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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 - The things you learn

I have had British cars since I was 17. I have leaned a lot over the years but obviously, there are more
things to learn.

I have been working on bringing a 57 Magnette back to life. Got a wiring diagram for it today and it says "UV dash lamp.

I asked folks on the a magnette site about this and was told that the speedo on the magnette was painted in a paint that glowed under UV light. They then installed a filter that only allowed UV light to get into the speedo. Now that is creative.

I will take my black light flashlight out tonight to see if the paint is still working. I was told that the filter lens gets dark over time so it probably does not work with the bulb as it was designed.
Bruce TD4139 Cunha

Bruce - I have wondered about that business of "painted in a paint that glowed under UV light" ever since we had our magnette. When I was on a ship in 1961, we had to change out some of the 'glow in the dark' indicator meters on a commonly used communications receivers. It seems that the 'glow in the dark' contained radium - yikes!

I later have seen pictures of that common communications receiver indicators with the face of them having the dial painted with the paint, containing radium. I showed the workers licking the paint brushes to keep the bristles in a neat point - wonder how many of those workers died young. Cheers - Dave
DW DuBois

Dave,

I've seen an article about that and many of these.workers were female and did indeed die young. Amazing what we find out with a bit of time and experience.

Alex
Alex Waugh

This brings back memories when I was in RAAF we were entitled to a milk ration because of exposure to the paint used to mark instrument dials.
G Evans

Which is why most old watches had easy to read faces but today's mechanical watches generally do not - because the manufacturers phased out using radium or other radioactives on their dials back in the 70s and 80s. I had a watch "relumed" a while back, with a modern glow-in-the-dark replacement paint... and it was pretty disappointing... new watches sometimes use tritium (the Navy Seal watches do) which is billed as a new, "less hazardous" alternative to radium. It's still a radioactive material with a half life of 12 years, so ... caveat emptor...
Geoffrey M Baker

Have read about the raium dials and the health effects to the workers. Terrible we have to learn that way.

Unsure what was used for the Zb to glow with Uv.
Bruce TD4139 Cunha

Bruce would you post a picture of your Magnette for us to share.
Thanks,
Louis
L.M. Levin

Here is the side prior to cleaning.

We picked the ZB up along with a 79 Spitfire from a friend who has some health issues.

The plan is to try and get the ZB started and put it up for sale. I feel this car is nice enough to restore versus being a parts car.

Sale of this will give us the funds to finish the Spitfire. 59,000 miles. Very straight. Car took a rock to the radiator, so the PO bought a new radiator. His plan was to replace the radiator and do a few upgrades on the car. He purchased 5 new chrome wire wheels and new tires, a new interior and a new top. He became ill prior to being able to complete the work.

We are going to finish this car, sell it and use the funds to refresh my TD.

Oh, yes. The person that had these cars also has a 49 YT sitting in his garage. Up on jack stands and under cover. Car has not been started in about 8 years, but is in very good condition. I am hoping that I can show him I am worthy of taking it over from him.

Bruce TD4139 Cunha

The Grill is pristine. Not a dent.

Bruce TD4139 Cunha

Interior appears to have been redone. But the seats are still in very good condition. Interestingly, we did not find any mice or rats nest. The car was infected with black widow spiders. Perhaps they keep the mice and rats away?

As you can see. The dash needs to have the laminate replaced.

Bruce TD4139 Cunha

As for the body. Floor on the driver side is rusted out. Someone fiberglassed it but that has also failed.

Rest of the body has a few bubbles, but from what we can tell no through and through. Doors close with a nice solid thump.

Bruce TD4139 Cunha

Trunk is without any significant rust. Just some surface rust in the tire well.

Bruce TD4139 Cunha

Even the rear bumper is in very good condition (front wis without any dents, but the chrome has stared to peel.

Bruce TD4139 Cunha

Bruce: Thanks for the info and pictures, looks like a nice project car.
Louis
L.M. Levin

Thought I would try an post a picture of the UV speedometer lighting system.

I found that when I shine the blacklight direcly on the speedo, the letters glow yellow. Unfortunately, my camera picks up the UV light and makes it red.

I shot this one with the UV light in the car. Numbers are not as bright, but it shows how it works.

Bruce TD4139 Cunha

An update. Starter on the ZB was bad. But, it is the same as the TD, so having a spare came in handy.

Took a bit of trouble shooting to figure out why no spark. PO put new points in and never ran it after that. The power wire from the coil was put in on top of the plastic insulator, so it was not doing anything.

Fixed that and the 1500 started right up.

Not to rebuild the master and slave cylinder so I can get the Clutch to work.
Bruce TD4139 Cunha

This thread was discussed between 21/07/2015 and 31/07/2015

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