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Hey gang,
My dash replacement is finished. Thanks for all the input and ideas. Its Bird’s Eye Maple with a hand rubbed finish. I re-did the wiring with some quick disconnects and put seperate relays on the horn, fog lights, high and low beams. Took her out for a rattle run yesterday with no problems.
Ringo
Ringo, Your dash turned out great! You did a quality job ,I really like the sound system in the glove box.
You made good use of the winter months.Thanks for sharing the pictures.Ringo, love the gauges as well. The white looks really clean. What source
were these available through?
Thanks for the comments.
Chuck, those are the original Classic Instruments gauges. Try here for the closest I’ve found.
http://www.classicinstruments.com/gaugeselector.aspx
Ringo
Ringo,
You did it to me. Now I have to really do it myself, which I have only half said I would. It will be this winter’s job, only I am thinking of kobolo.
Lee,
I have seen your wonderful woodworking. I can’t wait to see your dash. I made an MG logo in mahogany for the center of my dash which is figured sapele.
Ringo, your dash is stunning and the gauges really set it off!
James
Wow!
Ringo, that is beautiful!
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
Ringo, looking at your dash again, the itch has returned to replace mine. Can you give me some details on how you cut in your glove box, because that looks extreemly nice. You do quality work, and I would appreciate any hints you might have, even to the choice of wood, hinges, mounting of the radio, etc..
Thanks all for the kind words;
The base wood is cabinet grade fine
5/8? oak plywood. I used many different cardboard templates to get
the overall size I wanted, then made cutouts of the gauges so I
could do layouts with the templates on the car. The plywood was cut
out close to final size then carefully sanded down to final
dimensions with an oscillating sander. The glove box door size was
modeled similar to a real TD, with allowance for stereo access. (See
below re: box size) Once I had the size close to what I wanted on the
cardboard template and checked it for fit under the dash, I cut the
door opening out and very slowly and carefully used an oscillating
sander to get the final size of the opening, going as much by
calibrated eyeball as any thing else.Once I was happy with the opening size
and shape of the glove box I cut out the door using the finished
opening as my template. I made sure to include the hinges (simple
leaf hinges from Lowes) while checking this so the gap would be a
universal dimension all around. Then I used the oscillating sander to
very slowly and carefully cut the door down to a universal gap that
matched the opening. There is really no way to cut out a door and use
it as the door since each mistake on one will tranfer to the other
and multiple the mis-fit. I got it just right with the second one I
tried, but I had four other blank doors ready to work on just in
case. Then I temporarily glued the door and the dash into
position on a back ground piece of scrap plywood so I could apply the
veneer as one piece and cut and trim later after doing the finishing.Finished with Danish Oil, keeping the
surface wet for 30 minutes, wiped off excess oil, rubbed out with
heel of hand, repeated each day for 3 weeks. Then waxed with paste
wax. Then the hard part…..cutting out the gauge holes in the by
now beautiful unit. (Most gauges are of a size that requires special
order hole saws, the hole saws at hardware stores would not work. Use
your scrap mock up piece to check.) Then I carefully cut out the
veneer holding the door, trimmed off the extra veneer, smoothed the
edges and mounted the hinges. I first mounted hinges in one of my
mockup pieces to find how much to inlay the hinges to keep my gap the
same all around..The box for the stereo is just that, a
box of 3/8 plywood mounted with angle brackets with the side
dimension just inside the dash opening so it would make the door stop
flush with the dash. Finished off with vinyl, magnet catch, and stop
strap. I mocked this box up in cardboard at the beginning of my first
templates to make sure I wouldn’t run into problems. The first box
was too big and hit the dashtop, so before you commit to a glove box
size I would make sure to check this ?hidden? dimension You
might be tempted to make a ?big?, functional glove box but
there’s not all that much room under there.Used a router table to rabbet the edges
to fit against the fiberglass dash rim and to allow room for some of
the switches and warning lights to mount in the 5/8 wood.A winter well spent! I have some
photos around if anyone needs more input.Hope this helps.
Ringo
Thanks for the instructions Ringo.
Your dash gets my vote for the most beautiful I’ve ever seen.
Paul (are there a John and a George on this site?)
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
My bet…it came with the car.
Ringo has a Classic Roadsters Duchess. I do too. And that is the wheel CR provided in their kits.
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
Yup, the wheel is original. I refinished the wood when I did the dash, it was much darker due to the years of grime and I bleached the wood a little to get closer to the dash finish.
Ringo,
Where did you get your turn indicators and high beam indicator? I will be replacing mine when I rework my dash. The dash board that I made for her a few years ago got damaged on one end so that needed repairs. I got a nice new radio that has a popout handle so you can pull the entire unit out of it’s in-dash carrier. When the radio is out, the compartment becomes an open slot glovebox, so I need to modify the dash for the radio unit also. I love how you have yours hidden, I may consider doing that. I saw a stunning Allard recently and the dashboard was turned metal with black faced instruments. That is the look that I am going for. I already have the materials now. My other sports car has the turned metal dash with black faced instruments and glare has not been an issue from the turned metal. Here is a picture of the Allard. That is my goal for my dash project. It is very similar to the dash in my other car.
James
James
I think nothing says high performance like turned metal! Love it and think it would look great in your car, esp with the black gauges like the Allard. Go for it!
The indicator lights were my old ones that I re-used. I’m glad they were still good since I really like the large round mount on them. I looked for replacements to use but couldn’t find anything other than the hex shaped bases. I used a hex shape for the high beam, but its in the middle of the dash away from the others so it looks okay. I found this site that has a good choice of colors in the hex base.
http://www.watsons-streetworks.com/lighting_equipment.html
Ringo
Ringo,
Thanks for the site, they have some great products! I wonder if this link as well as the wiring harness link from Greg can be put in the links section of this site? Would be very handy.
James
Ringo,
I like your map light in the center. That is a map light? Hard to tell from the angle. I need to place one on my dash, very nice.
Was there a particular paste wax you used?
I tested the machine turned metal piece, and the angle on my TD dash was not vertical enough
. It reflected the sky much more than in my other car which is vertical, too bright to use on the TD 
. I will make mine of wood of some sort, probably similar to the one I had before the damage.James
Yeah, that’s a map light. It came on the original dash and cleaned up good enough to re-use. I have seen similar lights on some antique boats, might check some suppliers for marine stuff.The problem of the glare was one that concerned me when it came time to put a finish on my dash. I started to go with gloss, then read about the oil finish having less glare and with the advantage of being able to touch up spots without re-finishing the whole piece like you would if it were a gloss polyurethane or varnish. It’s waxed with multi coats of plain old Johnson’s paste for furniture.
(Are you sure you can’t re-do my face, it’s got a lot of miles on it.
)Ringo
James
Maybe one of these would work. At least it looks more period correct than some of the others I found.
http://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/modelaparts/dashdomelight
or this one that may be too big
http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product .do?pid=12761&familyName=Perko+Adjustable+Utility+Lights
Ringo
Ringo40072.7902314815
Ringo,
Thanks for the info. I do have a dozen of the Perko units in my parts bin. I am building a classic powerboat of teak and mahogany, similar to a Riva Aquariva (I am a former naval architect). The completion of the boat is two years away, so I may raid the bin again for the car. Already grabbed some mahogany for the dash and some of the chrome red LED floor lamps to light up the interior when you open the door. Looks like I may need to restock my bin.
But I’ve got a year to do that.Thanks again, I need to visit your neighborhood soon,
James
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