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MG TD TF 1500 - Covering the tacking strips

I have been working on covering the three tacking strips on the rear of the cockpit with vinyl, going through numerous iterations, for two days and I am just not pleased with the results. FTFU has a good video, but of course, the TC strips are different. Is anyone aware of a video or set of instructions or pictures which will help with this process?

Bill
Bill Reid TD4618

Peter H asked the same question and there is a extensive thread in the archives about it. It's a fairly long read or you can use the new Invert menu item at the top. :-)
Christopher Couper

One of the problems is that the original rexine was as a much thinner material and was much easier to fold without bunching up. I think Horst Schach’s book on MGTD Restoration may show how to make the folds. I don’t have the book in front of me to check.
W A Chasser

No luck searching the archives. As I understand it, you need the correct topic in order to search. The topics that I could think of produced no results. And the invert menu item is a mystery to me.

Bill
Bill Reid TD4618

Here are the ones I was thinking of:

https://mg-cars.org.uk/cgi-bin/or17?runprog=mgbbs&access=&mode=archiveth&subject=8&subjectar=8&thread=2018090912194015258

https://mg-cars.org.uk/cgi-bin/or17?runprog=mgbbs&access=20058650105034&mode=archiveth&subject=8&subjectar=8&thread=20190309083341672

Christopher Couper

Bill some of the info on the FTFU video is useful as you've no doubt discovered but Bill C is correct re the huge difference in thickness. This is what makes it much more difficult than needs be and is what I was wrestling with before the back op and Covid, so I'm still yet to solve the meeting of the three pieces. At least there is no sewing involved, unlike with the TC. The three Moss timber pieces needed extensive reworking (reshaping, filling, sanding etc.) and had I known this I'd have made my own. The species that Moss flogs is incredibly soft - significantly so when compared to the original long strip that I still have. Unfortunately it was unusable due to the number of fixings it had received in the 18 years prior to my ownership. To get an acceptable result covering the three bits of timber it just takes time, patience, glue, an extensive colourful vocabulary, with work done in stages and in the appropriate sequence. Whatever you do DON'T have the overhang to the exterior, as suggested in the FTFU video! This needs to finish flush with the painted skin. It should also finish flush with the exterior of the trimmed rear 1/4 panel. Some thought needs to be put into choosing the rear 1/4 panel substrate so that the combined trimmed thicknesses permit a flush fit both inside and out, otherwise ugliness is guaranteed. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Here's how my corners came out on the strips, using a heat gun to warm the material sure helped a lot. PJ

PJ Jennings

PJ, the TD differs from both the TC and the TF in that those two models used the hockey stick pieces which apart from the sewing are much easier to fit, because of the docked ends. On the TD they're tapered. The bit that is difficult on the TD is having a neat meet at the junction of the two small straight pieces with the long end piece. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

PJ, the other problem with the TD is that the holding down screws are UNDER the vinyl.
I have just done some for a friend.I clamped the vinyl flat to the end pieces top side then used a heat gun to tease the material over the taper curved section bonding it on as I went. Then I stapled the edges down.
Ray Lee

Well, I have a while to think about it since I have blown through my supply of green vinyl. I have been thinking about creating a one piece wrap and treating the area where the small and large pieces join the way the curved piece is done on the TC. Will try with paper or other less expensive material this time to see if it is feasible.

Bill
Bill Reid TD4618

This thread was discussed between 06/05/2020 and 07/05/2020

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