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MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG TD TF 1500 - Side Curtains - 1952 TD

I have a 1952 MG TD. It has a 3-Bow top. When I bought the car earlier this year, it did not come with side curtains and at that time it did not matter because the weather in NJ was just fine. Well...now that colder weather is upon us, I have started to realize the benefit these curtains would offer. I have a heater in my car and I would love to drive it for another month or two (thanks for the encouragement Dave DuBois). The side curtain kit sold by moss costs about $800 which is more than I can afford right now.

Does anyone know of a place that would sell the kit for less?

Thank you!

RT

1952 MG TD MKII
TD/C 21061
RT

Hi RT

There is a set on Ebay now.( # 130166523900) I have a set of front only for sale, you might be interested in. I do not have the rear ones.
GARYKRUKOSKI AT Yahoo DOT Com

Gary
Gary Krukoski

RT,

The seller on ebay doesn't say whether they are for a two bow or three bow top, and I can never tell the difference from pictures. Good luck,

dave
Dave Braun

Dave

Thanks for reminding me about the difference. The spare set is a TWO Bow. From a 1950 TD

Gary
Gary Krukoski

Can someone tell me the difference between two and three bow side curtains? I have a set that came with my 53TD and they don't fit. They don't match with the windshield. They are about an inch and a half to short. I assume they are for a 52 or earlier.

Thanks

Joe Hine
J.D. Hine

Hi everyone....just a note on the side curtain thread, Mark Sherman was kind enough to send me a PDF file of the Moss instructions for installing side curtain covers on the frames. The instructions give the details of how to identify what you have, by various measurements and details of the frames. I'm glad to report that going by the measurements the frames I have apparentely don't fit TC's TD's either two or three bow, or TF's!!! Seriously the details allowed me to determine that my frames are the ones for the car, a 53TD with three bow top, by most of the measurements are out by at least half an inch from those listed in the Moss instructions. Another interesting job coming, I can see.

Cheers.

Joe Hine
J.D. Hine

Joe - Can you scan those instructions and send it to Bud Kruger for inclusion on his web site Ttalk. Bud's e-mail is: Bud@ttalk.info
David DuBois

See http://www.ttalk.info/SideCurtains/index.html. I'll check with Moss Motors about permission to use it. It appears to have been put together about two years ago by Grant at Moss. Has some great information in it. Many thanks to Joe and Dave for bringing it up.
Bud Krueger

While these are great instructions, when I fitted my new covers earlier this year to my original to the car frames, I found that strict adherence to them was not possible. I found the best approach was to first fit the frames to the car concentrating on alligning the frames to each other, the top frame, the car body, and the windshield. Some bending is may be required
The rear adjusting socket on the door makes a lot of difference both in rear height as well as the angle of the top of the front curtain and its alignment with the windshield. After about 2 or 3 hours of tweaking the bare frames, and standing back to look at them, I then held the covers against the frames, and adjusted to get the best fit to the car and the top. I duct taped the bare covers to the frames, and tweaked some more before marking them and and actually fitting to the frames. This meant the seam lines fell where they would. They actually were not to bad, but the curtains would not have been in the correct position had I gone by the seams.

End result was good and the covers fit the car, top and windshield as good as possible.

I did have the advantage of fitting them as I was fitting a new top, which I left temporarily pinned until I had fitted both.

Dallas



D C Congleton

Inside view- of frames and covers.

Dallas


D C Congleton

Outide view of Side Covers


D C Congleton

Do the side curtains slip under the flap of the hood? I can see doing that on the rear curtain, but what happens when you open the door with the curtain under the flap? I never cared with my old black vinyl top and side curtains, I have a feeling I'll care very much with the new ones!

dave
Dave Braun

Dalls, I'm sharing Dave's question. There are two 'flaps' on the top edge of the hood. The inner one is somewhat longer than the outer one. The top of the side curtain fits between them for weather protection. Is it just the photo that doesn't show it on yours?

Bud Krueger

From Kelvin Dodd at Moss:
Thank you for asking. As long as Moss Motors is given credit, you are
welcome to use any technical material that we have available. It's there
to help everyone and we appreciate you hosting and diseminating the
information.
Bud Krueger

Dave,

"Do the side curtains fit under the flap of the hood?"
Dallas has answered this but just to add that it is a common mistake for upholsterers(even experienced ones!)to think that for the door sidescreen to open freely the door sidescreen height must be made lower when compared to the height of the rear sidescreen.This is not the case,they should be level.The 'lucky' owner of the Hood work usually only discovers the mistake when they 'lift'the Hood up for the first time to find a 'step' between the front and rear sidescrrens.Ugh !

