Inner Grill Fiberglass

[newkitman]

Cleaning the grill pieces on my kit. The black inner grill fiberglass piece is etched to remove the center part. I thought that was odd being I have a VW kit. Upon further inspection, I noticed, etched in the corner of the portion that’s supposed to be removed, are the words “Ford or Chevy”. Is the fit of this piece different beteen Ford/Chevy and the VW kit? Thanks.

Oh…it was great working on the kit this weekend. 70 degrees and sunny. Looks like rain moving in tonight. Had to add that. Anyway…  

newkitman40573.7422337963

Allen Caron
VW based 53MGTD - "MoneyPenny"
"If one thing matters, everything matters" - from the book The Shack

[Larry Murphy]

 Allen , This is what you could call general information and is not specific to any particular kit. Some kits use an actual MGTD grille shell which in some cases must be cut [trimed] to fit and some use a grille made by the kit manufacturer. That being said, I can see no reason to trim out the fiberglass panel behind the grille on a VW based car. It allow air and water to enter the trunk area if removed.Many VWbased cars have the trunk area sealed off and even carpeted . This is a big advantage of the VW cars.

 However on the front engined cars, the panel must be trimed out to allow air to the radiator. I am not sure if the same panel was provided for both type cars . If the panels would enterchange,it would have saved production costs and left more work for the builder.

[Paul Mossberg]

The Fiberfab assembly manual for Ford based kits and the CMC (Fiberfab) assembly manuals say to “Cut the fiberglass liner on the scribed lines, including hole for radiator cap.” (See page 45)

So Larry’s explanation is right on target.

Leave the fiberglass grill shell insert whole for VW kits and cut it on the scribed lines for front engine kits

Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica Roadster

If 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)

[newkitman]

Alright…I have the correct grille shell. Just wondered if I had a correct one or not. That was my main concern. I figured the grille shell for my VW based TD was going to stay intact.

As for carpeting the trunk area, I haven’t decided yet. Still a long way before I get to that.

Thanks guys.

Allen Caron
VW based 53MGTD - "MoneyPenny"
"If one thing matters, everything matters" - from the book The Shack

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