Bush Mechanic

I do remember that you are the proud owner of the deux chevaux van. I have an incurable soft spot for them, as well.

All of this is spot-on, especially the last line. Some of the necessary goodies are there in the drawer. These lathes are much sought after in Aus, and normally sell for $700- $1,000 if they are complete. I have an Australian copy of the later 9" South Bend, known here as a Hercus model A. A bit light for some jobs, but indispensable for small work. In the last few days it has given me a new set of bronze bushes for leaf springs, a seat insert for a carb float needle, and several other small pieces. Just the thing for making metric bits for the 2CV. Have fun with it.

If by chance the original construction of the mud-guard utilised solder, is it possible that the patch at the bolt holes was an original reinforcing piece? Of course the solder may have been used in a later repair, but the holes do not appear to be torn. And as Luv2 suggested, an over-length piece of brake pipe slipped into one side of the cut rolled edge, and then teased back to also pick up and enter the other side roll, would go a long way toward strengthening your repair. It would give you a solid profile to work the sheet steel to. The Alaskan chainsaw mill used on the log brought back a lot of memories. I milled a quantity of beams and posts with one when I was young and silly, and it was definitely hard work, in Australian hardwood.

Mike, I see now that the rolled edge is substantially thicker than it appears in the photos. I have seen steel brake pipe used as reinforcing at stress points, tucked up behind a flange and welded into place. It has worked well on the bonnet of my Healey for 20 years. There is a stress point where the prop supports the bonnet weight, and the flange had cracked through. Actually I had forgotten it was in there, but I think it is 5/16". The gentleman who suggested using it is a talented body man, and I have no complaints with his advice.

Electronic funds transfer using your phone or computer is very common between individuals in Aus. The one to three days it takes to appear in your account is a bit of a pain though, depending on the banks involved. (I forget what the inside of a bank looks like). But any transaction involves some level of trust, if you aren't facing the person, holding the money with one hand and the goods with the other!

Is it possible that a former owner with short arms has been bending the levers to suit, and positioning them badly for a driver with a larger frame?

And have you considered leaving the wire in there after curving the piece? The only rolled edge mud-guards that I have played with had the wire in the roll for strength.

The clamps look similar to the set my father used when he was filing the teeth of horses. The idea was to keep the animal's mouth from closing. His had a metal bar across between them, from memory, but these may have used a pair of short leather straps with holes which clip onto the pegs at the ends of the 'jaws'. Of course, they could be something entirely different. It's a lot of years since I watched the old man work on a horse's mouth. So, Xander, you may have been closer to the mark than you realised, with 1900 dentistry.

Shipping is a big consideration.Offering to supply a quote on international shipping, as opposed to the 'Global Shipping Program', will appeal to potential buyers. First thing I look for after the item Title is 'Country of Origin'. China, very cheap postage (to Aus), and UK and US sellers, possibly better quality, but much higher shipping costs. It is surprising the number of US businesses who will not use the USPS, with the result that we cannot afford to deal with them. US$20 worth of fasteners, US$170 for fedex, or whoever they exclusively use. Sorry, I'll look elsewhere. A smaller business will often email back that if I can make do with one less bolt, the postage will fall into the next lower weight bracket, saving me X number of dollars on freight. These are the businesses we return to. I have come to the point where I will not buy through ebay if the item is to be shipped under the global shipping program. On principle, as I regard it as a rip-off. A real headache with lower cost US and UK purchases, where the seller is likely unaware of the cost difference. If the 'postage' is high, I either pass on the item, or contact the seller. Small items such as a speedometer cost around 12-15 UK pounds through the UK postal service, and 35+ pounds through the global shipping program. Small beer, perhaps, but it all adds up. I do like the USPS flat-rate boxes, having received heavy items such as generators and starters in them, here in Tasmania, for a VERY reasonable charge. It may take a few days longer, but with restorations, shipping time is not the main consideration. On 2 occasions the parcels have disappeared, but ebay refunded the cost. Australia has recently made it mandatory for ebay to add 10% sales tax onto every offshore sale into Aus. This is fallout from Amazon opening a 'store' here in Aus, and retailers crying foul on the avoided tax. Amazon had the tax ruling applied, and ebay were caught in the same net. Incidentally, Australians can no longer purchase direct from Amazon US, which kills it for me, as the local product offering doesn't cover most of what I am buying.

For those, I'd recommend a six-pack from the fountain of youth.

The 'O's are most likely the correct marks. Is it the ignition timing which is 180 degrees out in relation to the valve timing?

During the time that I was retailing die-cast model cars, the Morris Minor, in it's different forms, was far and away my best seller. Customers repeatedly regaled me with stories of how the Morrie was their family's first car. It is a fondly remembered part of so many people's past, here in Aus. I myself was rather attached to my 1948 low-light convertible Morrie, and even raced a 2 door, for a while. It put many people on wheels in the UK and the Commonwealth countries in much the same way that the Model T did earlier, in the US and elsewhere. I stocked Morris Minor models of 2 door and 4 door sedans, utes, vans, convertibles, woodies and even a police car.

The letters E and D could well refer to the fit. Bores were sometimes designated for minor differences in the final finished size, and matched with slightly different finished sized pistons. You may see corresponding letters stamped on the top surface of the block, by the cylinders. I have no knowledge of Hudsons, but have seen this on other engines, though which makes they were eludes me at the moment.

Mike, that is an excellent article on these cams. Thanks for the link. Mick.

If you are not already active on the MG Experience forum, then you should be. There are probably multiple TD owners on there daily, and the feedback generated by technical questions is really good. And there are people with a lot of experience on there. https://www.mgexp.com/phorum/list.php?1 Select 'T Series and pre-war' from the list on the left. I am not sure what you mean by new tappets, in the US nomenclature, but I assume you mean what we call cam followers. No doubt you checked the rocker arms for valve stem wear when they were off, although your valve noise certainly sounds like that. That would also fit with the clearances seeming tight originally, as sometimes they are adjusted by ear, when wear recesses don't allow feeler guage adjustment. And .019" sounds excessive, (hot or cold?) but I'm not familiar with the xpag engines. I would have thought about .008 inlet and .010" exhaust., but if it's written on the rocker cover....... I would ask on the MG site. The common mistake with the rocker covers is to over-tighten them. On the later BMC cars they are only tightened to 7or 8 foot lb, from memory. Too tight and they leak. The gaskets usually seem too small, but standard practice is to stick them to the cover first, with gasket cement, (not that RTV stuff), and no sealant between the gasket and head. None of mine leak. The alloy cover will distort less, and from memory the cars go about 10 MPH faster with one of those. At least they did in my youth.