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MG TD TF 1500 - Dual air cleaners and radiator stay bar


My '52TD when I got it years ago did not have the original air cleaner assembly, only 2 thick (~1.5 inch or so) air cleaners (brand unknown) and therefore the radiator stay bar can not be attached. I tried the slim Stellings & Hellings style air filters from Moss but those still have a slight interference that prevents putting the stay bar back on. I assume the stay bar is a necessity to reduce shimmy on bumps.

Has anyone found any air cleaners or way to make it all fit with the stay bar too?
Thanks in advance.
Randy
Randy

I think you will find that the stay bar can be bent to fit under the filters. and still do it's job to stabilize the rad...

SPW
Steve Wincze

Hi Randy,

The TD I inherited had dual small air filters, and to accommodate them the bar was attached to the radiator housing down a number of inches from the original connection.

The existing bar had one of the ears broken off, so I bought a replacement from Moss. It just required a very slight bend (trivial to do by hand with counterpressure with a foot) to go around the filter and connect to the original attachment point.

Scott
Scott

Randy - those type of filters get very poor reviews from users here - if you need to go with that type due to the larger carbs, I would try and fit a different type - I know just waht you are dealing with as I have faced the same problem - I just wanted to warn you that those are not very good filters in terms of airflow or filtering.
J Delk

Randy

I have those air filters on my TD MKII. The bar goes just in back of the air filter on the front carb. I don't recommend using the filter that has a single threaded rod in the middle to hold the chrome cover on. Mine came loose and the threaded rod ended up getting sucked into the engine and punching a hole in the number one piston.


Steve

Steve Averka

Steve

I had this exact same thing happen to my XPEG. Until now I would have said this was just a freak occurance, but if it happened to two us it probably has happened to more.

Mike Francks
MIKE FRANCKS

Mike

I too thought it was a rare occurrence but it looks like it is a serious design problem. I've seen other filters with 2 bolt/screws holding the air filter together, if I go back to that style filter I'd use the 2 bolt/screws ones. I'm putting on a Marshall J75 supercharger, it uses a single carb and different filter so THAT problem should be sovled.

saverka at charter dot net
Steve Averka

After taking off the Oil filled Air filter and putting on the Stellings & Hellings style air filters from Moss, I had the car into Safety Fast Restorations for service. The first thing thay did was reinstall the bolts in the new cleaners and tell me the danger of sucking a bolt into the engine.
As I have never heard of this, I left them on the car.

After hearing all of this,I think that the new and shiny ones are going to get put away and the old oil filled one put back on.

Thanks Guys

Tom
1953 TD
T. L. Manion Thomas

Randy. My car also had the flat pancake air cleaners. It also had the bar in what sounds like the same place as Scotts. There actually are two holes on the radiator shell that the bar attachement can bolt to that lowered it enough to clear. No bending needed.
BEC Cunha

Thanks to all for your insights!
I'll check for any 2nd connection point.
Also look at this bolting issue you all mention.

I did some more tracking and found pictures of dual filter with the stay bar on John Twist's University Motors archive and querired him about them but no response yet.
Thanks again! Motor on!
Randy
Randy

Randy My TD has 1 1/2 in. carbs and I found a pair of TF air cleaners. Had quite a bit of interference with the stay-bar. So I got another one at a flea market and cut and welded the upper end on to make it longer and bent it to clear the air cleaner. Now it looks good (to me) and is very functional.
Cheers,
Bob
R. K. (Bob) Jeffers

This thread was discussed between 22/03/2007 and 29/03/2007

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