MG-Cars.net

Welcome to our resource for MG Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

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 - TD Seat Assembly

The adventure continues.....OK, while I'm waiting for my new floorboards to arrive I thought I'd assemble the seats that Santa brought from Moss. I never had any original seats or parts so I'm a bit challenged.
It looks as if the hinges go in the front and the slide release goes to the outside. Is this correct?
I'd love to see a picture of the underside of the seats. Horst says that the large hinges that slide in the seatback sleeve should extend 1 1/4 inches from the bottom rear cushion. The Moss seats have predrilled holes that match the hinges but extend it out about 3 1/2 inches. What is correct? Thanks, Tom
Thomas McNamara

Yes, the hinge goes forward and the release to the outside. As for the measurement of the seatback hinge 1 1/4" did not work for me. I had manufactured my own wooden seat back and bottom therefore a mock-up in place gave me that location. The preplaced t-nuts at 3 1/2" may work, if they dont, make the adjustment.
Gary Emes

I have recently completed a retrim of my TD seat and the standard moss hinge position is correct. You can check this by measuring the depth of the seat squab spring assembly at the lower dege and then add the thickness of the plywood panel and the thickness of the monting face of the hinge pockets. Mine fitted perfectly. I have found other errors in the TD resto guide so I check everything before I start work.
Phil Stafford

There are several variables in seat geometry that have a lot to do with comfort and how long you can sit in the same postion. Carl Cederstand has published (somewhere) an article on seat modification for comfort. His main point is that the relatively flat seat bottom puts all your weight on the base of your spine. He recommends a wedge under the track in the floor to get some weight bearing under your thighs. When I tried that my thighs hit against the steering wheel.
When I first assembled my seats I felt that I was being pushed forward at the shoulder blades, and I couldn't get the chrome bracket adjusted to its most rearward position. I tried to alter the seat bottom/back angle but ended up grinding gears since I couldn't push the clutch all the way (I'm 5' 7). Finally I moved the attachement of the hinge forward on the seat bottom a couple of inches (I didn't measure, but suspect it was originally closer to 3" ) and got some improvement. I still need a small pillow for lumbar support. I'm not sure how high or how far forward the seat back should ride on the seat bottom. If the bottom edge of the back (still following me?) rests on the floor behind the seat bottom, the contour of the bottom doesn't seem to match up with my spinal anatomy. I think it's supposed to rest on the bottom itself, which pushes the passenger forward on the seat bottom. Since the bottom is tapered to the rear, this lifts the passenger vertically out of the cabin; probably why my thighs hit the steering wheel.
Another issue is the thickness of padding in the seat bottom. I got my covers from Moss and had them professionally installed on my original frames. He added some padding (probably to the back, also) which also has the effect of lifting us vertically in the cabin and into the wind. Wind noise was much more noticeable with the wedges under the track, even though the wedge tapered to nothing about four inches in front of the seat back.
In my dreams, someday I'll experiment with the seats, taking padding out of the bottom to lower me into the cockpit, adding padding in the lumbar area of the seat back, maybe with a little contouring to keep me in the center of the seat. When I first complained about backache from long drives in this forum (not the drives, the complaint) I was met with a "tough it out, it's part of the charm" attitude. Some had more radical suggestions like changing to bucket seats. As I look forward to extending my driving range and adventures, I'd like to learn more about what others have done to make the original seats more comfortable.

Andy Moyce
52 TD
Andy Moyce

Just rebuilt two sets of seats, mine and a friends. We used the regular wooden frams and the new pads from moss. I tried padding from a interiorer shop but it would decline as I rode and soon my cocic bone was on the wood. Then ordered the new pad and its fine. My friend is short and we did the same for him. His seat back was in bad shape and we rebuilt the frame as both sides were broken and lost the support. Used a one inch upholstery pad all over the horse hair and it has ample lumbar support. He had to push back the seat as he had been minus all the spring support. Now its just right. His springs had lost connection to the spring frame causing the lack of spring action. This cause us to have to redo all the covering and it was much tighter
Ellis Carlton

My Email address is incorrect. Should be CalineEl@aol.com Ellis Carlton
Ellis Carlton

Email address is still incorrect. Should be
CalineEl@aol.com
Ellis Carlton

I recently refurbished my seats and added 2 spiral springs (approx 2" high when expanded, probably half when fully depressed) under each back end and it is really nice for the spine (with the shocks probably not that great anymore).

Needs some care with the seat padding - must compensate the added lift at the back in order not to look over the windscreen. But definitely adding comfort
Mike Fritsch

This was my method...

http://www3.sympatico.ca/gordonblawson/td/seat/seat.html
gblawson

A couple things I ran into that may help: The front edge of the new Moss foam left an edge that showed through the leather. I used an electric carving knife to roll the sharp foam edge to a rounder contour. I also used some dacron padding under the front of the foam that overhands the wooden base, this leaves a nice and smooth contour with no lines in the leather. There was originally the rag padding there. For the seat back, the stuff Moss supplies (at least when I did mine) as "horsehair" was stiff,crinkly dark blue universal-fit furnace filter material. I ended up using that to cut some filters for my office! The fluffy dacron worked vastly better. I did stuff some pieces of foam in the lumbar area of the driver's side for a little better support. All works fine. At my whoppingj 5'10, I still stick up into the air stream, but no problem with thighs. I would nail and glue (epoxy?) the t-nuts for the seat back hinges in place, as well as checking for alignment/hole placement first. Otherwise, whey you install the hinge screws you can pop the t-nut out and have to disassemble/remove some of your just-finished work to retrieve it. Did that- it can happen. George
George Butz

I extensively modified my seats to fit my taller frame by shaping slight buckets in the seat back (getting my rump further back) and dropping the rear of my seat foam and raising the front with some cotton batt. I also added rodent screens and fabric breathers beneath the seats. Inspired by Gordon Lawson I fitted the cubes to my seat bottoms as well. Finally, I skipped the seat back hinge so I can position my seats where I need them. Once set, I never change them.

The whole effort can be seen at my website.

http://www.dbraun99.com/

go to the MG TD restoration and then to upholstery.

warmly,
dave
Dave Braun

This thread was discussed between 04/02/2001 and 18/12/2009

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG TD TF 1500 BBS is active now.