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MG TD TF 1500 - TF wheel arch covers

I am in the middle of my upholstery job. I have read that TF's came with plywood tacking strips down near the carpet line. Apparently used to tighten the fit of the wheel arch covers.
The usual sources on this topic don't show this detail.
Can one of you TF owners post a photo of the wooden strips? My car is missing these. What is the width of the plywood? Must be quite thin.

Thanks.

Tom
'54 TF
T Norby

Tom you're bound to find a pic of the strip in question on Chris Couper's site 'The Original MG TF Midget" in the Gallery. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Tom,

I looked to see if I had a picture but I do not. I believe I saved the strip for reference in my storage boxes.

It is thin. If I had to guess it is an 1/8" to 3/16" and is held with split rivets to the inner wheel well.

I will look and post if I have it.

Frank
TF1414
Frank Cronin

Here is how it looks when finished if that helps.

Matthew.

M Magilton

I answered my question. Found photo in H.S.'s book, however tiny. So, Frank says it is held on my split rivets from the rear? How important is this? Can I get a good fit without the wood?

Tom

T Norby

Hi Tom,

Frank's follow up would be invaluable in order to verify the ply tack strip size. Like a lot of things Factory,they did things for a good reason generally. As Frank has indicated,the wood strip is held onto the wheel arch with three(3) bifurcated rivets. If you look carefully at the wheel arch you will observe approx. 1/8" diam. holes into which
the rivets go.. Nice to have the smooth,flattish head of the rivets under the wheel arch area where they can be seen.

This strip is important in that you really need a firm base to stretch down and tack the wheel arch cover to assist in preventing those dreaded wrinkles which can look untidy on otherwise nice restorations.

The wood tack strip was originally covered of course with a thick,black felting. Most TFs have this strip missing nowadays as they generally rot away as they were not painted for protection in any way.

I am guessing from distant memory,however the wood tack strip is around 2 and 3/4" in length,approx. 1 and 1/2" in height and approx. 3/16" in thickness. It would be good if Frank C can locate and then measure his tack strip with exactitude.

Cheers
Rob Grantham
TF3719("Aramis"),TF9177("Athos").
Rob Grantham

Hi Rob. I'm yet to get that far but I've often wondered about the size of the tacks that were used originally. They must have been really tiny to enable them to attach to a 3/16" thick piece of ply. I guess when you factor in the thickness of the black felt it seems the required tacks would be a little larger. The pic below is of an original TF wheel arch trim. The black felt is still attached to the underside. I still have all of this original TF trim including the door cards, which I've used to assist me with my TD restoration. Do you happen to know if the rivets were fitted before or after the wheel arches were painted? Cheers
Peter TD 5801

P Hehir

My memory is that the ply strip was about 3" long, 1.25" wide and. 1/8" thick. The dimensions aren't particularly critical as long as it fits in that little space at the front of the arch. Whatever the original tack size, I found it easiest to attach the new covering with staples. Its a good idea to paint underneath the ply before attaching it with rivets.
Dave H
Dave Hill

Hi Peter,

I am not sure whether the rivets were fitted up before or after the wheel arches were painted. The interior fitters may have just drilled the rivet holes and fitted them as the inside of the car was trimmed.

I wonder if Matt. M. can see any paint on the heads of the rivets ? Body colour is Birch Grey in the case of his TF1500.

Cheers
Rob Grantham
TF3719("Aramis"),TF9177("Athos").
Rob Grantham

Sorry, my inside wheel arches have been repainted due to too many gravel roads in the cars life. However they do show as painted over in pic 238 of TF9052 in Gallery on The Original MG TF Midget site.

Matthew.
M Magilton

Hi Matt.,

Hmmm........ looks like the rivets/tack wood piece may have been fitted up where the TF bodies were made followed by painting of body color.

Cheers
Rob Grantham
Rob Grantham

I had a piece of 4-layer 1/8" plywood. The cut was about 3/4" x 3" (estimate). Seal and paint the wood. Set into position, mark and drill 3 holes. Used SS split rivets. Use very short staples when you do final installation of the wheel well fabric.

Tyler

C.T. Irwin

Thank you everybody. Especially CT for the photo just above. I'll get this done today.

Tom
T Norby

This thread was discussed on 04/02/2017

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