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100% correct concerning spring rates and ride. Never understood why CMC told you to cut a coil out of the front springs on the Ford and Chev TD kits. Cutting a coil increases the spring rate.
However, my point with the VW TD is very simple and has nothing to do with the spring rate.The car is too light in the front period. The weight bias is much different than a stock VW – thats why the front suspension ends up being to stiff and the rear too soft.
MCM 800-543-4330
The Seat belts need to be mounted to or underneath the seat. However, make certain that they go through a frame member. There should be one close in the car you have as it came with it’s own steel frame. If you need to weld a support bracket – then do so. Under no circumstances rely on just bolting through the fiberglass floor. Even with large fender washers.In the case of VW owners the pan is not sufficient by itself.
After all is said and done the real area of concern is the windshield. Generally you have two 5/16″ bolts going through fiberglass holding up a big wind catcher. Post Caps Help by adding a couple of extra bolts and the Fiberfab MIGI had a steel support plate in the mounting area. CMC did not.
Part of CMC problems were brought on by a decapitation law suit they spent hundreds of thousands fighting.
Quick Answer
1)Daytona Automotive Fiberglass produced the first US MG Kit sometime in the early 70’s. Calling it the Daytona MiGi. Laverne Martenic had a copyright on the car. They had there own emblem for the grill. It was not the original MG False Nose Emblem.
2)Fiberfab started to produce the Fiberfab MIGI a little later and sold far more than Daytona. They also had their own grill emblem. However, way back in late 70’s and early eighty’s they offered a real MG TD nose emblem as an option. The Fiberfab MIGI was sold out of a bank building in MN and the parts were sub contracted out to a number of different sources. Most being made or shipped out of PA and some out of CA.
3)CMC started to prototype its own MG replica in 1981. They purchased a Fiberfab kit as a starting point and developed the VW,For and Chev TD. The emblem they produced for the kit was a chrome metal stick on emblem with TD in red. Before they had finished they got into talks with Valle at Fiberfab who knew that the MG replica market had reached its saturation point. They sold the company all FF and CMC cars were the same from that point forward. They offered two MG original style Octagon Nose Medallions as options. Black and white or ecru and gold and beige. They originally kept the FF sales office in MN but moved it to Boca Raton in the late 1980’s or early 1990. All Fiberfab products were shipped from Miami from 1983 on.
As a rough guess out of every 100 TD replica kits manufactured:
75% = FF MIGI
15% = Daytona MiGi – Includes London Roadster
15% = CMC/FF TD 8% VW, 4% Ford TD, 3% CHEV TD
5% = Other
History 101
I Purchased a set of JC Whitney caps and they don’t stay on. Also tried Auto Zone and Pep Boys. The problem is that they are not deep enough. I also went the smoothie route. If anyone finds a wire wheel cover that will fit and stay on please let me know. I’m tired of buying and returning the items. it cost more in freight and my time than getting the right part in the first place and of course when you call the yo-yo’s they don’t have a clue.
Good Luck
The FF MIGI Harness was all black as I recall but the wires were marked as to their function. I allways thought the harness was decent and so were the diagrams. Also the harness was included with the kit.
After FF was acquired by CMC the FF VW TD and CMC kits were identical, save for a couple of emblems. The wiring harness was optional but color coded, but the colors changed over time.
If you are rewiring an early FF MIGI with an all black harness you will need to trace and mark all wires. MCM electronics has kits for marking wires. On the colored CMC harness you probably will have to run a continuity test on all wires anyway just to be certain. Your other option is to scrap the harness and go with a custom made unit attached to a GM fuse block that comes with colored wires that are also marked for function.
Thats what I did on my last VW project TD and while the harness was very pricey i consider it a good investment for the time I saved and the peace of mind. All terminal,resistors,loom etc were included so I did zero running around.
Cheers
BH
Beautiful Job!!!!!
Can’t see in the picture but I assume you have some safety strap or device to prevent a blow over
We made up a weight box using old connecting rods to mount it to the front axle beams. Fabricated the box from aluminum plate it sits way far forward and below the center of the front axle. added 150 lbs and it solves the whole weight issue. Classic Roadsters used a similar solution I believe. The trick is as low and far forward as possible
