MG-Cars.info

Welcome to our Site for MG, Triumph and Austin-Healey Car Information.

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG MGA - coupe door garnish rail

This question is a bit difficult to describe but I'll try. Does the outside edge of the coupe door wood garnish rail present parallel to the window glass?
Mine has a taper (both doors), about 1/2 inch gap at the door front (near the vent window) to about 1/8 inch gap at the back of the window frame. This would require the glazing rubber that attaches to the underside of the garnish rail to be trimmed at an angle, which can be done. The garnish rail seems to fit well to the door in other respects. The front and rear brackets that attach to the door are good, and the garnish rail has a parallel gap to the door inside sheet metal allowing for the door card and upholstery.
I just don't understand the taper as the geometry of the parts (door, window, rail) would suggest that the rail edge to window would be parallel. Maybe I'm just over thinking this, I tend to do that...

George
George G.

George

The gap should be constant from front to rear and 1/8” sounds about right. The seal that fits under the wooden rail is mis-sold by Moss who provide a rubber strip which is intended to bed the drop glass in its channel.

Todd Clarke sells the correct seal which is a strip of steel with a furry edge.

A picture showing the gap problem would be useful.

Cheers
Dave
Bolney Coupe

"Does the outside edge of the coupe door wood garnish rail present parallel to the window glass? "

No. It fits quite tight to the vent window ( aka 1/4 light ) frame but there is then a reducing gap as you say.
The wood interior of the Door Capping Assembly ( as the SPL calls it ) has some machined clearance around the vent pivot,
but does not have any step from the vent frame to the main glass, hence the gap at that point.

The "Weatherstrip - garnish rail" is not a rubber strip. As David notes, it is a metal strip ~ 1" wide with some furry/felty material wrapped around it.
It is not tapered, but is fixed to the wood at a suitable angle so it fits against the glass. Any witness marks, nail holes etc that might give a clue on yours ? Couple of hasty pictures attached,

When I did my Coupe about 7 years ago I found that suppliers sent the wromg part, as David says.
I have a vague recollection that I concluded that a couple of part numbers ( and/or descriptions ) had got transposed somewhere along the way and everybody is now stuck with the situation.

I was able to wrap the edge of my strips with "25mm x 3m self adhesive felt strip" - found somewhere on eBay. At £ 3.99 for a 3 metre roll I probably have a bit hiding in a drawer.
On the car I am looking at now at least one of the metal strips is beyond re-use, so I'll probably have to source that first. ( Possibly more time and trouble than any saving, but ... )

I have seen mention of cars with the MGB brush type seal used, but there is still that tapering gap to deal with; maybe a tapering piece of wood attached to the main wood piece ?

Good luck,
Jim






J N Gibson

Dave, Jim, I appreciate your comments. I have the rubber strip sold by Moss which I now understand is not correct. My car did not have the interior weather strip that you have described, but did have the exterior weather strip which I have replaced with a nice replica (from MacGregor?) I will contact Todd Clarke for the correct part.
I'm still a bit unclear about the "gap" matter. Dave states the gap (outside edge of the Door Capping Assembly to inside edge of glass) should be about 1/8" front to rear.
Jim indicates that the edge to glass is not parallel, there is a reducing gap front to rear, which is the condition I have. Perhaps I'm not understanding the gap comments.
I'll try to post a picture tomorrow.

George
George G.

Here is a picture looking down onto the door capping, front of door on the left. The gap between edge of capping and window glass near the vent window is about 1/2", and is about 1/8"+ at the back end of the door. Pretty much the same on both doors. So, is this correct?

George

George G.

That looks pretty similar to mine.

Mine doesn't fit as closely to the vent window frame as I thought. Couple of pictures attached.

( More to follow ... )
Jim








J N Gibson

The pictures I added previously were supposed to show how the draught strip fitted at an angle along the wood capping.
( They are of another capping piece, not the one in my car ), some hopefully clearer ones attached.





J N Gibson

Thanks Jim, yes, that is how mine looks so I think its ok. I've ordered the correct weather strips from Todd Clarke.

George
George G.

This thread was discussed between 15/08/2020 and 20/08/2020

MG MGA index

This thread is from the archives. Join the live MG MGA BBS now