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MG TD TF 1500 - Unidentified material

Recently I started to rebuild my MG TD after I completely disassembled it and restored all the individual parts for over a year.

I have two questions:

– There was some unidentified material between the chassis frame and the cockpit at the 8 mounting points. Upon removal they looked like pieces of felt or cork, a few millimeters thick, that had been heavily compressed for a long time. The material is not flexible anymore, it breaks as soon as you bent it.
You won´t find this item on any of the exploded view drawings that the main TD parts suppliers publish. Can someone help me out what this material is and where it can be bought?

– There was a roughly 1 inch wide black strip, that remotely looked like felt, between the odd shaped metal strip that runs in the cockpit from under the door all the way to the rear of the car (in Moss terms FRAME, body/chassis part-number 450-735) and the rear wing.
You won´t find this roughly 1 inch wide black strip on any of the exploded view drawings that the main TD parts suppliers publish. Can someone help me out what this material is and where it can be bought?
W. Ram

It is black felt. I wouldn't recommend that you use felt when you put it back together. When it gets wet it will hold the moisture against the steel and promote rusting. That is probably why you won't find anyone selling the felt for that purpose. I would recommend you use a sheet rubber product of your choosing. I personally use multiple layers of roofing water proofing material. Referred to as Bitchithane here by the roofing contractors.
L E D LaVerne

The material used between the body tub and chassis frame is pretty important. The original material certainly compressed over time and therefore changed the fit of doors etc. Forget the cork and felt in these body attachment areas.

I use a urethane type material. It seems to hold up very well.

Cheers.

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

Scrap vinyl flooring works well cut into squares for the tum mounts. You can get a synthetic felt that won't absorb moisture from your wife's local yardage shop crafts store

Bill Chasser
TD-4834
W. A. Chasser

This is an example of the felt underlay discovered when we removed our TF floorboards for the first time way back when.

I kept the felt (still in decent, usable condition), but replaced it with adhesive-backed, closed-cell neoprene stripping for the reasons previously mentioned.

T.A. Sirp

The felt is a dense weave approx 3mm thick & 26mm wide.

T.A. Sirp

Tom Lange has some material that I used for the tub mounting positions. It will not absorb water and will probably stay resilient for years to come. tlange@prexar.com

Tim
TD12524
TW Burchfield

Go to a restoration supply house like Bob Drake or Dennis Carpenter. They have materials for mating all sorts of bodies to frames.
MAndrus

Thanks everyone for the various useful suggestions.
W. Ram

The material used is probably less significant now as the cars are so lightly driven as compared to when they were daily drivers built by a culture that had been building wooden framed carriages for centuries.The thing about felt is it does not form an air tight, water tight seal. It will allow damp timbers to dry. Regards, Tom
tm peterson

Thanks to all of you for the useful suggestions.
W. Ram

This thread was discussed between 20/03/2017 and 28/03/2017

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