used a wrench to hold the bolt, the pipe wrench screwed up the outside of the spacers.

The bolt head that broke off was a pain, as the bolt is BMT(British Metric Thread), so I cut the rest of the end off the bolt where the head broke off(about a quarter inch down) and cut the top part/head off another bolt, then I welded it onto the bolt shaft, so it will temporary hold everything till I can order and receive two bolts and spacers from a British parts distributor/supplier, the first time I welded it together it broke off when I tightened it, so the second time I didn't tighten it so tight.
What baffles me about the spacers is that the car has never been rained on since I have owned it, I put them bolts in there, so why did the bolts rust inside the spacers?

I put the rear tacking strip on the tub this evening, it is what the convertible top connects to in the rear, as it turns out, once the top is mounted, it's not removable from the factory, that is something I actually don't like, and I am thinking about attaching it like a Datsun roadster top, with twisties, posts, and snaps, I will staple it temporarily, then go from there once it looks proper, I seen it mounted several different ways at the British Field Meet, and I took photos.


I had to make a new back strip from scratch, the one yellowish one sitting on the other front windscreen strip resting on the blanket was over a quarter inch short.


The top covers this strip, so the fact that it isn't level at the joint doesn't matter, although I will sand it level in the corner area anyway, then I will likely cover the whole strip with a vinyl covering like I seen on one of the cars at the British Field Meet.

I seen a lot of things I never noticed before at the meet, like they put welting in between everything, even the door cards had welting between the door card and the door itself.

I need to mount the upper windscreen wood strip next.

I forgot to mention that the top has a double flap at the rear connection, so how ever I mount it, it will be hidden by the outside flap, you can see it in the photo below where I was measuring what the distance was between the screws, screws were the stock way they mounted the top from the factory.

The very front connection was a snap that is visible on the outside.

I have no idea why this guy mounted the top this way, perhaps it didn't have the double flap because it was an aftermarket top, I looked very closely at this top, I could not see a flap on the inside.


I didn't like how the door side curtain didn't line up with the windshield angle, this car the side curtain didn't even tuck under the top, so water could just come off the top right inside the door top.

I seen this custom head with motorcycle carbs on a stock Mini engine, it was strange to look at, the guy said that he got 9mpg with this setup, he said he paid $20,000 for the car less than a year ago, I could hardly believe it only got 9mpg.
He did mention that it was insanely fast.

Well I mounted the top over the last few evenings, it was an interesting job, never done anything like it in my whole life, kinda nice to be able to re-do things when you need to, it is held on by staples at first, I added screws with fancy washers when I was happy.
There are a couple wrinkles I have not figured out how to fix, but for the most part it's really good, you can see one of the big wrinkles on the top right side.

The front is alright in this photo, but I made it better.


Another wrinkle near the back on this side, but it is a lot better now.



This side turned out nice.

This side was not made the same, the front part hangs lower, it's not even like the other side.

I fixed the front, no wrinkles at all now.

Here is a photo of where I think the rear bow is supposed to be, under the double layer on the top, and the wrinkles in front of the bow.

Here is what it looks like with the rear bow in front of the seam where the material is not double thick, almost all the wrinkles are gone, but I don't think this is where the bow is supposed to be located though, I am waiting for a reply in the MG forum about the proper bow location.

Woah!

Good job man. That doesn't look like fun, at all. Looks really good tho

Looks good! Nice work.

After looking at this installation for a while, I believe that the back is off center maybe an eighth of an inch, but I also believe that the top is not symmetrical either, it is an aftermarket top, made by someone not affiliated with the makers of the car or there vendors.
My issue is that on the passenger side the top comes 2 inches forward from the wood mount trim board along the bottom, while the driver side it only comes 1 1/2 inches forward, now one can only see one side at a time, but the reason it bugs me is because when I mount the rear side curtain frames without the covering material on them, it's obvious that the sides are different, but as I said, one can only see one side at a time.
That said I have considered releasing the driver side rear, pulling on it hard and re-attaching to it to stretch it to the same position as the other side, but I am a little worried that it might cause wrinkles somewhere, and when I do get that extra half inch at the end, where will that extra material on the side above it go as it is not tight in that area on either side, right now they basically look the same wrinkle wise(no wrinkles).
I am thinking that maybe I should leave well enough alone, it looks decent the way it is.
I have not talked to Todd yet about making the side curtains, I figured he could likely match the material, but before I do that, I need to be sure that the car will make it to his house and back, so I guess I should get back to work on the mechanical parts of the car, I can and have drove this car at least 10 miles so far, but it got very warm, but I will admit, it was hot outside also, very hot outside.


EDIT
Well I just went out in the garage and released six inches and pulled it down and tight and stapled/screwed it in position, both sides are almost the same now, I am going to live with it for now, I think it would look great except the welting pushes it out, if the welting wasn't there, it would likely hang straight down.
The welting also pushes the front out a little.
Right side

Left side

Maybe I am just to picky.