What to do with a 71 dash

[MGB SS]

New (aftermarket) gauges will be here soon, and I am thinking I have to do something with the butt ugly 71 dash.
Can the 72-76 dash be swapped in without to much trouble?  Has anybody stripped the pad and vinyl off the 71 dash and painted the steel any other thoughts or suggestions?
Joe

[MGBV8]

Where ya been, Joe?  You've been MIA so long you haven't seen Payl Schil's '71 roadster?  He stripped the dash & painted it body color.  Looks great.

Come to Dayton for the V8 Meet & see it in person!

http://www.britishv8.org/MG/PaulSchils-MGB.htm

[BlownMGB-V8]

Joe, decades ago I stripped mine except for the brow, added an early glove box, fitted early gages, added more gages and stuff then covered it in black leather from Tandy. It could use a redo now but it looks like it belongs there. Some guys have put in A/C vents, mine has an equalizer.

Jim

[MG four six eight]

Yes, a 72-76 dash will bolt right in and looks WAY better then that hideous "Abingdon Pillow" in stock form!
Some of the glove box parts for the 72-76 dash are not available new though, so you will need to source some good used pieces.

[MGB SS]

Hey Carl, Jim, yes it has been a while sort of lost track when the meets went to the west side of the country that and you know how life gets in the way, you are correct I should come to Dayton.

 Good suggestions, I thought I had seen a 71 dash that was stripped and painted just couldn't remember who's it was.  I like Paul's but would have to do something with all that blank real estate on the right side and a glove box would be handy, I think I would put in a DVD Nav head unit in the middle (if I could find one with a bright enough screen) where  Jim put his equalizer.  Jim I like yours but might be easier to find a 72 dash (maybe) than find a glove box and parts to cut in

[kstevusa]

Great to hear from you Joe, been a long time.  Sure hope you can get to Dayton.  See you there?

[MGBV8]

July 11-15   All your friends will be there!

http://www.britishv8.org/British-V8-Meetings.htm

[MGB SS]

Bill, Thanks I thought the 72 was as easy swap, anybody have one for sale?  I just put up an add in the classifieds

Kelly, good to hear from you as wells

Thanks
Joe

[MGBV8]

Guess you know there is a bigger cutout for the steering column cowl.  The cutout for the 72-76 is the same as the 77-80.  

I have swapped my steering column cowl to the 72-76 to get rid of the extra hump they added for the light switch.  More knee room, now.

[BlownMGB-V8]

It was one of the very first things I did on my '71. Had a '67 parts car and just went for it one day. That was 3 decades ago and I'd do a lot cleaner job of it these days, may in fact be a winter project this year. However I've never regretted the leather. It had some wrinkles and scars, some discolorations, never was real happy with the blending of the glove box door or the contour of the brow, but the feel of it is better than anything else. Plus it gives you very wide latitude in cutting and welding to suit your fancy. I have now adopted the XJS cam-lock speedo and tach mounts, what a difference it makes to be able to just rotate and remove those! Very tempting to just do all the gages that way.

Years ago I bent some heavier gage metal to replace the lower console and did my own layout on that. My mistake there was in not discarding the stock layout entirely, especially the awful rocker switches. They have all been replaced now but the square holes remain, filled with black nylon adapters.

Jim

[MGBV8]

"  I have now adopted the XJS cam-lock speedo and tach mounts, what a difference it makes to be able to just rotate and remove those!"

Mine came that way OEM.  

[BlownMGB-V8]

Seriously Carl? Why have I never seen that? You're joking, right?

Jim

[MGB SS]

XJS  cam-lock mounts?  would like more info,  Google only brought up Jaguars

[MGBV8]

 Yeah, no cam lock, but my speedo & tach do come out the front with just a press & twist.

[BlownMGB-V8]

Well the jag dash is wood so it is thick enough to recess a wavy spring behind the bezel. Then it has 3 brass lugs on the outside of the can which go through notches in the steel panel behind the wood. So you just turn it to the notches and it pops out. On mine I made a plastic foam piece that went behind the steel in place of the spring. Not perfect, the plastic foam is too soft so I'll use something firmer next go around. Anyway, glued that to the back side. It has notches and ramps for the lugs. Something made of metal with wire springs and detents would probably be better but a little tricky to make. Might even come up with something out of sheet metal that will work. Anyway it's a heck of a lot better than trying to get the screw fasteners undone.

If you are redoing the dash anyway it would be fairly simple to attach the springs to the back side before covering the dash, and that's what I am thinking of this winter.

Jim

[MGBV8]

That's the way mine works, a spring behind the bezel & 3 notches in the dash.  Push & twist about 30 degrees.

This only applies to the speedo & tach.

[BlownMGB-V8]

Wasn't aware they'd done that, wouldn't mind looking at it. Yours is a 1980?

Jim

[rficalora]

Joe, your car was one of my inspirations. Would be great to meet in person.  Hope you make it to Dayton!

[MGB SS]

OOPS double post

[MGB SS]

I guess I can picture what you are saying, if you put the springs behind the dash they would also have to be notched? was thinking this was some aftermarket mount set up that a person could purchase.  I assume you guys both have the Factory Smith gauges?
Anyway Jim how did you keep the brow on your dash is it just foam and you cut the pillow pad off below it?

Carl, my 71 has a big shroud on the steering column you think the dash cutout is even bigger in 72?

Rob thank you I think your car turned out great!!  And of coarse I always have a soft spot for cars done  with the "Omni Flares"

As far as coming down to Dayton I have Dam Inspections scheduled that Thurs and Fri but thinking I will be done by noon on Friday and head down for Friday evening and Saturday.  It would be great to see all the new cars, meet there owners and of coarse see a lot of old Friends

Thanks Dan I will give him a shout tomorrow

[MGBV8]

Not sure Joe.  May be okay. Guess we will compare them in Dayton.  I was just tickled that I could swap mine with a 72-76.

[BlownMGB-V8]

Joe,  I cut down the pillow foam to form a brow all the way across but I don't recommend doing it that way. The brow foam is a different density from the pillow foam and doesn't stick out quite the same distance once you get it contoured the same so there is a slight discontinuity where they join. Instead I would suggest a dense closed cell plastic foam, maybe something like a pool noodle but denser if you can get it. Plenty of companies around that sell that stuff in about any density you could want and it'd basically be scraps. I'd try to go above 6 lb density. Maybe 8 or 10 would work, you'd just have to see how hard it is to compress.

I used the cans off the Jag speedo and tach, they are the same diameter as the early MGB gages (4" I think). So the lugs were already there. Probably farther away from the bezel than Carl's are. What his dash has for stops and detents are what I'm curious about, I imagine his spring to be a sort of flat wavy washer under the edge of the bezel but that's just a guess. Something behind the metal panel would do a better job of snugging the bezel down to the dash.

Jim

[MGB SS]

I now have a 72 dash thanks to Carl and Jim Watson,  thank you very much guys,I will get pics put in when I get it all put together with my new gauges