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MG TD TF 1500 - upolstery

I am ready to upolster the seats and I am not sure what to use in place of the horse hair backing found on top of the springs in the backrest part of the seats. The restoration manual recommends Moss'foam which is probably cut to fit or close to it. Up till now I've cut all new plywood seats and back from the original pieces as templates and I feel I can find a foam substitute to complete. My question is how thick is this foam supposed to be and is it closed cell or just cushion foam from the local fabric store? I already bought the upolstery kit from Moss in the spring when it was on sale and now I need to improvise to save sone money. Also the kit came with exterior piping for fenders and it is beige, the car is autumn red and I think the welting or piping should be the same color as the car. Im not sure. Please help me with these things? Thank you, Gary Emes
gary emes

Gary
I suspect that the piping to which you refer is that which sits between the top edge of the interior upholstery panels and the bodywork.
The colour is probably Biscuit and is the same colour as the rest of your interior trim kit.
This piping starts at the dashboard edge, travels down and around the door aperture, up around the top edge of the body tub to the rear top rail on each side.
The piping for the top edges of the doors is leather and does not come from the piping to which you refer.

Fender/Running Board piping does not come as part of the kit and must be ordered separately. Moss now only supply it in Black, Red or Green.
I believe you are correct in thinking the Fender piping should be body colour.
John Green

Gary, as far as the piping is concerned, yes you are right, the piping, if used on the bodywork, should be the same colour as the car. Therefore, if your car is red, then the piping should also be red. The piping on the seats should match the colour of the seats. With respect to dimensions or size of foam to use etc, if you feel that MOSS US are not answering your question, you might consider the following contacts:

The Heritage Motor Centre (UK) Tel (1926) 645 076 Fax (1926) 641 555

Moss Motors (UK) Tel (1274) 735 537 Fax (1274) 735 595

Brown and Gammons (UK) Tel (1462) 490049 Fax (1462) 896 167

The Heritage Motor Centre is probably the first place to start followed by Brown and Gammons and then Moss UK.

There are possibly other MG clubs in the US that could put you in touch with someone who has gone through the same process or there is a place in the US known as 'University Motors' with resident guru John Twist who is pretty knowledgable from what I hear (I haven't used his services yet). He has a website but I don't have the address on me.

Hope this helps.

Phil
Phil

In the US, try University Mtrs, but email Greg Purvis, he is the T type restoration specialist.
Univ. Mts has there own web site.
colin stafford

Gary, I did the Moss interior in my TD last year. The only part that I reused was the spring pan from the old seat back. I used the horsehair blank from Moss and it worked out very well. After you mount the spring pan assembly onto the seat back, you would cut the horsehair pad to cover the entire face of the spring unit ( but don't cover the bottem of the spring set where it bends back 90 degrees to meet the back board...This is the part that sits on top of the bases) and overlap the sides just enough to cover the coiled springs that run vertically up both sides. You would finish the top butted up to the backboard. On the sides, just make sure that you allow enough for the springs being depressed when sat against. You need to pick up a few yards of canvas muslin that you staple over the whole unit to hold the horse hair in place. Much easier then it sounds! Any questions...fell free to e-mail me. Good Luck
Steve Tobias

Gary, one thing that I neglected to mention...The Moss horsehair pad, if my memory serves me, is only about $20. It gives a very authentic feel and sound to the seat back. Please don't kill a nice interior with a peice of foam!! It will never look or feel right! If you are looking for some one who discounts Moss stuff, try George Merriweather at...www.classicr.com. He'll discount 15% with free frt. I've used him for years...he's a good guy. Unfortunately, He's on vacation until around Jan 10. And Yes, the piping (vinyl) is for the dash opening. You'll have the same appearing stuff in leather, as well...that is for the tops of the doors. Again...good luck
Steve Tobias

Just want to suggest that, depending on your height, you don't overachieve when it comes to stuffing the seat bottoms. By the time I got around to the seats, having done the top and interior, I'd had enough upholstery work, so I just dropped the seats and Moss kit at a local shop. They did a credible job, but even at 6' tall I found the top rail of the windshield to be more or less at eye level. The clearance between the top of my head and the top was also slim. The seats didn't look or feel particualarly overstuffed; maybe that's the way they're supposed to be.

After about a year of this I returned the seat bottoms and had them de-stuffed; they ended up pretty thin at the back. But I finally had an unobstructed view through the windshield and some decent headroom. The gap between the rear of the seats and the seat back is a little wider than concours, but not bad. If I was starting from scratch, I'd modify the back so that it sat a little lower.

I'm not sure what's under my upholstery, so I can't comment on horsehair vs foam. But I recently completed another seating project using NASA-style closed cell foam which molds itself to your body as it warms up. The results were more than satisfactory; the problem with this stuff is that it's punishingly expensive. Check out Hi-Tech Foam's web site.

One other seating tip suggested by Carl Cederstrand for those over 6' is to raise the front of the seat bottoms by mounting the rails on ramps. Before you bolt everything down, you might want to try want to try spacers of an inch or two under the front of the rails and see how it feels. I haven't tried this myself.

The next time I have to take the floorboards out, I'm going to explore the possibility of installing a dropped section in the floorboards to lower the seat bottoms, or at least the backs. I'd like to get another inch or so lower -- so my planned roll bar will offer some real protection.
Jack Williamson

Thank you very much fellows I think Im on my way
Gary Emes
gary emes

I, too, had my seats done at a professional auto upholsters. I supplied the seats and the Moss kits and they put them together. The seats are comfortable but I do sit higher in the cab that other TD owners seem to. The first time I tried the ramp to boost the front of the seat I found a significant increase in wind in my hair, and I'm only 5 ft. 8. My knees also hit the bottom of the steering wheel. I compromised by moving the hinged bracket into which the seat back inserts. Reattaching it about three inches toward the back of the seat bottom puts me further back on the inclined bottom, thus lowers my head behind the windshield (everyone following this?) The seat back became more comfortable when I did this, as I no longer felt that I was being pushed forward at the level of the shoulder blades. I still find a need to use a small pillow for lumbar support, especially on long trips. I thought of taking the seat back to the upholsterer to have some foam removed, but they are pretty comfortable to sit on now, and I worry that removing padding might make them bottom out on bumpy roads
.
A final word on the piping. I'm pretty sure the Moss kit comes with two sizes of piping... the larger diameter goes across the top of the dashboard and the smaller goes down to encircled the door opening.

Andy Moyce
52 TD
Andy Moyce

This thread was discussed between 12/12/1999 and 15/12/1999

MG TD TF 1500 index

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