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MG MGA - spare tire hold dawn

Hi there
Is that the way spare tire is held dawn or rather held in position?

Martin

sharpeys

Martin,

The short answer is yes. You are lucky to have a hold down clamp and wing nut. They routinely go for $75 on eBay.

John
jbackman

Clamp and wing nut are correct but the spare wheel would have had a grey Plastofelt cover.
Barry Bahnisch

Seem to recall there were two differnt sized clamps
John Bray

There are two types of clamp depending on whether the spare wheel penetrates the rear bulkhead (roadster) or is contained in the boot (coupe)
J H Cole

In the roadster the wheel cover was commonplace--at least in North America--but nevertheless optional.
Ken Korey

Yes your hold-down looks fine, it fits just like mine does.

My car came without a spare wheel hold-down clamp and I eventually got around to buying a repro one early last year but I really wish I had fitted it immediately!

The first problem is that without the hold-down the spare wheel tends to creep gradually backwards into the boot (trunk) space.
This means that the hood (soft top) folds too far down behind the seats and the ends of the hood frame, (the hood bows) protrude forwards towards the seat backs instead of lying neatly away against the chassis.

So when I first folded the hood down I tore a neat strip of leather from the edge of the seat back!

The next problem is that if the hood folds back too far the hood fabric tends to lie against the boot (trunk)lid release handle.

So last month when I was hurrying to put up the hood in a rain shower the end of the metal release handle hooked into the hood fabric and tore a hole into it!

Anyway, not surprisingly, the hold-down is now painted and fitted and it is doing its job just fine.

I am now just trying to convince myself (in between curses!) that pieces of duck-tape were actually used in the 1960s to fix holes in MGAs and therefore are a perfectly accepable period accessory.

Colyn
Colyn Firth

BTW if anyone is willing to sell one of those clamps, I would be very interested.
I just refuse to pay the ridiculous ebay prices!

Thanks,
Gonzalo
Gonzalo Ramos

I got mine from Bob West - that was 8 years ago - he may have some left.
Cam Cunningham

I just fitted the one I got from Moss. A bit spendy, maybe, but looks great and works well - very well made part.

JIM in NH
AJ Mail

Martin,
Where are you in BC? You are welcome to come to my place in South Surrey to look at my roadster and coupe for info on any details you need.
Email me directly, if you wish.
Peter.
P. Tilbury

This thread was discussed between 05/09/2011 and 07/09/2011

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