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MG TD TF 1500 - To Pad or not Pad?

I'm elbow deep in my interior restoration and I'm about to start work on the side curtain box. I searched the archives and studied Horst's book and Dave Braun's website.

Both Horst and Dave used padding under the vinyl on the side curtain lid and door. Has anyone out there NOT used padding? Any downside to installation, looks or wear? Have pictures?
David Littlefield

What ever you decide, make sure the curtains are well protected, I cover mine with felt cloth to keep them from rubbing against one another and yes my compartment is covered with felt on the lid, walls and floor. Mine is a TF, different from a TD box, but the protection is the same. PJ
Paul Jennings

If you do use padding please ensure it is thin and reasonably hard and even consider cutting 1" holes in the padding where any screws / hinges will go and gluing cardboard disks in these. There is nothing more unsightly than a vinyl cover that looks as though it has been quilted where fixing screws have compressed the padding.

Cheers

Jan T
J Targosz

Hi Dave. I was originally of the opinion that there probably was very thin felt under both the lid & door. This was based on the original borrowed door & lid that I photographed. It retained its red Rexine, albeit dyed black, probably sometime in the early 60's. See pics. I examined this lid & door some years ago & believed there was felt under the Rexine. Having attempted to cover the door & lid using this approach, now I'm not so sure. I used the thinnest felt I could find, glued it to the timber & then covered it with vinyl. Because today's vinyls are thicker than the original material the end result gave it a padded feel. I'm not a fan. I hate the merest suggestion of padding & disagree completely with Horst's approach. So much so that I'm taking the vinyl & felt off & starting again. Getting the internal & external corners to look good was a real test. Next time I hope to do better. My strong recommendation is to use no padding & develop the technique for the corners with some scrap timber & vinyl. Also glue the flat areas first & allow to dry completely. I used exterior grade PVA. You may also require access to some strong words & liquor. Cheers
Peter TD 5801

P Hehir

Pic 2

P Hehir

Pic 3

P Hehir

Thanks, Peter, for the thorough response and the pictures. One of the reasons I was thinking of foregoing any padding is that I have a side curtain door with what appears to be the original Rexine (see "Original Green Rexine?" thread). It has nothing under it at all. I am also not a fan of the padded look-- it is something that seems more out of the hot rod culture than something suitable for an old British sports car.

Jan makes a good point, as well.

Paul, good advice. I've got some MGA side curtains that I wish I had treated better. I am lining the side curtain pocket with felt, of course.
David Littlefield

Dave with the side curtain box I had more success. After sanding, priming & painting with satin black enamel I again used the exterior PVA diluted in a smallish container. After making templates from newspaper I figured out the best way to cover the interior using as few pieces as possible. I think I finally got it down to about six or maybe eight pieces which surprised me. I thought that I would get away with using fewer pieces. I cut the black felt to match the templates, painted the interior with the undiluted PVA, soaked the felt in the diluted mix, squeezed out the excess moisture & applied it. When wet it can be pushed neatly into the corners & allowed to dry. Don't worry about the milky look as it dries clear. The joins in the corners are invisible. I can't tell where one piece ends & the next begins. I also used two rubber grommets in the bottom of the box. These drain holes are unnecessary as rain is never likely to enter the interior. Not on my car at any rate. I plugged them with the grommets to prevent any road water from entering the box. I was really happy with the result. I can't post a pic as the box is sealed awaiting installation. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Just watched this tech tip video by Doug Felton of FTFU. It's a TC, but very similar to the TD. Note how he does his corners:

https://youtu.be/KU9DOhRJS3w

David Littlefield

No padding but I did carefully round over all corners and edges on the backing boards and I draped the viyl over a radiator to soften it before sticking it down. Super glue it very useful and forms an instant and strong bond with vinyl. I used it to attach the hidem banding and was able to cut proper mitres on the pieces on the doors. You can join the cut faces to each other and even press down the puckering when you form a curve,

Jan T

J Targosz

Nice job Jan. The material that Doug is using is appreciably thinner than the vinyl I have Dave so I'm not sure that his approach will work because of the overlapping required. I'll certainly give it a try though. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

As mentioned, there is still much between the TC and TD done in the same way. Black paint and black strips are mentioned, and a few pics here of a known original interior TC to look at. The black strips are not painted, they are some sort of black plastic. Showing how the storage compartment door fuzzy felt is installed. This car is green interior, but note how the green rexine has been painted over, even on the in-side of the door. The horizontal piece of wood behind the seat, that covers the differential, is also painted black. No apparent padding under the rexine, though the vinyl over the interior wheel wells is padded. In this corner the edges are lifting or curling some.

