MTFCA Forum

Looking for some pictures/advice on how the upholstery is glued to the package tray. I have the later steel one with the single wood bar on the front.

Spray glue cloth to tray. No need to fold over or trim the edges since they are covered by side wall panels. Do not know if the wood strip on front of the tray is covered or not. Covering the wood will make it more difficult to move the seat back to the foward or back position so I didnt cover it.

This is what I got. The flat part has cardboard backing on it but I am wondering why the material doesn't go further up? I was comparing the piece for the lower window and it seems like there will be enough but it doesn't seem right that it would be two pieces?

Also, I have this upper backrest piece that I don't know goes where?

My metal tray is similar to yours. I covered the entire metal surface with cloth including the flange in the back. The tray goes in the car prior to the upper side panels, so when the side panels go on they cover the rear flange of the tray. Do not know why you have a separate cardboard piece, but there were several versions of package trays including all wood, perhaps the wood tray uses that cardboard piece.

I moved the panel back as far as I could to the bend at the back and mounted the wood. The material will only come up to where it is at in the pictures. Is this a problem?

Yes that is a problem, it needs to go all the way to the outer edge of the flange, you are about 2-3 inches short.

Is the wood in front of the tray or on the tray?

Never apply glue to the front of the panel and never apply glue directly to the visible areas of the upholstery. You should make the piece of upholstery big enough to stretch over the edges of the panel and secure to the back. That serves 2 purposes. 1. It allows you to stretch the upholstery very tight and smooth and 2. It prevents the glue from coming through the upholstery and ruining it. Jim Patrick

jiminbartow wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 12, 2022 11:27 pm

Never apply glue to the front of the panel and never apply glue directly to the visible areas of the upholstery. You should make the piece of upholstery big enough to stretch over the edges of the panel and secure to the back. That serves 2 purposes. 1. It allows you to stretch the upholstery very tight and smooth and 2. It prevents the glue from coming through the upholstery and ruining it. Jim Patrick

Good advise. I always wondered what would prevent the glue from soaking through the upholstery material if applied directly.

You can attach the upholstery to the back of the panel with a strong tape such as duct tape or gorilla tape. Apply Elmer’s white glue or yellow wood glue between the tape and the edge of the panel (not under the tape, but the exposed strip of upholstery between the tape and panel edge), so it soaks through the upholstery to the back of the panel and let it set up. No need to remove the tape since it will be covered. The tape is simply to hold the upholstery tight while gluing. The tape will eventually let go, but not before the glue sets up and takes over holding the upholstery for many years. Mine has held for 50 years. Jim Patrick

I ended up doing the best I could with what I had as I could have used a little more material. But the result looks great and it will work for an all original car.