Some of the old great literature (i.e. Dante) had descriptions of hell as a
place where people who did bad or inexcusable things in life were punished
for all time. There surely must be a special place there for the English
auto engineer who designed the clutch/brake shaft and box on the T-series
cars. This has to be one of the most frustrating tasks on the MG.
For those who have been luckly enough not to have experience with this
system, here is what is involved: A hole and tube is in the drivers side of
the frame into which two bushings must be inserted. On the inboard side of
the frame is a small box with several small access holes to contain the
shaft system. The pedal shaft is inserted into the box and the bushings -
but only after the free moving brake pedal and the keyed and bolted clutch
pedal along with springs, connections for the brake master cylinder and push
rod for the clutch have been assembled inside the box.
Successfully getting everything together and working properly within the
confines of the box is difficult enough with a bare frame. Doing the job
with the tub on is worthly of enough profanities to make a sailor blush. It
is my hope that the auto engineer responsible for this design will spend all
time having to assemble these systems with the transmission in the car.
In case you have not guessed by now, I have just finished doing this job.
It was not until I got everything together on the car for the first time,
that a problem with the new pedal shaft became evident. This reguired
removal from the car of the system (again not an easy take) and getting a
replacement shaft from the vendor (who shall go unnamed but who did not seem
to be worried that their part was defective).
I did not tighten the clutch bolt until it was in the car. At that time I
found that the brake pedal would not move independent of the clutch shaft.
The main lession to be learned - assemble the system out of the car and make
real sure that everything works well prior to the pain and suffering of
installation in the car.
Merry Christmas to all except the auto engineer and the part vendor.
Ed Curtis
Ed in Western Michigan
1955 MGTF 1500 in many pieces
curtis@hayburn.com
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