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MG TD TF 1500 - Tub wood, getting it right?

I'm at that point of getting the wood frame for the TF done so I can put on the body parts, etc. There has been reference here to the fact that newly purchased wood parts will not be "exact" duplicates of the old. To that point, I lined up one of the old wood parts to the new wood parts (see photos) and noticed a discrepancy.

Everything seems to line up except the front "notch" as can be seen in the three photos I have attached. It seems reasonable that I should use my old wooden parts as the guide for the new wood parts. Right? I am somewhat surprised that the all of the size, length, notches, and carve-outs are the same between old and new, except the one as shown.

Has this been your experience with new wood?

John




John Brickell

Photo #2


John Brickell

Photo #3


John Brickell

John ,the notch doesn't look that far off to me. Take a square and put it to the edge of the top notch and I don't think it will be too far off from the top of the bottom one. Don't be confused by matching the top with the bottom of the notches.

Does appear that you will need to remove a good deal of wood both inside and out to match the width, better than too small. Opening up the hoop notch shouldn't be any big deal. A band saw would come in real handy for trimming off the excess side material.
LaVerne

John

If you did not take some precise measuremente of the tub before disassembly you are in big trouble on assembly. For example the lateral distance between the door post front and rear. The step down of the windshield cowl to the engine cowl. Go measure a tub that is all together and get accurate measurements, get a lot of measurements, as this will eliminate a lot of grief down the road.

Rob
r starnes

Thanks for your input LaVerne and Rob. Right you are Rob, didn't take measurements, but do know of a TF that is available for such...listening Alex?

What I've been doing this morning is to use the old wood as a guide and I have also laid out the original tub parts and refitted the old wood back in to convince myself it all did fit. I have just enough original wood that can be used as a guide to be able to see what needs to be done to the new wood to fit. I'm still surprised how far off some of the new wood is. Not unmanageable, but will take some time to sand, shave, and file down to fit correctly.

And I thought the pedal box was a bear, this is going to be quite a challenge.

Appreciate your input -- John
John Brickell

John

Think of the tub as three assemblies, left side, center and right side. A side assembly consist of front and rear skin panels, wood rail under the door opening, the metal tub mounting rail,all of the skin wood, the whole sheebang front to rear. The center being the front cowl, front kick panel, floorboards , side curtain compartment and the panels in front of the gas tank. When I did my tub years ago the door posts were leaning outwards too far when I got it all together. Had to dissasemble to get it right. You have to trim the mitered joints to get the right angle of the dangle. I think the mitered joints are a compound angle. That is where most of the fitment comes in. Then getting the doors to fit is another story. You will spend a lot of time on them and start with new hinges. Installing new wood is definitely a challenge but worth every hour spent.

Rob
r starnes

Thanks Rob, your idea of viewing this as "three assemblies" is quite helpful, and the sequence you have suggested makes perfect sense. I spent most of the day yesterday laying body pieces out, "inserting" wood pieces that were mostly in some way too long, or two wide, with curved ends that will need to be reshaped by sanding.

LaVerne, your observation that the differences in the notches of the old and new wood were not "that far off", turned out to be correct. When I inserted both into the body panel and marked top and bottom of the notch on the body panel itself, they had practically the same placement.

Again, the input from this BBS has kept me from making too hasty and eventually erroneous decisions.

Thanks -- John
John Brickell

John

You have some great advise here. One thing that was stressed to me when I rebuilt the tub on my MGTD was to build the sides around the doors, thus ensuring a good fit for the doors. As each car was originally "hand built" there would have been some variation in each tub. The wood pieces available today will require some work, even ones from well known makers, and that leaves room for variations. As the doors are critical to fit properly I listened to that advise and ended up having to make minimal adjustments to get everything to fit correctly, although if you go to my web site you will note that I spent a lot of time ensuring everything fit prior to the final paint and assembly.

http://members.shaw.ca/briantsmith/

Brian

74 MGB GT
50 MGTD
54 mgtf
Brian Smith (1950 TD3376)

Thanks Brian, and your web-site is quite well done. Helpful. By the way, if you are planning on attending the ABFM in Vancouver, (B.C., of course), in May, as I am, we might have chance to meet and have a chat-up about our cars and the restoration process.

Cheers -- John
John Brickell

Unfortunately John I will not be able to attend. Maybe we can meet up another time.

Brian
Brian Smith (1950 TD3376)

John, spend some time searching the archives for all you can find on the wood. Lots and lots has been randomly discussed over the years in regard to specific areas. The Sachat (sp?) TD restoration book has some good advice as well. George
George Butz

John;

I replaced the lower wood on my TF that was made the same week as yours. If I was going to do this again I would use the Interior panels, or patterns made from them, along with the doors. I am sure I would have had fewer problems with the door opening-door fit, and interior install would have been much better.

Regards
Doug
TF0809
DOUG BULTHAUS

The original wood on the driver's/left side was so rotted that it came out in pieces that wouldn't serve any purpose. The right side wood was in better shape, but still too far gone to reuse, expect for the upper (scuttle side rails) and front pieces (front side rail).

It's very clear that keeping all of the old parts as dismantling proceeds is very essential. The two bottom main rails appear to be the key to lining things up. And the placement of those front and rear notches have to be in exactly the correct position, which as I indicated for my new wood, are not. What I'm thinking is that if the old wood "fit" so everything "lines up", then making the new wood match the old wood should do the trick.

The location of the front latch pillar is not a problem as it fits up against the inside of the front quarter panel. It's the hinge pillar at the back that is troublesome for me. The solution for this seems to be to use the old wood bottom rail as a guide and make the notch in the new wood the same as the old wood, then insert the hinge pillar. Once this is done, I plan to set the door in to see what kind of fit I have.

I'm convinced this the correct way to proceed, but have not made any cuts as I want to be absolutely sure I'm got this right before making a mistake that screws everything up.

So, Doug, our TF's are siblings, eh? Cool.

Cheers -- John
John Brickell

Sounds like you are on the right track. Remember that while your front latch pillar may fit the quarter perfectly, the top to bottom curve has to match the finished door (and vice-versa)! My right latch pillar took a lot of work to get the door gap right. George
George Butz

This thread was discussed between 12/03/2011 and 14/03/2011

MG TD TF 1500 index

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