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MG TD TF 1500 - Bell housing bolts - engine stand

A friend just gave me an engine stand... what size bolts do I need to mount my old block?
gblawson(gordon- TD27667)

Gord On my engine stand I set it up to use the bolts normally used to fasten the transmission to the block. They are 8 X 1 mm. My stand required bolts about 3 inches long so I purchased 4 inch bolts and cut off the original 8 X 1.25 thread and recut the threads to 8 X 1 mm.
Cheers,
Bob
Bob Jeffers

Hi Gord, I got some nice 8mm x 1 bolts for my stand from Lowes. They have a great fastener section (all length of bolts). I purchased a supply of 6mmx1, 10mmx1.5 also. Cheers Phil
Phil Atrill

Thank you....off to the metric hardware store....
gblawson(gordon- TD27667)

Gordon,

I made up my own bolts, starting with a high grade threaded 8mm rod. My engine stand has a sleeve that the bolt passes through, so I cut 4 pieces 4 inches long and used a double nut for the head. It was necessary to use a few washers at the head but they have worked very well over several years. In looking at them now, I probably could have got by with cutting the rod to 3 1/2 inches, but what the heck, hang the expence. That was a nice gift.

George Raham
George Raham [TD4224]

I found M8x1mm at Can Tire...they are a tad short, but I will just weld another bolt on the end... I too have a little sleeve about 3" long...however, the bolt holes go right through on the block so 4" or so should do...
Yes, it was a great gift...my friend does extremely well at yard sales....
gblawson(gordon- TD27667)

Gordon, I used four of the bolts that hold the rocker arm assembly to the head.
Cheers, Hugh Pite
H.D. Pite

...am slowly getting parts for the other block....amazing how many people have bits and pieces that they replaced 'but the old one looked fine'...and are parting with them...!!!
Will get the block on the stand today and enjoy a brand new piece of 'Living Room Art'....

So far I have a camshaft, crankshaft (have to have it magnifluxed), four 1500 cc pistons with no rings...!!!
gblawson(gordon- TD27667)

Ok...living room art.... show this to your wives and tell them how 'good' they have it.....!!!!

gblawson(gordon- TD27667)

OK Gord ...advantage : single life, well noted!
Mine put up with a 58 Panhead sitting in the dinning room ....but that was a long time ago! (She liked ridding on it back then ;-)
David Sheward

Gord,

If you plan to make your XPAG into an XPEG, you will need a really skilled machinist to place and centre the liners. They must be absolutely dead plumb in both axes! Ideally, they should be set to a laser base line on the centre-line of the crankshaft, not an easy set-up. I have a (spare) block, linered to 1400cc and I was charged a half a day's labour just for the set-up!

Any mis-alignment and it will place odd stresses on the crank, and possibly break a rod too. As you undoubtedly know, a replacement crank is ridiculously expensive. In fact you're lucky to have one at all.

Also, cutting into the water jackets, takes away the strength normally provided by the cylinder walls, so its important the liners are solidly placed, so they restore the block integrety.

Good luck with the project.

Gord Clark TF 4592
Rockburn, Qué.
Gordon A Clark

Gordon,

I think that Gordon C. has given good advice concerning the boring of your spare block. I cannot speak from personal experience, but only from reading and talking with people who have experience in this area. In all cases, it would appear that the maximum SAFE overbore is 60 thousand. I believe this would give you 1380 cc. Beyond that, the block loses rigidity and will fail. It would be a shame to lose that block, and it could become a very expensive experiment.The liners, unless done as Gordon C. explains, would give you the size you would like, but would eventually fail in keeping the block as sound as it needs to be. Your spare block is a valuable item as it is. I have one as well, and hope I never have to use it, but find comfort in it being under my work bench. I hope this gives you something to think about. I like the colour of the block.

George Raham
George Raham [TD4224]

George, I and some others in our club have XPAG's that are bored .080 over and we have not had a problem with failing engines yet. I just did mine a year or two ago and went from 60 to 80. The machinist that did mine said it was fine and I have had no problems. I do have new pistons, rods and such but the engine runs like a dream. I have even heard of the XPAG being 100 over. Think one of our members has one..At 100 you are probably pushing it but 80 should be fine. If it makes a diff, mine is a banana head engine number 8529.
Tom Maine (TD8105)

Have met with two machinists who have done this before...a friend has a TC bored to 1500 and has had no problems...
I know the concern and wouldn't have thought about it, but the block i'm using has one cyliner blown out of it from an 'explosion'...it was being thrown away so I just took it to the machine shop and was told that sleeving it would be 'no problem' as they do race cars every day (the hot rod/racing group is their main trade)...
He mentioned how they would sleeve the bottom into the existing metal, and using thicker sleeves would keep things together....anyway... this project will take a year or two and i think will be around $2000.00 when complete (using a lot of found parts)....and worth it if only to have a block sitting in my living room....
gblawson(gordon- TD27667)

My "Big Block" was done back in the 1970s and I'm sorry to say that many details today, escape me. But I was given the block which had thrown a rod, breaking only the bottom of the bore, so I decided to make a "Big Engine", not realizing quite where I was going.

I definitely went into the water jackets. To install the liners before doing any finish-machining, the liners were kept overnight in a freezer. The block was heated to about 300°f, and the liners were pressed in.
Only when everything had cooled, was the finish machine work done. The pistons were definitely special - Wellworthy +.120". As I recall, the XPEG pistons would have been too large.

I started to assemble the engine only to find that I now needed a special head gasket, as the standrd one was way too small. I eventually dropped the project and used the crank in another engine and all I have left now is the bare block.

As most of us know, the XPEG block is quite another creature, designed specifically for 1500cc pistons.

Gord Clark TF4592
Rockburn, Qué.
Gordon A Clark

This thread was discussed between 23/06/2010 and 25/06/2010

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