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Looks like a factory solution that will eventually hurt itself, putting a metal sail in the wind and put it on a long arm with a 90 in it to boot. Bound to vibrate. I’ll have to think about it before I finish the car.
Gabor: I think the plate hangs in a spot where there’s kind of a vacuum bubble anyway. Not that there won’t be some wind action and vibration, but “sail” is not quite what you’re making here.
Most of the replicas have something similar, and it doesn’t seem to be a common thing to get big cracks. A couple big fender washers on the inside of your tank & it should hold fine.
I want to bond the bottom body pan to the main body, but to finish the mounting points of the steering column I need access to the underside of the dash, so the body is upside down with the floor missing.
Also to create an under dash mounting point for my steering column I need to create an inner dash panel, like some other kits have but mine doesn’t.
But to create an inner dash panel, I need to have exact outline of outer dash panel.
To create the exact outline of the outer dash panel, I need to know the holes and cutouts in the dash.
To know the outline of the cutout for the center instrument panel, I need to know the exact shape of the center panel.
So…to bond the floor, I’m presently designing an instrument cluster panel.I decided to make the dash nearly flush, like on an original MG, so that meant cutting back the flange close to the original lines. After that I went through several versions of templates until I was happy with the lines. Final white one is made from a piece of old fiberglass boat that got cut up.
Here is the same piece getting glassed in place
And the glove box side.
As you can tell, body is sitting upside down.
Weather is cold today, so it won’t harden up until tomorrow.Got my gas tank, custom made for the frame out of Aluminum sheet. It has internal baffles and is coated internally with tank liner from Summit.
Plumbed the fuel lines and rear to front brake lines. I like how they hug the frame.
Located the mufflers. Next week I’ll tow the whole thing down to get pipes installed. Then I can fire it up as a running chassis for the first time. Can’t wait.
Coming along nicely. Care to share the name of your tank maker? I am contemplating something for my car…
Sorry. Tank maker did it in repayment of a favor. A lot of skill bartering goes on down here in southern Maryland. A man without money that has a lot of skillful friends is truly rich.
Nice Job…please post a video of the first drive.
Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"Bill: Now that your TD’s body is finished, you going to do the fenders?
Allen Caron
VW based 53MGTD - "MoneyPenny"
"If one thing matters, everything matters" - from the book The ShackI’ve still got a lot of body work to do before body can be mounted. Clutch and brake pedals are OK, but throttle still needs some bending. Heater bracket needs fabricated. Then I can turn body shell right side up and bond it to the floor pan. I think fenders may fit as is, but I may have to do a little fine fit with them. That part is many weeks from now.
If the fender reference was meant for me, yes, they will get done…eventually. The wife made a substantial honey do list while I was away at Carlisle.
Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"ROLLOUT! Sent out to get the exhaust system installed. It is now a complete powered rolling chassis complete with fuel system, cooling system, and now exhaust. Next is bodywork to finish the modifications to the main body pan. This included making the top and bottom shells into one seamless piece including having a complete firewall and also in the narrowing of the hump as much as possible to make room for my feet and a third pedal. All the rough fiberglass work is done, jus need to do a lot of putty work, “fairing” in boat talk.
P.S. It runs.truly an imaginative and skilled craftsman, I hope you’re a careful driver or you’ll soon have more speeding fines than you need. Really it has been fun going thru your thread but Alfred looks like he will be scary fast. Take care – Mike
The one-piece body is in first primer. This is the coat that gets sanded off to show all of the pinholes.
It now has a real firewall. The firewall piece that came with the kit was only the top half and was missing 4 inches on each side where an upright of the frame went through. Now it’s all bonded together seamlessly.
Narrowed the transmission hump enough to have three pedals. I took about three inches off on each side.
The funny hump where the gas pedal goes is to give internal clearance for the clutch arm.That’s some serious work there. You’ve gone so far as to mold in the interior kick panels to eliminate the need for the panels required for the carpet installation. This will be one solid ride. Impressive.
Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"Good eye, bill. The very first thing I did with this body is to hang the doors. Then I bonded in barrel nuts to hold the latch plate and the hinges. I bonded in the barrel nuts because I knew I would not have access after putting in these permanent side panels. As a side note, I just saw a real TD up close and saw how they did the door opening limiter. I’m considering doing something similar, since the strap concept does not strike me as dependable. Any comments?
They had a short clevis bolted to the body and a long bolt with an eye that went through the door. The bolt would slip through a hole in the door frame until it was extended to full length when it would stop the door from opening further. See item 37, DOOR CHECK on the TD body panel page of Moss catalog. At $25 each it’s too much but I must have an old clevis somewhere….
The TD approach would be a neat, clean solution, with no straps showing when the door is closed.
In an original, the check bolt goes through sheet metal and the wood frame. In a replica, it’s going trough only teh thin fiberglass of the door and door jamb. I would be concerned the fiberglass in the door or door jamb might crack after a few unfortunately forceful openings.I used lengths of seat belt webbing, attached with finishing screws on each end, under the door panels and inner side panels. The force of the door opening too far is pulling at right angles to the fasteners, so I’m not afraid of any cracking.Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
I found heavy leather straps at Moore4motors.com Couldn’t copy and paste from their site.
Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"
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