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 Post subject: Re: Low Cost Interior
PostPosted: July 2, 2015, 10:35 am 
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Joined: June 12, 2012, 8:40 pm
Posts: 472
Location: Mount Airy, NC
Gauges

This wasn’t really a style decision as much as a practical one. I had the gauge cluster from the donor plus the complete wiring harness. A wooden dash like I put in my MGA would look like it belonged but I would have to buy individual gauges and then wire them. Wiring them wouldn’t be the problem, wiring them so they all worked would be. The gauge cluster would go into the dash and just plug into the harness. Super easy. If you have Keith’s book you saw that he used the gauge cluster. He cut a hole in the center of the fiberglass dash/scuttle and mounted the cluster behind it. Sorry Keith, it looked bloody awful. I could do a bit of fiberglass work on the scuttle.
Attachment:
Dash.jpg

Mount the cluster to the steering column.
Attachment:
Gauge Cluster.jpg

Trim the stock hood to match the cluster and the scuttle and there it is looking just like a factory job.
Attachment:
IMG_0673.JPG

Truthfully, I could have wired two or three full dashes in the time it took to do this. The New Car will have individual gauges to keep with the 1930’s theme. But it does give it a production car look not kit car.


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 Post subject: Re: Low Cost Interior
PostPosted: July 2, 2015, 11:24 am 
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Joined: January 31, 2012, 12:49 pm
Posts: 1713
Location: Louisville KY
Run87k wrote:
Gauges
Truthfully, I could have wired two or three full dashes in the time it took to do this. The New Car will have individual gauges to keep with the 1930’s theme. But it does give it a production car look not kit car.


Downside = can't roll back the odometer to 000 miles. AT least it isn't intuitive to do.

Upside = have you priced period-looking gauges yet? Dang. I mean, I thought tires and shocks were expensive. Ouch.

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 Post subject: Re: Low Cost Interior
PostPosted: July 2, 2015, 1:45 pm 
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Joined: June 12, 2012, 8:40 pm
Posts: 472
Location: Mount Airy, NC
Bits and Pieces

Really the only thing I put out real cash for was the steering wheel. I would have liked to go low budget but just like the carpet I had a picture in my mind of what the steering wheel should be. I searched the web sites, looked at build logs and checked car shows. Only one steering wheel was just right and it was made by Momo. Not only does it look right but it feels right. I don’t regret spending the money on it at all.

Steering Column

Stock Miata. It came with the donor and played nice with the wiring harness. It has the collapsible safety thingy which is good. It looked right with the other parts. The only down side was trying to find a universal joint that fit it. I went street rod on it using double D shafts. I’m not sure you can weld steering parts in PA and didn’t want to anyway. I don’t remember the details anymore but it was a tough part to find. The one in the picture is double D on both sides so that was easy to find. The big pain is hiding out of frame.
Attachment:
Steering2.jpg

Mirrors

Keeping with the MG theme the mirrors came from Moss Motors.
Attachment:
IMG_0670.JPG

Same for the wind wings.

Well, that about does it, not very complicated. I thought about putting a tape player in it so I could play the theme from The Prisoner while I drive but I’ve been told that they don’t make tape players anymore.


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 Post subject: Re: Low Cost Interior
PostPosted: July 3, 2015, 12:05 am 
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Joined: August 27, 2005, 1:04 am
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Location: Kamloops, BC, Canada
Your car looks great and the time you put into it really shows, congrats.
Kristian

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 Post subject: Re: Low Cost Interior
PostPosted: July 4, 2015, 4:14 am 
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Joined: January 6, 2015, 4:42 am
Posts: 73
Location: Southern Oregon
Very nice work! I am planning on making panels very similarly - I like the old British look as well. Did you have any smoothness issues putting the vinyl directly on the backing board? I was thinking of using the thin foam layer also. Did you consider the foam? Either way - your results look excellent. Thanks for the info!


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 Post subject: Re: Low Cost Interior
PostPosted: July 4, 2015, 12:42 pm 
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Joined: January 10, 2008, 4:47 pm
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Location: Massachusetts
Quote:
Your car looks great and the time you put into it really shows, congrats.


Not just your car looks great, this thread is a great controbution here - thanks for taking the time an deffort to show how you made such a nice car. :hail:

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 Post subject: Re: Low Cost Interior
PostPosted: July 6, 2015, 8:36 am 
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Location: Mount Airy, NC
Roadog7 wrote:
Did you consider the foam?


As I recall, the panels on my MGA didn't have foam. My Mini on the other hand does have foam. I decided to go without foam. I used upholstery material which is thicker than the vinyl that the factory used on the Mini panels which is probably why I didn't have any problems getting it to stay flat. One tip is to use good quality contact adhesive. I started out using some from Advance Auto, I think it was a Permatex product. That didn't stick well. I bought some serious stuff at Carpet Mart that worked much better.

horizenjob wrote:
thanks for taking the time and effort to show how you made such a nice car.

Don't let my wife catch you saying that. She says my head is too big already. :P

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 Post subject: Re: Low Cost Interior
PostPosted: September 6, 2015, 12:44 am 
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Joined: March 30, 2011, 7:18 am
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Location: central Arkansas
That dash may have been tedious to make, but that instrument cluster looks a-verra-nahss! The rest looks pretty good too.


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