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MG TD TF 1500 - Radiator Cap Alignment with Grill Shell

I've been lurking around the forum for quite a while and have received a tremendous amount of of help from the group with the restoration of my 52 TD but I haven't had to post… until now! The issue is the alignment of the radiator filler neck with the grill shell. I've attached a photo. The filler neck passes through the radiator shell at an angle and the radiator cap would interfere with the grill shell when it's tightened down. I had this issue prior to tearing the car down and the cap would rub the shell. Current thought is to have the filler neck on the radiator reworked to create enough clearance for the cap to fully screw down. Any thoughts? Thanks for your help!


AR Andy Russell

Andy,
Welcome to posting!!
Is your rad filler neck actually bent or missaligned at the top of the rad where it attaches to the top tank?? Or is you whole rad installed at an angle making the neck leaning to the front???
If it is the whole rad at an angle, isn't it real close to the fan blades at the bottom????

SPW
Steve Wincze

I just finished putting mine back together this week. If this were mine I would think the cause is that the core is not properly fitted and/or bolted inside the grill. Do the headlight attachment pieces fit easily through the slots on the grill? This might offer a clue. I would also check the 2 bolts that hold the whole thing to the radiator support bar on the bottom. Shouldn't look this way.
efh Haskell

I agree with the above comments - and also wonder if the lower radiator mounting bar could possibly be fitted backwards (throwing off the alignment of the mount holes) could this possibly cause the radiator mount studs to be too far back from the outer shell. Not sure if it is possible to mount everything up with that main support bar fitted backwards - but I know it can be bolted in backwards - those two holes are offset on the bar.

Just a quick (possibly wrong) idea,

Jeff
Jeff Delk

I wonder if the radiator mounting bracket (451-200) is installed backwards and causing the problem?
Jim Merz

Thanks for the ideas. We are working on the car at a friend’s shop and I will check those possibilities next time I'm there. In the meantime here are a couple pictures I had. The radiator tank had been worked on in the past so It’s possible that could be part of the problem. I did find a picture of the lower mounting bracket. Looks like the holes are offset towards the front. If it were reversed seems like it would make the situation worse. I saw a couple comments that the holes should be towards the front. If you see something suspicious in the photos let me know. Thanks for the input!


AR Andy Russell

Here is one that shows the mounting bracket.


AR Andy Russell

Another one of the frame.


AR Andy Russell

Andy, The mounting holes should be towards the engine. Cheers Phil


Phil Atrill

Thanks Phil! We'll give that a try. Seems like that would angle it even futher foward but maybe not?
AR Andy Russell

andy, i like steve's idea. the tank is thin copper and the filler neck can get dinged which changes the angle. just eyeballing it from your pic..it appears the radiator surround is parallel with the horizontals on your shop wall and the filler neck is angled down. regards, tom
tom peterson

I agree the bracket is on backwards, but would that account for the angle of the core within the shell which I would think be the cause of the angle of the filler neck? The core is held to the shell with about a dozen screws as I remember. Once these 2 pieces are screwed together the bracket would not change anything, would it?
efh Haskell

Andy, here is the way my radiator support bracket fits. I forgot where the radiator mounting holes wound up but all went together well.



Jim Merz

Interesting. I just put a level on mine and it is slightly tipped back. Looks like your top tank may be bent at the neck. Look at the bracket- on correctly as in Jim's nice photo, the greater cut-away next to the crank hole gives you a lot more room to work on the radiator mounting nuts. George
George Butz

I have a similar alignment problem after I had the radiator recored. I believe the radiator guy reattached the bracket on the radiator that holds shell a little out of alignment.
Gary L Johnson

Hi Andy; Like Gary, my radiator brackets were misaligned after a recore. I slotted the radiator side bracket holes a bit with a small Dremel tool to give me the ability to move the shell on the radiator mounts. Helped my fit. Dan
Dan Craig

Andy,

I had a look at the "false nose",[part #4 in the Moss cataloge] on my rad, and it fits very close to the rad shell. I noticed in your picture, there is a gap between the nose and the top of the rad shell. This may not be the whole problem, but it might make some difference if you could get the nose to fit right down on the shell.

George
George Raham [TD4224]

Andy, rememeber the shell must fit the bonnet as well. I also had fit issues after recore, and had to resolder and bend some of the shell mount brackets to the bonnet to shell gap was correct. George
George Butz

Thanks for all of the guidance. I think I have a little homework to do. Sounds like the mounting bracket is reversed on the frame but I don't think that's going to change the orientation of the filler neck . It could affect alignment with the bonnet. My guess is that the filler neck itself was either bent or positioned improperly during some prior repair. It's also possible the mounting tabs on the core are not positioned correctly.
Thanks....!
PS. I haven't been able to eliminate my initials in front of my name either but that will come after I get the radiator sorted out!
AR Andy Russell

Andy

After getting my TD radiator cleaned out etc, I decided not to have the bottom alignment support soldered to the bottom tank until I am ready to fit bonnet. (later this year I hope)

You can remove the initials by clicking on "customise" in the menu list across the top right of the screen and editing your details etc

Stuart

Stuart Duncan

Thanks Stuart..... the "initials" are gone. Hopefully I'll be as successful with the radiator.
Andy Russell

This thread was discussed between 01/02/2011 and 03/02/2011

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