MG-Cars.info

Welcome to our Site for MG, Triumph and Austin-Healey Car Information.

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG TD TF 1500 - TF upholstery

I am in the early stages of re-doing the interior of my TF. I have studied the available references on the job, including the excellent photos of the original TF on the "Original TF" site.
My question is, what do I do with the sidecurtain box lid? All the photos show it closed. Do I cover the inner surface with upholstery material, or use felt?

Many thanks

Tom
'54 TF
T Norby

Black felt. The outside 1" is vinyl wrapped around from the top and the join covered by a black folded strip.
Dave H
Dave Hill

Love to hear in more detail how you get on with this job Tom as it won't be too long before I am doing similar to my TF.
What interior did you go for.
Leather or vinyl.
What colour.
Picks would be great if you had some.
Thanks Darryl
D Lamb

Detail of my original upholstery.
Yes, staples.
Coarse horse hair felt.

Matthew.

M Magilton

And another

M Magilton

The strap

M Magilton

Showing how the floor felt is cut for bolt access.
(Replacement felt here).

Matthew.

M Magilton

Matthew, thank you for the detail photos. Great help.
I'll try to do a neater job on the inside corners than the factory did!
Darryl, I bought a kit from Buckingham Classics in the US. Leather for the seats and side panels, vinyl for the other surfaces. That combo of materials seems to be standard.
Tan color to go with my green body.

I had been dreading the job, but now that I have started, I am excited about it. Over the weekend, I have stripped out the rear section and removed all the old covering. Very pleased with the condition of the metal underneath. Last recovered in 1974.

Tom
T Norby

Hi, I 'm just trying to finish fitting an upholstery kit to my TF which i bought from Brown and Gammons. its a Loooong job!
i 've struggled to make up the formers that go into the corners above the side screen box. the existing cardboard ones on my car were non existent and i dont know of a pattern to work to.
I 've also struggled with the 4 surrounds of the sidescreen box. it appears to be a simple matter of drilling out a couple of rivets, undoing 6 bolts/screws recovering and re-assembling. i 've found that the replacement" rexine" is thicker than the original. I also replaced the inner lining on the inner rear wings. All this has combined to eat up any tolerances that existed and now everything needs bespoke fitting.The other difficult bit is covering the 2 ash corners at the rear of the scuttle. because of their shape its easy to get either the inside curve right OR the outside one..... but try getting both right for someone without that type of experience......
Be ready for the long haul. i 'm afraid its the one part of my partial rebuild that i haven't enjoyed
Eddie
E I Buckley

Rear quarter, factory upholstery.

Matthew.

M Magilton

Tom,
I recently completed the upholstery phase of the TF restoration (finished carpet last night!) and have hundreds of photos. Please let me know what piece you're working on and have a question about. The side curtain lid corners are difficult due to the thickness of leather/vinyl (rexine was pretty thin stuff: easily foldable around edges).

Eddie: I have the patterns of the formers (curved corners). You essentially have to cut these out of upholsterer's board, tack on the little wood piece, curve them with steam/let them dry, and put them into position to make sure they meet up okay with the rear quarter panel. Final trim then glue on the fabric. No folding after fabric is glued on, or there will be wrinkles.

Use heat gun to get the rounded look on the 2 wooden (ash) corner slats on top of the tub.

I need to start on the dash and instrument cluster. See photo (Where did the "W" knob come from?).

Good luck,
Tyler

Tyler Irwin

Eddie
Here is a backside photo of the rear corner piece with the old upholstery ready to peel off. The wood piece is 6.5 inches long. The upholsters board is tacked on, as Tyler specifies. I am reusing my old formed pieces. I agree it would be much more difficult if I did not have these already.

Tom
'54 TF

T Norby

I revamped my sidecurtain box lid a few years ago with new covering material. Blsck vinyl top, black felt underside. Black hidem strip covers the overlap edge on the underside.

Not "pure", but "in the spirit of". I really like the look of the end result.

I also took many pictures of the disassembly process, particularly noting the corner folding & staple locations.

Here is a pic of the underside overlap at a corner.

T.A. Sirp

Here is a pic of the complete underside:

T.A. Sirp

That looks nice TA.
If I do not go with this, where do I buy the "black folded stip" Dave Hill talks about up top of this thread?

Tom
T Norby

Tom, based on Matthew's reference pic, you find a bolt of black rexine (for authenticity), or similar looking vinyl & make the strips yourself.

It looks like the edges of the strip are folded over (perhaps the top edge is folded over the felt?) and then stapled in place.

I'd imagine the Factory would use an absolute minimum of material to accomplish this trim detail.
T.A. Sirp

Yes, quite thin and folded both sides, but not around the felt, just covering. I think I have seen similar on antique furniture held in place with upholstery nails.

Matthew.
M Magilton

What sort of product works well to help dissolve and remove old upholstery glue? I am frustrated with merely scraping. On the rear wheel inner fenders, the side curtain lid and box front piece I have a LOAD of old glue.

Tom
'54 TF
T Norby

I cheated when reupholstering my TF. I cut thin plywood panels to cover the vertical faces of the wheel arches and cast fibreglass ones for the horizontal parts. For the corners I bent pieces of thin aluminium. When covered in vinyl they look fine with no creases or sagging.


Jan T

J Targosz

Tom,

I always look to the UK for guidance on T type prices. A nice one,although not detailed to absolute Concours fittings/finish etc., can sell around 32,000 to 35,000 POUNDS. Quite often the top Concours cars never come to market. They are still sold privately for a good sum.

Quite a nice TF 1250 sold in Australia two(2) years ago for $AUS 70,000.

The USA probably has the most number of TDs and possibly TFs ?
which I guess can also affect prices.

With an ageing owner demographic,and therefore increasing numbers coming onto the market, TCs seem to be sliding in value over here.
The high cost of restoration doesn't reflect the market value. Very few young ones,under forty(40) years of age, are interested in MGs and I guess many have never heard of the term MG !! Holden's,Ford Falcons and Valiants are where the big money has gone over the past 10 years.

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

This thread was discussed between 13/11/2016 and 19/11/2016

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archives. Join the live MG TD TF 1500 BBS now