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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 - Gasket: Pipe to Manifold Needed

Has anyone discovered an alternate source for the TD/TF exhaust pipe-to-manifold gasket (290-500)? Mine blew out on a break-in run around town, and I caught it before it really messed anything else up. I'm hoping there is a cross-over part available at the local AutoZone; otherwise, will have to overnight one from Moss if I want to make the last LBC show of the season here in ABQ.
thanks,
Tyler

C.T. Irwin

It sounds as if that failed pretty quickly Tyler. Perhaps there is something contributing to this early demise. Manifold or Pipe Flange not flat. Maybe the nut on that one stud is binding and it's not fully clamping the gasket. It looks like a good quality gasket. Seems odd to fail so fast.
Hope you make it to the Show!
Mike
M Brand

Thanks Mike,
Going to pick one up today from a TD owner in the local club (I got lucky). Probably did not have the 3 nuts cranked down tight enough. Will go through AutoZone's stack of gaskets on Saturday to see if there is a possible substitute.
thanks,
Tyler

C.T. Irwin

Hi Tyler. Years ago someone gave me some gaskets from a volvo. You had to use 2 or 3 to get the thickness you need. I never had to replace them until I rebuilt the engine. However, I haven't had a problem with the standard copper covered gasket as long as I get the nuts really tight, I usually double nut them so they don't loosen from vibration.

Butch
R Taras

I ditched those gaskets from my TC long ago. I removed the gasket and the small intermediate piece of pipe from between the down pipe and manifold, and placed an MGA donut gasket in there instead. Metal side of gasket down. They stay sealed and don't burn out like the stock ones. I'm assuming the TD has the same down pipe arrangement as TC.
Steve Simmons

Tyler,

There is nothing wrong with these gaskets. This problem is usually caused by a missing or incorrect front pipe to gearbox clamp. If you have a workshop manual, check page P3 Fig. P5 you can see how it should be. Other causes could be:
1/ Bad mating surfaces between manifold and front pipe flange.
2/ Burnt out, worn or damaged manifold studs.
3/ Wrongly shaped exhaust system pipes.

Also, when you assemble the exhaust system start from the manifold flange and tighten the three brass nuts BEFORE fitting the rest of the system, then move to the next clamp.


John



J Scragg

Adding screenshot of gearbox to front pipe clamp. Taken from Bud's site, Thanks Bud.

John

J Scragg

Tyler, you can try these?

ROL list the following equivalencies

ROL EG24593
Midas EN1696
Victor F14604
Walker 31327
Maremont (US) G137, H1616, H1618
Fel-pro 23599
AP 9030

He says you may have to enlarge the stud holes a bit.

This is part of an article by Ted Jackson TD 5554

Lets us know how it works out?

Ed


ECS Stanfield

Tyler,

I find that stainless steel nuts work best to affix the flange of the downpipe to the flange of the exhaust manifold. However, I do not use stainless in any other part of the car !

Cheers
Rob Grantham
TF3719("Aramis"),TF9177("Athos").
Rob Grantham

Ed is correct, you should not have much difficulty finding a similar gasket at a good parts store. If you can find one that has the gaskets on a rack it should be easy to match one.
Bruce Cunha

I lucked out when a club member gave me a spare on Friday, but striped a brass nut while putting it on. I made it the Saturday show okay, but blew out the new gasket on the trip back home.

Rob,
Who sells the stainless steel nuts?
thanks,
Tyler
C.T. Irwin

I'm also interested in the stainless nuts - and studs for that matter. Can anyone provide the original size, stud length and thread type as well as a supplier here in Oz? Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Tyler,

The gasket failing AGAIN seems to point to the fact that they are NOT the root cause of your problem.
Did you check out the list of things I mentioned above? If so, what did you find? I see no point in just changing out failing gaskets "ad nauseam".
From you last comment I would suspect that item 2/ on the list is your issue. I don't see any reason to change to stainless nuts, brass ones are perfectly adequate for the job, On our cars, they have proved themselves for the past 70 odd years.

