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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Early Dash Recovering Tips?

I'm just about getting to the point (after welding up half a dozen extra holes and a radio cut out!) where I will be recovering the dash in vinyl. I'm envisaging glue everywhere and more wrinkles than the mother in law.

I'd be grateful for any advise/tips/possible pitfalls. I'll also be doing the crash pad, door cappings and door pockets - each with a sense of dread!!

Thanks!
John Payne

John, I used a spray upholstery adhesive, applied thinly to the dash and the vinyl. It's a contact adhesive, but still allows time for lifting and repositioning as you work around the edges to get wrinkles out.

Leave cutting out the holes until it has fully dried. I am pleased with the result
GuyW

A hairdryer to warm the dash and the vinyl can help to stretch and get a result without wrinkles. The glue drys quicker though.
Flip Brühl

Thanks Guy and Flip, just the sort of things I need to know. I think the glue I have is just normal contact adhesive so I'll try and get hold of some proper upholstery stuff.

Just finishing off filling and then priming so almost ready to have a go!
John Payne

John

I used Evostick on my leather look vinyl (skip dived roller blackout blinds), waiting for it to get to the tacky stage of drying.

Use plenty of old wooden clothes pegs (and keep for project DIY and garage use afterwards having bought some new wooden replacements for the laundry first).

Make sure you have all the metal clips you took off/bought replacements for the ones that pinged off into infinity never to be found again (joining their other long lost fastener friends)

Take pictures of the back and decipher any crayon marks before covering. Relates to production line car build options apparently - Tom C may wish to elucidate.

Cheers
Mike
M Wood

The clothes pegs sound like a great idea! Just about to order some clips as seems daft to put old rusty ones back on.

Cheers
John Payne

John

A few pics here: http://austinhealeyspritemk2.blogspot.com/2013/05/dashboard-repair.html

Cheers
Mike
M Wood

Thanks everyone for the tips and photos, did the recovering last night and it turned out really well, just about perfect in fact.

I think I used all the above tips though instead of a hairdryer I did it in the warm afternoon sun. That seemed to help a lot as the vinyl was really supple and could be stretched round the fiddly bits at the end.

Another of the jobs I was dreading out of the way - plus I feel a lot more confident about tackling things like the cockpit cappings and door pockets now!

Cheers

John

John Payne

This thread was discussed between 27/04/2019 and 16/05/2019

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