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MG TD TF 1500 - Floorboard Patterns

Gentlemen,

Does anyone have a pattern or sketch of the dimensions for the plywood floorboards for a TD. My project came without the benefit of any floors.

Thanks
Bob Burns

Bob,
I am doing a frame-up restoration on my 1953 TD. My floorboards are out of the car and in my attic. If you send me your address, I'll be glad to make tracings on brown paper and mail them to you. By the way, my floorboards are not original. They were manufactured by my car's previous owner, but they fit fine.
Mike Johnston
Mike Johnston

Bob, remember that the front edge is cut at an angle to match the angle of the metal toe board and that the originals had a relief cut with a router to clear the heads of the various body bolts to reduce squeaking. There was also some sort of tape used between the boards and chassis (frame) to seal out dust and prevent squeaks as well.
Jim Merz

Hi Everyone,

My 1954 mgtf came without floorboards of any kind. I am trying to find a pattern for them. Does anyone know where I can find a pattern? One gentleman has a pattern from an MGTD. Are they the same from a TD to a TF? Thank you for all of your help. George H. NW Florida
GH Higginson

The TD and TF floorboards do not have the same pattern. Sorry. Bud
Bud Krueger

Here is a link

www.ttalk.info/MGTDFloorboards5.htm
C.R. Tyrell

Those are for TD floorboards, and there are a few discrepancies. Bud
Bud Krueger

I can't say for sure if these drawings are for a TD or TF, but the measurements for the seat bolt holes are exactly like the original boards I pulled out of my TF. The old boards are in decent shape, but the botton was sprayed with undercoating, the reason I decided to make new ones. Here are the drawings I used along with the old boards as a reference. The fit was perfect with the exception, I moved the holes rearward 1/4 of an inch for a tad more room since I'm using the original steering wheel. I/4 inch isn't much, but it feels a little better under my foot on the throttle and there's still room behind the seat. PJ




Paul sr

And the right side.


Paul sr

Those are supposed to be TD drawings, but there are a number of discrepancies. One of them is the mounting hole locations for the seat bases. Maybe those are the locations for a TD. They're wrong for a TD. The outer curved surface isn't right. It's about 3/4" too narrow.
Bud
Bud Krueger

Bud, 24 5/16" is the exact measurement my old floor boards are from the rear edge to the seat bolt holes centers. They still have the original threaded inserts in them, as being original, I might try to bring those old boards back life.
Like I said, I have no idea which car the drawings were originally for, but the measurements are correct using my old floor as a reference. They fit, don't know what else to say. PJ
Paul sr

I think the only difference between the late TD and TF is the location of the floor board t nuts, but I am no expert and I may well be wrong.
-David
D. Sander

I'm working with Roy Challberg about some of these numbers. There's a note on the drawings about the seat mount holes. The spacing of the holes for a TD seat are about 10.25 inches so the dimension shown as 15 3/4 should probably be 13/5/8 inches. My notes agree with PJ in that the distance from the rear edge to the seat bolts is closer to 24 5/16 inches. I had to add a strip of plywood abot 3/4 inch wide to the outside curved edge in order to have it overlap the main rail to be screwed down. Bud
Bud Krueger

Wow! Thank you for your help. This is exactly what I need. I figure I can make pattern floors in 1/4" plywood and then change what needs to be changed for the differences between the TD and TF. Paul and CR thank you both for the information. George H.
GH Higginson

George, my original TF floorboards are out of the car so I can measure them when I get home tonight. That's in about 5 hours.
Don TF 4887 South Oz.
DJ Walker

Don,
That will be great. Thank you so much. George Higginson
GH Higginson

Are the boards for LHD and RHD the same but "handed"

Jan T
J Targosz

George, from the back of the left hand board to the centre of the seat bolt closest to the tunnel is exactly 25". The other side is 24 5/8". The left hand is, inner, 24 15/16 and outer 24 1/2" The width between both of them is 12 3/8". These are the original floorboards. Don Sth OZ
D J Walker

This subject has come up before and the numbers always seem to vary slightly. I've come to the conclusion that being these cars were hand made and there were no robots at the time and no computers, the holes could easily be off a tad from one set of boards to another, assuming they were drilled in a stack. A jig was probably used for drilling the holes, but was the jig straight? Who knows. I doubt very much if my drawings are out of the archives from Abington. Probably someone with a cad program drew them up at one point in time. I will say this though, the measurements match my original boards, right and left. Even though I'm not a fan of undercoating these old cars, it did preserve the original floor boards very well. I don't think this 55 of mine ever sat outside much during it's life time, only one small spot of rust where a running board bolt hole is, other than an acid damaged battery box, no metal damage anywhere. This is why I believe the boards I took out of the car are the ones that came from the factory. PJ
Paul sr