John
J Scragg

John's list likely contains the cause. Some of the older front pipes had thin flanges that warped. The nut may be binding on a bad thread and just seems tight. George
George Butz III

John,
I suspect it's Item #3. I am running the PO's non-original exhaust pipe and muffler while waiting to order the three clamps (front and 2 rear) from Moss for the TT SS exhaust system I recently received. I do have the front hanger, but it does no good with current exhaust pipe. The 3 manifold studs are new as were the 3 brass nuts. Have found a similar gasket, but it's about 1/3 or 1/2 as thick as the Moss gasket.

Rob, please let me know the source for the SS nuts. I'm a bit hesitant at cranking-down the brass ones. I'm afraid of stripping them when they seat (they squeak horribly when torqueing), and it was too easy to strip one from the get-go.

thanks,
Tyler
C.T. Irwin

You can also get extra long brass manifold nuts which are less likely to strip.
Dave H
Dave Hill

I just make my own brass nuts.

Butch
R Taras

What's the thread size/type Butch? Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Definitely I would use a brass nut or copious amount of never seize on a steel nut. Using steel nuts on manifold studs is how they get snapped off leading to a bigger repair later

Bill Chasser
TD-4834
W A Chasser

Hi all,

According to the sheet of fasteners prepared by Dave Dubois, the studs
originally used were 10x1.5mm and 1 and a half inches in length.

I purchased the studs from Sportsparts in Sydney and I think the SS nuts to match separately from Austain Fasteners here in Belmont, Western Australia.

They are bullet proof in Stainless !

Cheers
Rob Grantham
Rob Grantham

Just a standard M10 (coarse) size, so readily available.
Dave H
Dave Hill

Ed,
Here's the 31327 (photo) from NAPA. It fits, but bolt holes need to be opened up a little bit. About half as thick as the Moss 290-500. Will test drive it tomorrow.
Tyler

C.T. Irwin

If mis-alignment is the issue, a gasket 1/2 as thick as the factory will surely not work.

The last time I had a repeatedly-blown head pipe gasket I removed the entire exhaust to prevent interference, and tightened down the head pipe on the manifold. Measuring the gap with no gasket I could see that there was a significant mis-alignment that no amount of tightening would resolve - the other end of the pipe hit a chassis crossmember, and held the flange-end of the pipe in mis-alignment. I considered grinding some of the head pipe flange to make it parallel with the manifold flange but the process could thin the flange too much, causing a different exhaust leak.

I could resolve it by replacing the head pipe, but I chose to put a dimple in the end of the pipe where it hit the chassis, allowing it to move upwards 1", which aligned the head pipe and manifold flanges. I used a new gasket with tall brass nuts, and tightened it two or three times over the first few weeks of driving. No problem ever again.

If the flanges are not parallel, it's probable that no amount of gasket or tightening will make up the difference.

Tom Lange
MGT Repair
t lange

In response to Ed's list of possible cross-over gaskets (above), I did a search.

I already mentioned the 31327 above.
A search for the ROL EG24593 and the Midas EN 1696 referred me to the Fel-Pro 23599 (photo).

C.T. Irwin

The AP 9030 referred me to these (photo).

C.T. Irwin

And the Maremont G 137 referred me to a possible contender (sorry, no photo). The other Maremonts (G 137 and H 1618) were not available.

This information came from computer searches by patient store clerks at NAPA and O'Reilly's.

I'm sure my problem will be solved when I install my new TT SS system, as soon as I get the 3 clamps to hang the system.
Tyler

C.T. Irwin

If you save these photos, you can open the files to a decent size to see the fine print.
C.T. Irwin

Why don't you makle a gasket from a copper sheet?

Misalignment of the exhaust to the manifold might be becasue the engine is misaligned. Often the steady bar is improperly dset. It should be adjusted so that the engine is vertical and this is best done with no auxilaries (exhaust, inlet manifold and all pipe work) attached. One way of checking is to examine the from engine mounts and if they are unevenly squashed you have a problem.
R J Marshall

This thread was discussed between 16/10/2018 and 29/10/2018

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