MG-Cars.info

Welcome to our Site for MG, Triumph and Austin-Healey Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG TD TF 1500 - Black oxide fasteners

Hi!

I'm beginning to work with reconstruction of my 1952 MGTD TD15539 EXL NA.

I have removed all of the fasteners and salvaged many. I have followed a routine of cleaning in a parts cleaner, rinsing, then soaking in EvapoRust, then rinsing and storing in ziplock bags with a coating of light oil.

I haven't taken the engine or gearbox apart.

Most of the original fasteners are black in colour. I have ordered and have on hand replacements from Abingdon Spares, among others. The replacements are zinc plated.

I am not aiming for a concours vehicle - just a Sunday driver and an unjudged car show entry.

Am I correct in assuming that most fasteners were black oxide?

What is a recommended method for converting new zinc fasteners to black oxide. I have used a vinegar solution to remove the zinc plating on a test item, but haven't gone further at a black oxide process.

I note that Caswell has a kit available in Canada.

Any suggestions or comments?

Thanks.

Ron
Ron McDonald

Chris Cooper can correct me, but I don't believe most of the frame bolts were black oxide. Factory pictures show silver heads that misteriously turn to black later in the build (we suspect someone painted them later in the production).

One word on buying "Kits" from the big vendors. Size of some of their bolts have been found to not be correct.

I have been working to come up with an original frame/body fastener list. Chris has it currently for review.

If you do want to use black oxide, British Fasteners

https://britishfasteners.com/?gclid=CNHFr4qXiqUCFRhzgwodlwx5Mg

has a good supply of BSF, but there are a number they do not have.

The Caswell kit works ok. It gives a nice black and has a clear coating to put on the finished part. You do need to have clean steel to get a good finish.

Bruce Cunha

Here is a factory picture from Safety Fast. You can see the shiny heads on many of the fram bolts.

Bruce Cunha

Not up on the TD, but all the original bolts and nuts on my 55 TF were cad plated and the engine steady bar adjusting nut and lock nuts were also plated, correct or not, it had some cad plating on it. ?? PJ
PJ Jennings

As taken from the car before teardown. The adjusting nut and lock nuts seemed to be cad plated, the bolt and end nuts appeared to be of a bluing finish, as on guns.

PJ Jennings

There was definately blued parts on the TD. The metal bars from the carb to the choke lever are blued.

The factory pictures I have seem to show the stabilizer not painted, or ? The pipe above would be engine red. This gives a good indication that the stabilizer was raw. Chris has it Black in his original TD pictures.

My thinking on painting of small parts is that they would have had to come from the manufacturer painted or were put on raw. I can't see the factory spending the time to paint the part separately prior to installing it. That would be a waste of time and labor.

But perhapps the bolt painter also painted other parts?


Bruce Cunha

This thread was discussed between 12/11/2019 and 14/11/2019

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archives. Join the live MG TD TF 1500 BBS now