Re: RACING RAD CAPS

[mrbadger]

There is an old British-made racing radiator cap which was sometimes
used on T-Type MGs. It is opened by pressing a thumb lever to the side
in a horizontal direction which first releases and then opens the cap in
one motion. It is somewhat smaller and different than the one being
reproduced today and sold by Abingdon, Moss, et al and is made entirely
of chromium plated brass. If you have ever seen one, you know the cap I
mean.
Back in the mid 1960s, I had unrestricted use of a very good machine
shop and I took advantage of that fact by producing a total of 30
replicas of an original cap, of that type, which I happened to own at
the time. I made patterns which I then sent out to be sandcast in
bronze. I then did all of the machining, fitting, and polishing myself
on all thirty caps and then sent them out for chromium plating before
final assembly. I still have all of the tooling and special jigs from
that project including a tap for the MG rad cap threads which I made
from scratch from tool steel. As I completed the caps, I stamped
numbers on the undersides of the main housings and on the undersides of
the covers from "1" to "30". Cap number "1" has been on my own car
since that time, caps number, "20", "24", and "30" reside in my garage
attic. (I've used them off and on for other cars that I have owned).
That leaves 26 caps that were sold off as a source of income and to help
keep my TC rolling.
I have often wondered what became of those 26 caps. If anyone out there
owns this type of cap, I wonder if they would mind popping it open to
have a look. If I remember correctly, the original cap had a British
patent number and date but mine would only have a large-ish number
between "2" and "29".
Thanks! Badger

[Frank O_ The Mountain]

In a message dated 3/25/00 2:26:00 PM Pacific Standard Time,
mrbadger@home.com writes:

>

I've got two of these Derek, one is stamped 8077, the other is original equip
on my NA and it has the patent no. etc....
I'm curious as to where you got that dogbone rad cap that you auctioned a
while back. I really wanted it but another bidder nipped me with 20 seconds
to go...
Cheers,
Terry

[Jennifer and Hugh Pite]

Hi Derek, I have this type of cap on the radiator of my J-2 as well as on
the gas tank. I think it was an optional extra back in 1933. They do look
very nice, but do not have your numbers on them.
Best Regards, Hugh Pite

----- Original Message -----
From: mrbadger
To: MG-TABC
Sent: Saturday, March 25, 2000 2:20 PM
Subject: [mg-tabc] RACING RAD CAPS


> There is an old British-made racing radiator cap which was sometimes
> used on T-Type MGs. It is opened by pressing a thumb lever to the side
> in a horizontal direction which first releases and then opens the cap in
> one motion. It is somewhat smaller and different than the one being
> reproduced today and sold by Abingdon, Moss, et al and is made entirely
> of chromium plated brass. If you have ever seen one, you know the cap I
> mean.
> Back in the mid 1960s, I had unrestricted use of a very good machine
> shop and I took advantage of that fact by producing a total of 30
> replicas of an original cap, of that type, which I happened to own at
> the time. I made patterns which I then sent out to be sandcast in
> bronze. I then did all of the machining, fitting, and polishing myself
> on all thirty caps and then sent them out for chromium plating before
> final assembly. I still have all of the tooling and special jigs from
> that project including a tap for the MG rad cap threads which I made
> from scratch from tool steel. As I completed the caps, I stamped
> numbers on the undersides of the main housings and on the undersides of
> the covers from "1" to "30". Cap number "1" has been on my own car
> since that time, caps number, "20", "24", and "30" reside in my garage
> attic. (I've used them off and on for other cars that I have owned).
> That leaves 26 caps that were sold off as a source of income and to help
> keep my TC rolling.
> I have often wondered what became of those 26 caps. If anyone out there
> owns this type of cap, I wonder if they would mind popping it open to
> have a look. If I remember correctly, the original cap had a British
> patent number and date but mine would only have a large-ish number
> between "2" and "29".
> Thanks! Badger
>
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[Skip Kelsey]

Terry:

Is the dogbone cap that you mention similar to the one on my 48 Y type?

Skip............................

At 09:30 PM 3/25/00 EST, TATERRY@aol.com wrote:

>In a message dated 3/25/00 2:26:00 PM Pacific Standard Time,
>mrbadger@home.com writes:
>
> owns this type of cap, I wonder if they would mind popping it open to
> have a look. If I remember correctly, the original cap had a British
> patent number and date but mine would only have a large-ish number
> between "2" and "29". >>
>
>I've got two of these Derek, one is stamped 8077, the other is original

equip

>on my NA and it has the patent no. etc....
>I'm curious as to where you got that dogbone rad cap that you auctioned a
>while back. I really wanted it but another bidder nipped me with 20 seconds
>to go...
>Cheers,
>Terry
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>eGroups.com home: http://www.egroups.com/group/mg-tabc
>http://www.egroups.com - Simplifying group communications
>
>
>
>
>
>