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MG TD TF 1500 - Interesting item

Another e-bay, but this one caught my interest.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=4521113749&category=34197

Is that a switch or a valve? Anyone have one or know more about it?
Bruce Cunha

I had the same question and I asked him. It is a switch. I'm planning on bidding on it but I will put it on a sub panel, not my beautiful birdseye maple dash and there just isn't room on the instrument panel.

John
John Redman

Looks like a "push on"/"push off" electrical switch for the fan? Would attach to the little rim behind the dash and be flush with the bottom of the dash?

http://www.holden.co.uk/prod_images/SPB106.jpg
gordon.b.lawson '53TD

Think it would look like this......

http://www3.sympatico.ca/gordonblawson/td/heaterswitch.jpg
gordon.b.lawson '53TD

Gordon, thanks for the image showing the factory turn signal indicator that I asked about in another thread.
This "Original 1952 MG TD" heater switch is no such thing. It's just one of a variety of aftermarket rheostat switches that were used with aftermarket heaters.
Bud Krueger

Bud is correct, there is no such thing as an original heater switch for the TD.
The item on ebay is a beat up version of a rheostat switch I bought locally. I think maybe NAPA or one of the chain stores. Anyway, mine has a small bulb in it that is on when the heater is on. The bulb and the plastic cap are missing although mine did not come with the little Heater sign. The one for sale may be a beat up version of the more modern one. Without the cap, it would very difficult to turn the rheostat.
Jim Merz

Bud, your close. It is an accessory heater fan control switch. Back when cars did not come with a heater as standard equipment. Can you imagin that? I believe they had a lamp socket in the center and a tan translucent knob that glowed orange when the heater was on. Note the word HEAT above the shaft. I believe it was a rotary switch or maybe a HIGH - OFF - LOW setup. I remember one functioning in my dad's 38 Chevy during WW II

Jim Haskins
J. M. Haskins

Nice transposition job Gordan. That is probably exactly where it goes.
Bruce Cunha

I have an original dealer? installed heater. There is a small rotary rheostat mounted just under the dash. The knob does not have any markings, but, is made of a plastic material similar to the original indicator switches.

A caution; --- the rheostat controls a fan in the heater box, drawing significant power and it gets hot.
Glen Lucas

I mounted my rheostat in the side of the heater, that puts the "hot" part in the air flow...thought that might be a good place for the heat... the 12volt to 6 volt reducer also went in the airflow chamber as well.....

http://www3.sympatico.ca/gordonblawson/td/heater/heater.html
gordon.b.lawson '53TD

My 53TD has an original heater, whatever that means.
Strangely, the heater blower motor is wired so that it operates with the ignition on or off. Obviously that may have been done at any time between 1953 and 2004 but it is a poor idea because if the fan is set low you might not hear it and be welcomed by a dead battery some time later. The blower is operated by a black rotary switch with flat sides at the lower right
of the instrument panel next to the starter knob.
Steve Hess

Steve,

It sounds like your heater is wired to the fog light switch. It was common to wire it this way, since the fog switch was installed without the lights. I have the maintenance records for a lost TD that show the heater was wired this way.

Jim,

I think I'll check NAPA next time I'm near one. I've got a period Eureka heater I'm itching to install.

Thanks,
Evan

Evan Ford - TD 27621

Steve.

But that is one of the neet things about the TD. It has a crank so a dead battery is not a problem. Used to forget to turn the headlight switch all the way off and would run the battery down. People always got a kick out of seeing someone crankstart a car.
Bruce Cunha

One day it dawned on me that I never operated the heater fan at anything other than full tilt, I have an operable valve in the water hose. I replaced the rheostat with a simple, illuminated, on/off switch that operates a relay that powers the fan. The switch is powered through the ignition switch.
Bud Krueger

After going to all the trouble to find a 3 speed switch (and money...$50.00 some odd), i find i never use anything except high... should have left the little chrome "on/off" on it.
gordon.b.lawson '53TD

This thread was discussed between 20/01/2005 and 27/01/2005

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG TD TF 1500 BBS is active now.