At 07:27 PM 11/4/05 +0100, John Barrett wrote:
>"Looking at several photographs of De-luxes, it would appear that the Lift-The-Dot pegs fitted on top of the scuttle for fixing the tonneau are all of the two screws type. The same seems to be true for Twin Cams, whereas contemporary standard pushrods have the simple peg, fastened with one nut under the scuttle. Do I hear agreement?"

Uh, no. Most MGA roadsters I have ever seen use the two screw flanged studs on the front scuttle. I believe that is a concession for ease of assembly at the factory, not having to reach up behind the dash to install the washers and nuts. These would be installed with grommet head sheet metal screws. If you see single thread studs in front, I suspect they would be aftermarket installation.

For early 1500's the studs on top of the doors would be single thread with nuts underneath, but later cars didn't have studs on the doors, and many restorations have them intentionally removed (because they are a pain in the arm).

For later style tonneau covers where there is a narrow tab extending forward outboard of the grab handle, the single stud there on each side would be a machine screw stud with nut on the bottom. The location of this stud is quite tricky. If you get it wrong it can interfere with the front corner of the side curtain when closing the door. When that happens the side curtain .gets an unsightly divot, and the LTD stud often gets dislodged from the body.

I believe the factory installations always used single thread studs on the rear body tonneau. For the most common "long" tonneau cover which attaches just aft of the cockpit trim rail, the studs have machine screw threads and are attached with washer and hex nut underneath, and a thin plastic paint protection washer on top. For the "short" tonneau cover (aftermarket or dealer installed) the studs have a wood screw bottom end to screw into the wood trim rail. On very rare occasion I have seen double screw flange studs on the rear wood rail or the steel body tonneau, but I believe those would be aftermarket installation. Personally I hate the short cover attached to the rear cockpit rail, as it never seems very secure.

There is also an aftermarket type extra long tonneau cover which attaches to the rear hooks for the rag top using the same flat steel bar which is used in the back edge of the rag top. This type tonneau cover does not use LTD studs on the rear body tonneau, which could be a nice concession for the Homecoming Queen who may sit there during a parade. This extra long tonneau cover would use a few extra fasteners on each side to attach similar to the rag top.

For the rag top there are three LTD studs in an arc on each side of the rear body tonneau, always in the same location as provided by the factory. These have the machine screw base and are attached with lockwasher and hex nut underneath and the thin plastic protection washer on top. There is also a quarter turn fastener which is located on the cockpit trim rail at each side just aft of the door opening. This is attached with two grommet head screws. For very early 1500 cars when the cockpit rails were all wood, these would be wood screws. For later cars (almost all Roadsters), these would be machine screws with threads tapped into the cast aluminum cockpit corner rails.

For the 1500 and 1600 style side curtain stowage bags (to car number 78249, Oct 1959), there are two LTD studs on each inside wall just aft of the door opening. For later cars the stowage bag was changed to accommodate passage of a shoulder harness strap. These cars (from car number 78250) use three LTD studs on each side, with the top two studs positioned on either side of the slot in the fabric. These studs will be the two-screw flange type attached with sheet metal screws.

There is one more LTD fastener located in the center of the side curtain stowage bag to secure the cover flap. For bags purchased as complete assembly, this center hardware will probably be installed before delivery. The stud here is rather special, having a base flange which secures to the fabric without screws.