Top and frame

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  • #235020
    Richard Reynolds
    Participant

    @mgchef

    I have a British Coach MG TD replica that has no top or frame. What are my options? Thanks in advance for any advice.

    #259121
    edward ericson
    Participant

    @edsnova

    Should be easy to make for a boat top shop. The frame you can make yourself.

    It’s two aluminum hoops, 41 inches wide at the open end. The tall (rear one) is 20 inches tall, The front one is a couple inches shorter. 
    Bimini top hardware connect them.
    My inside mounts look like these. (Some other replicas use a top mount hardware)
    The tube connectors look like these.
    The tubes meet each other an inch or three from the inside mounts using a fitting like this.
    You will note that everything slides and can adjust.
    The front bow is something special. Get a nice straight piece of 5/4 oak, about 2 inches x the width of your windshield plus 2 inches. Center it and drill holes so it fits over the studs at the windshield ends. Press in the requisite fittings and finish it with something like spar urethane so it won’t rot.
    The fittings you need are BCW-only items. They are similar to what the TD had but not interchangeable. 
    Basically they are brass barrels or tubes that fit over the windshield studs, with wingnuts that go through the middle of them from the backside, to clamp them on the “notches” in those studs. 
    If I were making new ones I might buy something steel from this page, (or this one) (maybe 5/8 OD by 1/4 ID? measure!) and then drill a hole in the side of it and tap it for something like this.
    On my car (as with most replicas), the front bow floats. It is not attached to the aluminum stays except by the canvas top itself. I assume mine is oak but I don’t know for sure, as it is sewn inside a pocket. The brass (barrel) fitting is press-fit flush with the wood and there are holes in the pocket, underneath and on the inside, to accommodate the windshield stud and the wingnut (in my case a spade nut–a wing would be better and more TD like). 
    I would think that if you made the front bow and brought the car to a good boat top shop, they could do the rest. Tell them you want a zip-out rear window, and show them a photo of a TD so they can shape the side curtain windows to match. Mine zip in on top and snap onto the front windshield post and the body, as in most TDrs. The real TDs had separate front and rear side curtains and they were on metal frames. Very cool, but not as effective for keeping out rain.

    edsnova2013-12-22 10:30:01

    #259122
    Royal
    Participant

    @royal

    Ed’s right again on all counts.  

    I would add that it is very important that you know what you want before talking to the canvas guys.  I think that it would be fair to say that there are more differences between each of our tops than there are similarities.  Take a couple of pictures of a TD that has what you want.  For instance, many of the tops have no rear quarter windows, I have driven with this variety and find it confining and really restrictive on visibility. 
    I really do like the zip out (or just down) rear window and wish I had it.  
    My top side curtains have zip out side windows with the top in place.  Kinda nice but probably quite a bit more expensive.  If you live in and area with toll roads, you need to be careful that you can stick your arm out and pay.  
    Were I to have a new top made, I would make the driver’s side window 2 pieces.  One that just covers the door and up and the after quarter would be a separate piece with a vertical zipper to join the front to the rear.  

    A good canvas shop will have no trouble making what you want but the material is pricey esp the Sunbrella if you like that look.  
    #259123
    Royal
    Participant

    @royal

    One more suggestion.  Come to the show in Carlisle Pa in May and get lots of ideas and pictures.  You are not the only TDr that does not (yet) have a top.  

    #259124
    greg press
    Participant

    @greg-press

    I was in a amish tarp shop this summer talking to him about building a new top . When I told what I wanted to do he showed me lots of tubes , hinges and connectors an he said no problem. I will be going back in the spring . PM me in March and I will ask him.

    #259125
    edward ericson
    Participant

    @edsnova

    OK, so looked closer at my top and here are the corrections. The front bow is 41.25 inches, which is 1.25 or so more than the top of the windshield, not 2 inches. 

    The connectors are not barrels but apparently are instead two pieces of metal plate: one for the bottom of the bow, morticed in like a hinge and affixed some way I can’t see as long as its covered by the material that wraps it. The other looks similar but is threaded for the thumb bolt. Basically, two drilled holes in the wood meet each other at right angles. 
    So the threaded part is something like a T-nut or a weld nut (and I’d epoxy it in to keep it from spinning) and the “barrel” is a drilled plate or a washer–maybe like one of those square-neck kind.

    edsnova2013-12-22 12:35:44

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