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MG TD TF 1500 - Valve Clearance

Engine XPAG/TD/LHX/1606
Car TD/1851 EXLU
Positive Ground
Judson Supercharger

According to the WSM the clearance for this car should be .019" but the valve cover bears a plate calling for .015".
Could there have been some modification to the engine that would have caused this change?
Might it have something to do with the supercharger?
TIA,
Mort



Mort TD 1851

Mort

That is an after market valve cover, so it may refer to a different engine or, indeed, to settings to go with a special cam designed to go with the supercharger.

The WM guidance is .019in on early TDs amd .012in on the later ones.

However trying .015in will do no harm in the short-medium term, so try it and check the power output (accellerate to top speed over half a mile and time the run, repeat at least twice and take the average) then try with both of the other settings.

Hopefully this will give you a happy afternoon and feel more contented at the end of the day.

IanB
Ian Bowers

The oddball clearance tag discussion was on the board some months back- I don't remember the details, so search the archives. You could have either factory cam, and remember Crane has been making replacements with .019-.020 clearances since at least 1988. George
George Butz

John Twist says he adjusts them all to .015" on the T series.
Jim Northrup

My '52 valve cover says .019 Hot....There is no way I can get all the valves adjusted while the engine is still hot...
warm, maybe...Wonder what it would be if adjusted cold?
Edward
E.B. Wesson

Edward,
Ever try a "Click Adjust?
I could never get them all set before either...till I got one.
BTW: I do .015 per JT ...but still think he does it faster with regular wrench than I do with the CA.
Ever see his video on youtube?
Geeez!
David Sheward

Ed,
The WSM Sect A27 says if you do it cold add .001"
Mort TD 1851

Try the following method, it greatly speeds up the adjustment procedure:

An easier method to adjust valves, that requires less stops to rotate the engine is to use the following method:

Adjust valves 1 & 3 with valves 8 & 6 rocking*
“ ” 5 & 2 “ ” 4 & 7 “
” “ 8 & 6 “ ” 1 & 3 “
” “ 4 & 7 “ ” 5 & 2 “

*Rocking - valve 8 just past wide open and valve 6 just approaching wide open.

This method adjusts the valves just a bit off of the exact heal of the cam, but still in a position where the tappet is in the Maximum “down” position.

Note: This method is recommended by Chris Betson, owner of Octarine Services in England. I have started using this method on our TD and MGB and find that it greatly reduces the time required to adjust the valves.
Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

This thread was discussed between 27/08/2011 and 28/08/2011

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