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MG TD TF 1500 - TD INTERIOR REDO

The holidays are over, my busy personal/professional busy season is over and I'm about to start an entire interior redo I have Horst Schach's book, an entire Moss interior (dash, panels, seats), a full carpet kit, will be sending tach and speedometer out for over haul,an extended nose air powered stapler and a heated garage. Would appreciate any suggestions as to order of work any tricks learned the hard way over years or any special items that I might want to consider. I will also be installing seat belts when the floor is out.
Jon Levine

Hi Jon. You'll probably find that the Moss panels don't quite fit & will need to be modified/trimmed to ensure a satisfactory result. This means peeling back the vinyl in places, reshaping the board & re-gluing. The hidem binding/banding that comes with the kit is also wider than the original (5/8" as opposed to 1/2"). Some owners here who have installed the kit were less than thrilled with the result & the extra work involved, with a number stating that if doing it again they would buy the fibreboard, vinyl & the correct hidem & do it themselves. That way they'd then get the perfect result they'd hoped for. That's what I'll be doing. Good luck with your project & I hope it goes well. I'm sure if you take the extra care you'll be reasonably happy. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

The first thing I would suggest is looking at the subdash assembly and making sure that is strong enough; they weaken with age. Mine had extra holes added at some point for some instrumentation which was later removed, so they had to be filled. I would take the subdash out and use epoxy or gorilla glue to fill holes and then soak it in varnish cut 50% with the appropriate thinner or spirits. If installing new floorboards, I would treat them the same. Make sure the seatbelts are bolted through good metal points, not just plywood. Horst's book shows how he installed center seat belt points, and there are threads here on how to add 2 and 3 point seat belts.
Geoffrey M Baker

When you put the vinyl on the rear fender wells only glue the edges, and then as little as possible.

Make all the holes for the various chrome clamps and the top brackets and the side curtain clamps before attaching the panels or use #4 binding head screws, 5/8 and/or 3/4" length.

I made a little tool that went into the existing holes and was stopped by a shoulder. It a point on the other side to mark the boards as to where to put the holes. Using a small deep socket and a plastic hammer I could force it through without damage to show the holes.
(First and Second frames)

Don't forget the top brackets like I did in the third frame. I had to take out the screws and using a modified tool, a thinner shoulder, mark the holes for the top bracket.

Finally I did not like spray contact in a can. Most of the Automotive parts store stuff did not hole or set at all.

Cool-It ThermoTec Heavy Duty Spray Adhesive will work but its expensive. (From Summit)
Buy a can of old fashioned Weldwood solvent based (not water based) contact cement and a supply of throw-away brushes (chip brushes) and you will be in good shape.

Do not expect one coat to work. Allow 20 minutes drying time, both between coats and after the final coat and application.

I started with the dash. Then I did the rear top nailing brackets then worked to the front.
I think it might be easier to start at the rear and work forward, doing the dash last.


Jim B.

JA Benjamin

Neat tool I need to make 3 of those so I can do my boards. I only have the original door panels to pattern off of. The rear boards and front kick panels were gone as was the wheel well covers

Do the wheel well covers get tucked under the rear access panels or is it trimmed flush? How thick a padding do you use on the wheel wells.
W. A. Chasser Jr

Get the fit of the door gaps-fit in openings/hinges/locks/strikers as good as possible first. Make sure you use an old panel or equivalent thickness of material under the inside door lock. Door panels: make sure you have plenty of clearance at the edges. You see many at GOFs that have been rubbed/worn where they close under the dash. At the top front of the door, you need to have room for the fat leather piping to fit under the metal edge of the scuttle/dash without touching. I had to peel back the vinyl, trim the boards to fit and re-glue in that area. Quite easy, but time consuming. The area at the bottom of the doors was also too long. The panels have to be made so they fit the largest door openings out there Note the rather large door gaps on some cars due to the tub rebuild, etc. Quite easy to make smaller, but can't make bigger!
Lastly, I think best to barely pin or staple each panel in place to really verify the fit of everything before stapling into place for good ( I learned that the hard way). Good luck! George
George Butz

Quote:
"Do the wheel well covers get tucked under the rear access panels or is it trimmed flush? How thick a padding do you use on the wheel wells."


W A;

I understand that they are SUPPOSED to lap over the floor boards and get trimmed with binding. I brought mine under the floor boards.

I used the same padding as Dave Braun showed on his site.

But perhaps the kind with a self adhesive coating on one side might be better, although much more expensive.

I found the metallic cover on Daves Type moves around giving wrinkles.
I removed the padding for about 1 to 1-1/2 inches around the edges and that is where I glued the vinyl.

Jim B.
JA Benjamin

On the use of contact cement or spray contact the stuff in a tin is better than the spray stuff. For the vinyl on the dash however I'd recommend exterior grade PVA rather than contact. Glue the vinyl, apply & lay the dash face down on a sheet of glass, placing weights to the back & allow to cure. Don't glue the edges at this stage as that can be done later. I rebated the back of the dash to allow for the vinyl as I found that on other cars unless this is done the dash sits proud of the scuttle & looks very ordinary. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

I used the same felt that I used in the toolbox and side curtain stowage compartment for the underlayment on the wheel well arches. Mike

Mike Hart

This thread was discussed between 04/01/2015 and 07/01/2015

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