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MG TD TF 1500 - Full Tonneau Flapproofication

I use a full tonneau on the TF, but most of the time it is folded back behind the seats and looks like a half tonneau. I see this configuration in many pictures, so somebody out there must have already come up with a solution to my question... which is: How do you keep it from flapping when underway?
Safety? Fast?
Scott Ashworth '54 TF-lap-flap-flap...
S. R. Ashworth

Scott
Mine can get to flapping too. I manage to stuff the folded edge of fabric into the tonneau bars on the back of my seats. If it comes loose, I slap it!

Tom
'54 TF
Tom Norby

My old MGBs addressed this problem and I don't see why one couldn't apply the same fix to a TD.
If you were to look at an mgb tonneau from above, you would see 2 flaps, on either side of the main zipper, with lift the dot female fasteners on them. If you take the excess cover and roll it under, you would bend the cover 90 degrees downward over the tonneau bar, and snap these fasteners to the front of the rear floor which is elevated as our TD's are. The difference is that the MGB's tonneau bar drops into a couple of fittings that are attached to the main top rail pivots. This bar is bent so that it is a few inches from the seatbacks, which allows for the fabric and your hands to reach in and snap below. I never remounted the seatback bar on my TD, and have been contemplating fabricating one like I described. I've been lazy, however, and the flapping, as it turns out, doesn't really bother me!
Steven Tobias

Tom and Steve,
Thanks.
I don't have the tonneau retainers on the back of the TF seats either, figuring that there would be too much material to stuff in there anyway. You have made me remember that tonneau bar from a '76 MGB that we had a long time ago. I think that I can make a similar bar that would attach to the two rear sidecurtain bolts and cantilever it up from the inner fender wells. I like the idea of coming over a fabricated bar and straight down to an attachment point. I am sure that I will over-complicate this task as I do all others. (Guess I already have!)
Any other input is appreciated.
Safety? Fast?
Scott Ashworth - '54 TF
S. R. Ashworth

Scott,
One thing you can try is to wash the cover. This will make it shrink as it dries, offering a temporary fix when you put it back on.
Another way to solve this problem would be to cut a piece of either plastic, or thin plywood to the shape of the boot, and place it under the top portion of the cover,,,, this would make a "shelf" or "platform" that would extend from the back of the seatback to the rear of the boot, and from one side of the boot to the other, that the top portion of the cover would rest on. (The rest of the cover would be tucked under, inside the boot as usual) This "shelf" would keep the top portion of the cover flat, and prevent it from flapping. Try this method with a stiff piece of cardboard first to see if it works.

SPW
Steve Wincze

Strips of Velcro on the tonneau bar with matching pieces on the underside of the tonneau cover.
Phil Atrill

This thread was discussed between 28/07/2010 and 29/07/2010

MG TD TF 1500 index

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