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MG TD TF 1500 - Side Curtain Door Box Top

This is an original top of the TD side curtain box. I used it to make my new top. Can anyone tell me the purpose of the narrow thin strip of timber at the rear? This sits on the upholstered face & is evident in the pic below. (The raised section on the right. I don't have a clear shot of it. I didn't peel back the upholstery because it was borrowed). It would seem to prevent the side curtain box top from sitting flush with the underside of the timber tub frame. Is the rear of the top supposed to be screwed to the tub? Cheers
Peter TD 5801

P Hehir

Peter-
I think you are looking at the box top incorrectly. Here's a shot of the top without any upholstery. Note the top is made of about 1/4" plywood (mahogany I believe) and there is a narrow strip of 1/4" glued or nailed to the front, underside of the top. This narrow piece is a stop for the top of the door when shut.

Roy

Roy Challberg

Peter-
Here is a photo of the "top of the top" of the curtain box. If you know what I mean. The first photo above was of the "bottom of the top' of the curtain box.

Roy

Roy Challberg

Roy if you look at the pic of the template that I used, attached below, it shows the door stop you mention. Completely agree with you on this timber plant on with the angled face that forms the door stop. This is not what I'm querying. On the piece in the pic below you can just see a raised area under the Rexine on the left of the pic. This makes the edge thicker than the rest of the top. This raised area is because of a long thin strip of timber about 1/4" x 1/4". On yours this thin strip of timber doesn't exist & there are a series of holes presumably to secure this piece to the tub. This makes more sense to me. I don't see the purpose of the strip in my pic, hence my query.. Cheers
Peter TD 5801

P Hehir

Peter, I recall being puzzled by that thin piece while assembling 'the53'. My memory is vague about the specifics, but I seem to recall that the piece is important in locating the compartment top against the underside of the top back rail. Bud
Bud Krueger

Bud I'm going over to the car either today or tomorrow & will see if there is a corresponding recess in the tub frame to accommodate it. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Peter,I don't recall it fitting into a recess. Rather, it's covered with the rexine and creates an angular spacing for the rearmost end of the cover. Wish I'd photographed it. Bud
Bud Krueger

The following two pics are of the top that I made which is an exact copy of the original. If there is no corresponding recess then the strip that concerns me will prevent the top from fitting flush with the underside of the tub frame. This is what I don't understand. Cheers
Peter TD 5801

P Hehir

Pic 2. Here both the door stop rail & the thin strip are visible. The felt still needs to be trimmed flush with the edge of the ply. It's a truly international piece as the "plant on" on the top of the ply is Western Red Cedar & the door stop below is Australian Red Cedar. Cheers
Peter TD 5801

P Hehir

This will help absolutely no one in restoring their car, but I am an unrepentant tree hugger when I’m not driving my TD, so please forgive me for some off-topic trivia. Both Western Red Cedar and Australian Red Cedar are beautiful trees, but they are not even remotely related, nor are either of them true cedars. Western Red Cedar, from western US and Canada, is a cone-bearing tree related to pines and firs, while Australian Red Cedar is one of Australia’s few deciduous trees and is in the Mahogany family.

Sorry for the diversion,
Joe
Joe Olson

Joe both pieces of timber were recycled. The Aussie stuff from an old skirting board & it is a truly beautiful cabinet timber & the WRC was from a timber blind slat, not in the same class when it comes to looks but terrific water resistant properties. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

I’m now covering the top of the side curtain box with vinyl & I have a question. Is the door stop also covered with vinyl or does the vinyl finish short of the door stop i.e. just stuck to the underside of the top? Another way of asking this would be, was the face of the door stop timber originally upholstered or is raw timber visible when you open the side curtain box door? Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

The door stop piece is just roughly covered with Rexine. Here's a picture taken looking up at a corner of the top of the box. You can see one tack in the bottom of the door stop.

Joe

Joe Olson

Thanks Joe. It is pretty rough! I guess out of sight out of mind. I'll try & do a slightly neater job. Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Peter;
While looking for the seat back photos I ran across some side curtain photos.
Photoshop is giving me some issues so I am posting them individually.

First the back side of the original, with its original, although painted cover.
I don't believe I found any felt. I covered it with felt because the Moss instructions said to.

Jim B.

Two more to come.

JA Benjamin

Here is a closeup of the hinge as you might see it.

Jim B.

JA Benjamin

Here are the details on how its fixed.
This may not be obvious.

Mine was directly screwed into the plywood cover over the rear axle. Those holes were worn and I believe I either went with t-nuts or plugged the holes with dowels.

Jim B.

JA Benjamin

I'm now convinced that the door & top were originally NOT covered with felt. Too many original examples to ignore! It must have had the thin layer of felt applied by the 60's owner when the Rexine was dyed /painted black. Same with the top. I'm OK with what I ended up with as the the door & top are firm to the touch & don't have that padded, puffy look or feel that Horst advocates. I also used T nuts on the door which I recessed slightly so they finished flush. The hinges were from the local hardware chain & were very close to the originals.

With the top I glued the vinyl on in stages over a couple of days using PVA. Starting at the rear I temporarily using masking tape while it dried & I also covered the leading edge & top of the door stop using staples on the upper & rear sides if the stop after gluing the face. The Aussie cedar accepts 6 mm staples readily. These were removed when the PVA had dried. It's not possible to use staples on the rest of the ply. The smallest I could find for my gun were 6 mm & I didn't want to risk penetrating the face. The external corners were fiddly & the 2 internals a right bastard as they have a tendency to tear. Googling upholstered corners & viewing hundreds of pics indicates that it's almost impossible to do a perfect job. I'll post a couple of pics shortly.
Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

This thread was discussed between 04/08/2016 and 09/08/2016

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