Guys, keep in mind the difference in the TD and TF seats. The TF seats are essentially independent of one another for location. However, the seats on a TD are located not only by the screws mounting the slides onto the floorboard, but also by the sleeves on the seat back slipping onto the blades attached to the seat bottoms. There's also a need for the cutout on the bottom of the seat back to fit over the carpeted driveshaft tunnel. Bud
Bud Krueger

After looking at notes that I jotted down when doing the work on 'the53' plus a bunch of measurements made on my 52 this morning, I realize that the floorboard dimension issue is a 'chicken and egg' situation. Which came first. The TD seat base slides are spaced at a fixed distance of 10.25 inches apart. The captive hardware on the frame rails and floorboard supports are fixed. The innermost seat bracket seems to want to be 3.5 inches away from the driveshaft tunnel. This will space the seats on the floorboards. You then have the issue of the sleeves on the back of the seats and their mating blades on the seat bottoms. They're a fairly tight fit. Very little wiggle room.

Roy Challberg's words:
"Holes L and M are for seat brackets. Check location and drill after seats are ready to be installed"
are very important. If you are reinstalling seats that already have their hardware installed you will want to hold off on drilling the seat bracket holes until you can put the seats in position.
If you don't yet have the seats mounted I would suggest using the 3.5 inches away from the tunnel and 26.5 inches from the back of the floorboard as the location of the front, innermost mouning hole.

I'll work with Roy to see about getting these caveats into the webpage. Bud
Bud Krueger

Almost forgot -- today's measurements confirm that the compound curve shown on Sheet 2 is correct. The discrepancy was totally in my mind. Sorry about that. Guess I ignored the old --'measure twice, cut once' adage. red-faced Bud
Bud Krueger

Can someone tell me the spacing of the mounting rails for TF seats? Any chance that they're about 12 3/8" apart? Bud
Bud Krueger

I have a 1950 TD right hand drive. Are the floorboard dimensions the same as the lefthand drive model except mirror reversed.
Any help appreciated.

John...Sydney
J Walton

John-
I'm going to take a wild guess and say the overall board dimensions left and right would be the same, meaning the shape, the width top to bottom and the length are the same. The differences come in for the cut outs, notches and holes which may be different for the RHD. To my knowledge the RHD still has the starter and speedo cable on the right side and your '50 TD may not have a cutout for the footwell floor pan. You should confirm with someone who has a RHD for a better discussion of differences.

If you do get that confirmation and can mark up a copy of the sketches I would be glad to add a discussion to them.

Sorry that didn't help much.
Roy
Roy Challberg

Bud, about 5 threads back I mentioned that my TF seat bolts wre in fact 12 3/8"apart. I don't expect all measurements to be the same car to car.
Don TF 4887 Sth. Oz
D J Walker

Bingo, Don! That pretty well confirms the dimension on Roy's drawing to be that for a TF. Thanks, Bud.
Bud Krueger

Thanks Roy
I will try and have a look at a RHD TD from a chap not too far away from me. I will let you knoew how I got on.
John
J Walton

John, Roy is exactly correct. Attached find two pictures of my new floorboards on my 53 TD.


Jim Merz

Here is the second one.


Jim Merz

Many thanks Jim. Your images are exactly what I wanted. I am having a look on Monday at a RHD TD where possibly I will be able to take some mesurements. Hopefully, I will be able to post them to the forum in an effort to help others.
John
J Walton

John, http://www.ttalk.info/MGTDFloorboards5.htm is where the floorboard drawings are located. I'd really appreciate learning about your results. Thanks, Bud
Bud Krueger

Thanks Bud,
Will do but it all depends on what co-operation I receive.
John
J Walton

Not good news Bud as I was unable to take any measurements of the RHD floor boards The car was in concourse condition and I didn't have the nerve to ask the owner to take out the seats and carpets. However, as soon as I come to making my boards I will take measurements and get them to you.
John
J Walton

This thread was discussed between 09/11/2000 and 27/11/2013

MG TD TF 1500 index

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