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MG TD TF 1500 - Two small projects completed

While working on the cooling system I've been constantly reminded of two small irritations that I wanted to fix: draining from the radiator and from the engine block. As anyone knows who does this, when you open the radiator valve, water splashes over the crossmember and cascades on down. (Unless you have the original pipe probably long lost on most TDs). Similarly the block drain just pours down and floods off the sump.
So today I took two different lengths of hose. I attached one to the radiator drain with a hose clamp, and cut it off so it hangs down below the lower crossmember a bit. And I took a thin piece of brake bleeder hose and slid it onto the engine block valve, and ran it through the clip that holds both brass carb overflow tubes (I had to spread the clip a little for it to work.
But when I went to drain the water after a successful test (no leaks!), I just slid the collecting jug under the car, pointing the radiator hose into a funnel sitting in the jug and positioned the jug under the engine block drain, opened both hoses, and voila! I drained the radiator and block without spilling a drop of water on anything!
Pix below.

Geoffrey M Baker

here's the engine block drain.

Geoffrey M Baker

Excellent. I thought of the same thing last time I did that job... but then never got around to it.


You have inspired me to get off my a$s and get on with it :-)

Dave
D Moore

I 've got no history whatsoever relating to my 54 TF I 've just had the radiator re-cored as a precuation while it was out. should I flush out the engine while its drained, there was clear anti-freeze that came out.
Would I be opening a can of worms? i 've had no overheating problems in my limited running of the car
EDDIE
E I Buckley

Eddie, I think the official seal or symbol for the MG should be a can of worms, being opened.
My car was my dad's, and for the past 25 years it had sat in his driveway, being turned over once a month. Not driven since about 1995, I reckon. That's all we knew about it. No signs of overheating.
I got it back on the road, and without warning, it overheated and melted the camshaft bearings. Turned out the engine block was so badly obstructed in the water passages that water wasn't getting through and it overheated... something the water temperature gauge might not even tell you! I had flushed the block and done all normal cleaning and maintenance work.
My recommendation is if you know nothing about the car, you're best off opening the can of worms right away - better safe than sorry!
Can you drain the engine block easily? Mine wouldn't drain at all from the little tap on the side, until I worked a wire through it, then water came out fine, but I still had a huge blockage I didn't know about...
If I had to do it all over again, the first thing I would have done when I got the car would have been to pull the head and block, have the block blasted clean, go through and replace anything necessary (probably nothing but gaskets, had I done it five years ago) and start with a clean engine and a relaxed attitude going forward!!


Geoffrey M Baker

Eddie as you have an "as new" radiator I can understand your reluctance to fill it full of crud. Removing & stripping the engine is a big job which you may be reluctant to undertake. Flusing in situ is a good first step. There are any number of solvents that are purpose made to clean out the block. (I used a Guerni while the head was off & the engine out of the car & was amazed at what came out). I drilled out the Welch plugs to aid flushing & plan to fill, let stand, then flush the assembled engine with the cleaning agent used as the first stage of using Liquid Intelligence, even though I'm sticking with the water based coolant. (Also I'd suggest using brass Welch plugs). Once you've done that a wire strainer & maybe a panty hose filter at the top hose to prevent anything from finding its way into the radiator is a good precaution, at least for the first couple of hundred miles or so. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

I think so long as you are prepared to open up the plugs and clean out, you don't need to remove the engine... if it's clean, you'll know it then. (If you keep finding junk, take the next step!)
However, just pulling the block lets you have it professionally cleaned by boiling and pickling... more than you can probably achieve at home no matter what you are using.
I had them boil it TWICE because I found that the first clean which left all the visible passages looking good still hadn't cleaned out the drain plug area. I was able to fish about a pound of oily dirt out of it in an afternoon, then I had them pickle it again.
There is NO substitute for peace of mind. My engine block is now BETTER than God and MG intended (I did the drilling mod not done on early TD engines)... and that's PRICELESS.
Then I added my own improved 6 vane water impeller, rodded the radiator myself... and I know this engine wil perform better than it did on Sept 6 1951 when it rolled off the assembly line.
Geoffrey M Baker

This thread was discussed between 03/12/2015 and 05/12/2015

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