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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 - Reproduction Door Latches

One of our Club members sent me the email below. He hasn’t given me a price but if you are interested, I can find out. Doug does excellent work so I suspect that these are quite good quality.
Jud (Foothills British Car Club)

Hey guys I just noticed that your car use these type of door latch as my car. (the arms and locks are a bit different)
these are the same part that my mk1 Spitfire uses and Ive been working on a CAD drawing to make new ones that are CNC'ed so they don’t crack.
all of the ones Ive seen and used have a weak point on the edge and they crack and brake.

I have a 3D printed prototype already made. What do you guys think of it?

Douglas Hansen
www.1147cc.com


J. K. Chapin

Another image. Jud

J. K. Chapin

That is extremely cool! I would suggest some re-engineering of the square drive bushing that engages the handle lever, as those always wear/pop out over time, perhaps even just a longer one that extends completely through the lever. George
George Butz

Looks very cool! It's amazing what you can print these days.
Geoffrey M Baker

What material is this 3d printed one made of?
John Quilter

John, I'll ask him and let you know. Based on his email and my meager understanding of 3-D printing, I suspect the white one is a plastic prototype and the metal one is machined on a CNC machine. Jud
J. K. Chapin

Hmm.. well, looking at the first photo it would appear that the metal one is a bead-blasted original with considerable wear on the throat and other parts, and the one on the right is a plastic reproduction of the original (likely 3D printed).

I work a lot with 3D printing and it would be pretty easy to design such product, the difficulty would be in printing it using strong enough materials.
Kevin McLemore

You can 3D print all of it in steel; however the cost will be high. (Probably $100 for the largest part, less for the others).
Geoffrey M Baker

The guys building Cobra replicas very often use these latches. Another market awaits.
MAndrus

Even though I have never owned one I don't think a Spitfire ever had T Series type locks

Jan T
J Targosz

The left one is an original Spitfire4 door latch. the white one is the first 3D printed prototype in plastic.
J. K. Chapin

MAndrus - Cobra guys already have sources of these latches. As low as $ 100 per pair. Not as big of a market as we would think.
Wonder if they are a direct fit for our cars? Who knows, we might be a market for them!

http://www.shellvalley.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=325/category_id=118/mode=prod/prd325.htm

http://vintagewheelsus.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=33_8&products_id=10&zenid=f4e09941485880af225a621fbcea4f7d

There are a number of other sources, too.

BobbyG
Bobby Galvez

This thread was discussed between 10/12/2015 and 11/12/2015

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