MG T-ABC

So after quite a long wait the TC I imported is finally on the road now the DVLA has given me a registration number for it.......
Upon driving the car a few observations, the brakes need adjusting and possibly the shoes and drums de-glazing or softer linings and the engine although sounding quite sweet in the rattles and knocks department wouldn't pull your socks off and feels very asthmatic and relectant to rev.
Whilst I do realise this is an old piece of machinery and is never going to set the world alight in the performance stakes I think it should pull and rev a lot better than it does. There is no missfire and it all runs sweetly just very reluctant to rev and pull through the gears. To get to 5000 rpm in second gear takes an age and is not really worth the effort. Surely the engine should pull better than that?
Before I took the car out I re-balanced the carbs, checked the points gap and also the timing which is set at TDC as the hand book says. It does have a later pair of HS2's apart from that I think the engine is standard. It also starts very easily so things cannot be too bad.
Did I read somewhere that people are now setting the tappets to 015" hot rather than the 019" that is stamped on the rocker cover?
Interestingly I did try it up the road with the standard air-filter and induction manifold removed and noticed quite an improvement..........is this normal? If so I am guessing that a pair of K and N pancake filters are the order of the day? I am not to bothered about origonality as I want to drive it rather than polish it.
Any advice would be greatfully recieved

I thought the tappets should be 0.017" but I may be mistaken.

Set the timing to 6 degrees BTDC, zero was for low grade fuel used after the war.

If you have a replacemnet air filter fitted try washing it in a bowl of petrol. It may be soaked in oil. If you have a pipe between filter and rocker cover fit a small amount of wire wool in the pipe at the rocker cover end to stop the oil getting into the filter. Make sure there are no loose starnds on the wire.

The rocker gap will be determined mostly by the cam you're running. You should have been given specs on the cam when you bought it. If not, contact the manufacturer for those numbers. You can safely run 15 thou as a starting point.

I agree on the timing, it should be around 5-7 BTDC. This should make a huge improvement in power. The car should run to redline rather quickly in 2nd gear. Just a few seconds at most on flat ground.

If removing the air filter made a difference then I'd guess it's either too restrictive for whatever reason, or maybe you're a bit rich.

Thank you for the replies, as far as I am aware the camshaft is the standard one as fitted at the factory. I will reset the timing and give it a run up the road and report back.