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Once I got the oil to stay in the engine (mostly) and Emma to stop marking her spot (mostly) and the carbs to actually feed gas & air into #3 cylinder, I thought I was ready for the show in Va Beach in October. Then Royal came over and said “Boy Jack, that is sure an ugly dash.” Unfortunately, I’m kind of susceptible to someone calling Emma’s dash “ugly”
So I set out to remedy the problem.I was going to try to engine turn some aluminum to make a nicer dash insert but I found that I do not have the patience to turn all of those little circles…..os I found a source http://www.fpmmetals.comthat can supply finished drilled dashes or just the petal panels in either stainless or aluminum.
They did not have a stock panel to fit, and custom cutting one would have been pretty pricy…and cutting and drilling one out of a stock, engine turned panel of .061 aluminum was the way I was going to go, until Ed suggested I look for an old, stock 1952 MGTD center dash panel. I found one on eBAY and won the bid for ~$60
Pretty raw but the chrome was pretty good and I figured I could paint the dash after “blue painter’s taping” the edges. In looking for appropriate paint, I found that MOSS has stock color 12 oz spray paint in Bronze for $35 or so — did not go that route. Went to Lowe’s and bought a can of Rustolium multicolored textured paint in Autumn Brown
I also took the opportunity of having a fairly empty dash to pull off all the rest of the handles, knobs, screws, etc. and stain/wipe-on varnish the walnut dash.After a week of staining, painting, varnishing, drying time and doing it all again for several coats, here’s the end result…
I had an extra glove box door from my project of cutting some Cherry for a glove box project on Abby so I stuck it on Emma’s new dash…the color contrasts vice matching but I kind of like that == also keeps me from having to cut another one out of walnut right now — maybe I’ll change it out some day but for now, this one works for me….I also had to figure out what to do with the two small holes in the center of the dash panel. In the stock 1952 TD, they were used to provide 12 volts for your accessories (i.e. trouble light, tea kettle, etc…)Again, Moss has the connector for $35 but then I would need the matching plug for another $35 — It turns out that the hole size is just right for a couple of Banana jacks. So that’s what I did:
Finally, when I picked up the car in Lima, Ohio, it had a registered Chauffeur’s medallion stuck on the dash on the passenger’s side — looked way out of place. I believe the medallion belonged to the previous owner’s dad…and it had been on the car for 35 years or so prior to my buying the car last year.I wanted to keep the medallion (and the story) but could not find a good spot to mount it…turns out I also had some ugly exposed flathead screws right in the center of the dash holding the digital temp sensor for #3 cyl temp gauge…hmm — so…
That’s where the medallion sits for now — and almost fits……still looking for something else to cover the screw heads as well as another place (maybe to the left of the speedo) to mount the medallion so that the whole thing can be seen.Again, a big thanks to Ed for taking the time away from his SOOB SWAP Mega-Project to give me ideas and advice…Happy Jack (even happier now that I don’t have to look at a really ugly dash …!!!)Looks great! What did you do for the top edge of the dash? I haven’t figured out a good way to do it yet.
Hey Derek,
Finding something to edge the panel if I had made it out of a sheet of aluminum was a big problem for me. I had purchased some Chrome metal (I thought – turned out to be plastic) glue-on channel edging –WalMart automotive section–but bending it around the corners was a problem — it looked like plastic edging on an aluminum panel and had crimps and spots that did not fit flat…..so to date, I have not found a product to edge a dash panel insert — that’s why I went with the 1952 stock item. The one I got is bronze-painted chrome-edged so all I had to do was polish the chrome edges and did not have to worry about finding add-on edging. I believe all of the original center dash inserts were made that way…???So long story short, I solved the edging problem by not having to use edging — sorry I don’t have a good source for a way to handle covering the edges. Maybe someone else will chime in with a good solution…???If you mean the black edging between the fiberglass and the dash — I got some black welting from my local discount fabric store — you can probably get it from a fabric store that handles marine fabric/automotive fabric. Also the fender welting is carried in different finishes and colors by MG Magic http://www.mgmagicclassicmotorparts.com
This fender welting should work for the dash. If in doubt, give MGMagic a call — they have always been very responsive to my questions about what to use and where to get it.Hope this helpsOk, I couldn’t see it very well and I was wondering if you had something else on there. My dash is fairly thick at almost an inch and having just the wood with some welting doesn’t look great, so I’ve got some stainless tape and a strip of that adhesive chrome bead on the edge. The tape is not a very long lasting option, but i’ve not come up with any other ideas yet.
Nice job, Jack. It looks real good. With Roy’s help you’ll have the whole car refinished before you’re done.
Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"you may want to try going with welting that uses a different diameter cord in the center. The local fabric shop sells the welting cord in various diameters for pennies a yard — cheap enough for experimentation.
Bigger or smaller than stock cord folded into a strip of appropriately colored vinyl may be worth a try???The dash looks super, right down to the the banana jack plugs, but I’m sorry–the GPS–it just seems wrong.
Yea I know — but I recently got a “73 in a 50″ speeding ticket from an unmarked DMV officer — partially because I can’t see/read the speedometer — big numbers on the BCW speedo are kph and the mph #’s are tiny…plus I’m 5′ 3” tall and can’t really see the speedo between/over the steering wheel. Of course, test driving the 200 HP engine to make sure the main jets were operating didn’t really have anything to do with the speeding ticket — it was “faulty equipment”
Long term fix is to move the steering column up about an inch or so, which will get me the clearance I need — but that is pretty major on this car (probably have to pooch up the gas tank to clear the angle change that will be caused by lifting the steering column).So in the mean time, the GPS keeps me under the speed limit and out of trouble with those “blue light Guys.”But I do agree, not exactly “period correct,,,,,,,……!!!!!”Bill, I helped Jack get Emma running so well that I don’t dare drive it. From there on, it has been all his effort.
Jack really gets off on major and incredibly minor (mostly cosmetic) “upgrades”. Jack even liked his fat boy muffler, until he got his speeding ticket. Now he has a hide-away muffler, a separate digital tach (the dash mounted analog works fine), a shift light and a GPS to help ward off the gendarmes.
True: his dash was ugly. Now, with a total facelift, it’s beautiful.
If he doesn’t tow Emma to the VaBch show, it’ll be because he didn’t have time to polish up his towbar.
(Fortunately he has a good sense of humor.)
Royal2014-09-23 22:47:17Top-notch work, Jack. If I were wearing my cap, I’d tip it. My Lafer’s dash needs a facelift, too, but with all the nice weather we’re having I can’t bear not being able to drive it. Maybe when our three weeks of winter comes, I’ll get it done. Till then, I’ll just enjoy looking at yours.
1981 Lafer TI
1600 cc Type 1 engine
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