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Hello Tony!
Welcome aboard! We’re full of it here; er, I mean we’re full of lots of useful info about these little cars.But I’ll start with a question, what do you have?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)
Welcome aboard, Tony!
Vicenç - (bee sense)
Pembroke Pines, FL
1986 Aston - BCW Model 52 - "Montse II"(1983 FiberFab MiGi II - "Montse")
Welcome aboard Tony. You’ll have questions and we’ll have answers and more questions. You will find this is going to be a fun ride!
Allen Caron
VW based 53MGTD - "MoneyPenny"
"If one thing matters, everything matters" - from the book The ShackIt’s a Fiberfab on a 1971 VW irs based platform. It sat in a basement for many years, bought it got it home put lots O love into it. I have it running and driving (lights work, stops) What I need are seat platforms and a carpet kit. If anyone knows where I might find those items please let me know.
Cheers, Tonycarpet kit available from
a gic.Seat platform not to hard to make. Upholstery kits also available from MG Magic.
Having recently made my own wooden seat platforms, this is my assessment the difficulty involved in making the seat platforms. I am a very amateur woodworker, I have portable power tools and no dedicated wood shop, but hey, I thought, how hard can it be to build new seat bases? Well, it was a lot harder than I thought. You need to thoroughly think this through before you do anything, because your butt is going to either appreciate or curse your work for the entire time you own the car. Most of the difficulty is in the design. Cleanup is a chore, too — my wife hates the mess I made in the garage. Dust everywhere.
To begin your design, you need a ton of information, like how high or low you want to sit, what angle you want for the seat (I wanted more of a bucket than the original fiberglass seatbases), and how far forward or backward the seat bases will go (because the bottoms are separate from but still have to work with the seatback). Not sure about putting adjustable tracks on them, because that was beyond my expertise and I am just bolting my bases directly to the floor. You also need to know how long the seatcushion is going to be, and how wide (depends on your desires and your car). Don’t forget to figure on the thickness of the seatcushion you are installing. Last, you need to determine how you are going to mount the contraption to the floor. Even the thickness of any horizontal pieces of wood must be kept in mind (in my case, I have a plywood base that mounts to the floor, a plywood top to which the cushion’s plywood screws into, thus three horizontal pieces of plywood totalling over 1-1/2″). If you want folding seatbottoms for storage, better design in some hinges. Your design job will be even more difficult than mine, because I at least had the old seat bases and cushions to go by.By the way, your seatcushions won’t work with MG Magic’s upholstery kits unless they are the same size and shape that work with such kits. Maybe MG Magic could supply a template for the seat cushion base? I think it’s just easier to get an upholsterer to make the seat rather than try to fit a kit. Like they say, these cars are like snowflakes, no two are alike.Now you are ready to design. Once you have everything designed, then you can go buy whatever lumber you need and start layout and cutting. The actual cutting and assembly took me about a day, because I don’t have a full wood shop and yet I insist on smooth wood, sharp joints, and symmetry for both sides. There is also grinding and sanding to get everything smooth, since you’re going to be putting either upholstery or carpeting over it and you can’t have rough edges. In my case, I chose to make a plywood base that fits into the floorpan of the Beetle, allowing me to screw the “risers” of the seat base to that and then bolt the plywood to the floor. If only the Beetle floorpan was square, that would be easy, but it’s nowhere near square. I made cardboard templates first and even then there was a lot of sanding and grinding on the final product to get them to fit nicely.On the plus side, I’ve test-sat my new seatbases and seatback with substitute cushions, and I’m very happy with the results. I wanted to sit low, and I’ve got it. In fact, I might even be a little too low, but it’s MUCH easier to raise the seat up than to lower it. I will have a professional make custom upholstery and cover the wooden seatbases with carpet, so it should end up looking nice, too.Difficulty of any project is hard to judge. If you are an experienced designer and woodworker with a shop full of tools, this would probably be a snap. If you just do projects occasionally using hand tools like I do — I think it’s pretty darned hard. Easier than making a grand piano, yes. Easy as a birdhouse or shelf? No way.My car is a Fiberfab and I have the fiberglass seatbases that came with the kit. At this point I am still trying to decide whether I want to sell them, or keep them in case the next buyer is shorter than I am and wants the higher original seatbases.johnsimion2015-04-09 02:47:24
I found a 6inch fixed base with a adjustable sliding top. I think this will work fine for me.
merman wrote:I found a 6inch fixed base with a adjustable sliding top. I think this will work fine for me.If they are the Empi brand, you’ll likely find that you most cut and rotate, then reweld the back leg closest to the tunnel due to the mounting tabs. There is less space in that corner than farther forward, where these were designed to fit underneath the front seats….KentT2015-04-09 13:10:55
Early FF TDr on 69 VW pan
Slowly coming back from the ashes...
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