D mckellar

The rest. Showing some wheel well vinyl at top part of pic. The framing for the top of storage door is also covered in unpadded rexine. Carpet at bottom is just a remnant I use to cover the (black painted) differential cover. Strap with clip button is green and not painted. Just to clarify, when the storage door is shut, it is black (black "paint" over the green rexine).

D mckellar

"The black strips are not painted, they are some sort of black plastic." The original material was called oilcloth. I tried to find some & discovered that the stuff sold today is way too shiny. More like the difference between a matte black & a full gloss. I ended up discarding the modern stuff & used black vinyl. I found the original method of doing the corners as shown on the FTFU video to be really useful however. It seems on the TD that these strips may have originally been stapled rather than secured with small nails. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Peter, yes I would not argue that the black trim could be some sort of folded over cloth. Semi-shiny. It does look like it is plastic, after 67 years.
D mckellar

The black trim strips are folded black oilcloth, thinner than the Rexine covering material used on earlier cars. On my TF it was stapled. Oilcloth was made by coating and impregnating cotton cloth with a linseed oil based liquid akin to oil based paint. It was then ovened with plenty of exposure to air to dry the oil (a crosslinking process), converting it to a flexible solid.
Dave H
Dave Hill

Dave do you know if it's still available? I had no luck finding it here. There's probably a bolt of it lying around somewhere in the world. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Honestly I don't, but like you I suspect that there is some somewhere. You could try and make your own if you could find or even make some old style black linseed oil paint. You may have to add extra linseed oil to increase flexibility. Get some black cotton cloth and spread on the paint with a squeegee and allow to dry in the sun. Try on a small piece first to see how it goes.
Dave H
Dave Hill

Jan T.
In followup to your post and photo up above....beautiful work on your TF upholstery! Would you kindly post a photo of the INSIDE surface of your curtain box lid?

Thank you
Tom '54 TF
T Norby

Hi Tom,

Photo attached. Maybe not absolutely original but I subscribe to doing the best job possible, in sympathy with originality, but using modern materials.


Jan T

J Targosz

Yes, it looks as per original to me, including the way you have stapled the corners. Great work.
Dave H
Dave Hill

Jan T.
Thank you. Looks great!
By the way, have any of you TF owners bought the side curtain box felt KIT sold my Moss? I wonder if it contains the trim ribbon and enough felt for the inside of the lid.

Tom
T Norby

Hi Dave,

I have learnt from experience that trimming the car is the same as painting it. The really important thing is preparation and to think about the backing and prepare it well. This includes how it is going to be secured to the car. I bent pieces of thin aluminium to fit into the corners above the wheel arches and the backings for the arches themselves are thin fibre glass castings with bonded in plywood verticals. If all the edges are rounded off properly it is possible to stick on vinyl without padding and achieve a nice, taught result.

Jan

J Targosz

For those following along: The TD's used black tacks spaced about every 6". At sometime (TF?) they appeared to have switched to staples.

You can see an example of the TD tacks on image 65.

http://www.mg-cars.org.uk/mgtd/Pictures/TD27489/Thumbnails/mgtd_gallery_TD27489.htm
Christopher Couper

Yes. The way that Jan T has used the staples on his TF exactly reflects the way I found them on my unrestored TF when I received it. That is angled on the straight runs and a couple across the corners (where the oil cloth strip was cleverly folded to form a mitre without cutting).
Dave H
Dave Hill

This thread was discussed between 17/01/2017 and 01/02/2017

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