In the Octagon Car Club Bulletin(UK)magazine,September 2005,No.424,you will find a 6 page article (with photographs)I wrote on mgtf Hood and Sidescreen Restoration.Although this specifically relates to TFs,the principles involved apply to all T Types.

Since writing the article,the only change I would now make to the comments,is that Bifurcated(3) were not actually used to affix the lower part of the rear sidescreen to the rear frame.Through the definitive information more recently supplied by both Canadians Gordon C and Gordon L,the correct 'rivets' (as used by the Factory) were in fact of the solid type in aluminium with an aluminium washer under the domed head of the rivets.After 33 years you never stop learning in this 'game'. Cheers

Cheers
Rob.Grantham
TF3719("Aramis"),TF(9177"Athos").
Rob.Grantham

Thanks Rob! Is there a way to get a copy of the article you wrote?

dave
Dave Braun

Attached is a photo of the three correct rivets with washers that Rob refers to, which incidentally he supplied for my restoration.

Bud, I'm not clear about the two flaps ?

Dallas




D C Congleton

Dallas,

I think the flaps that Bud refers to are the inner hood material (inside flap) and the outer flap stitched to the hood material (outer flap). I know I used to slip my side curtains between them on my old vinyl rig, but how does that work with new fabric and opening and closing the door? Have you had any problems or thoughts about this? It certainly is more weather tight than simply shutting the door.

warm regards,
dave
Dave Braun

Yes - Dave and Bud, the side curtains do go between the layers at the side of the hood.
These photos were taken during the fitting process and I had not flipped the inner layer back to the inside after raising the top again.
On my "original" type top, which is the "duck" type canvas, there is an inner layer, or flap which is about an 1 1/8 inch and then an outer layer of about 1/2 to 5.8 inch. The curtain will fit between the two and will slide out of the outer when opening the door. It then requires a little help, to be on the outside of the curtain after the door is closed- like running a finger up and over the curtain from the inside?.

I actually seldom if ever use the things anyway ;>)

Dallas
D C Congleton

As one who lives in an area of legendary rainfall and who drives the TD year around I would like to add a couple of comments regarding side curtain fit. After fitting a new top a couple of years ago, following the advice in Horst Schach, then reading on to how to fit the side curtains, I found out why we had always had to stuff old diapers in the upper corners of the side curtain to windscreen interface to keep the rain out. Since my side curtains had been installed many years ago, I had to resort to a pair of big scissors to correct the problem, but we can now drive in the rain and stay perfectly dry in the TD regardless of how hard it is raining. The curtain has to be fit and the frame bent so that the front edge of the curtain fits snugly behind the square windscreen support and tight against the windscreen frame. The top of the side curtain must fit all the way under the outer valance of the top and tight against the inner valance. This results in a light rubbing of the front top of the top of the side curtain as the door is opened and closed, but the result is a dry and relatively draft free interior on the cold and rainy nights when driving to Register events, up to 70 miles away in mid winter. I am including a couple of pictures of the fit of the side curtains since fixing them (please note that these are 25 year old side curtains, so they don't look as good as the new ones anymore). Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

Ok, so I forgot to add th first picture - here it is.
Cheers
David DuBois

And the second picture. I don't know if the rest of the curtain is fitted exactly as the instructions indicate that they should be, but if and when I replace them, if necessary, I will again attack them with the big scissors again to get a rain tight fit. Cheers - Dave


David DuBois

Dave, the images didn't seem to make it, except for the last one. I'm VERY interested in this issue. Is there a chance that you could send them to me so that I can put them up in Ttalk?

A few years ago I had occasion to see a very, very original TD that had sat for many years. It still had the original top and side curtains. I was flabbergasted at how well the curtains sealed.
Bud Krueger

Bud - I shouldn't try to sen stuff when I'm in a hurry, I forgot to attach the first picture. I'll try again here. as for putting them on Ttalk, give me some time and I'll reshoot the pictures now that I have a better camera and send you some good pictures. You may have to remind me if you don't get them in a week or so, as I have 15 fuel pumps in my basement that are keping me busier than I ever intended to be in my retirement. Cheers - Dave



David DuBois

Dave B,

Is there a way to contact you off line ?

Cheers

Rob.Grantham
Rob.Grantham

This thread was discussed between 26/10/2007 and 09/11/2007

MG TD TF 1500 index

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