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MG MG Y Type - Dashboard Rebuild

I had my dashboard veneered and polished by a local company in Kent who have made a superb job.
I purchased some new chrome surrounds from NTG for the glovebox and instrument pod and they arrived as a straight piece of chrome. Unfortunately, I have
mislaid the old surround for the instrument pod and
have made up a wooden pattern so I can bend the new
chrome strip around the pattern without damaging
my newly veneered dashboard.
Would anybody happen to have photographs of newly installed chrome strips on both the glovebox and instrument pod as I'm not sure how it is installed around the glovebox.

Mick. YB 0444
Mick Smith

i have just done mine Mick and it's fairly straightforward. I have no photos to hand unfortunately but the trim around the pod is simply held in place with panel pins around the periphery. The glovebox is held in place with the same panelpins which are then covered by the trim which is held by very small countersunk screws. Don't forget the cutouts for the hinges.

regards
Ian
ian thomson

Many Thanks Ian.

It's been a while since I first stripped the dashboard down so could you tell me where the chrome strip starts on the instrument pod side? I now understand by reading your earlier comments on one of the other threads how the glovebox fits into the recess and the chrome strip is installed on top. Not sure which way round the strip goes, presumably the angle faces inwards?

On another note, my car has all the wings removed exposing the jackal pump and the pipework. If you need a photo, let me know.

Best Regards,
Mick.
Mick Smith

Mick. I presume you are asking where the gap is on the instrument pod? If so, on mine it is at the top centre. It is shaped like a "J" and the hook of the j is goes over the end of the wood so that the round end is all that shows. It has to be neatly flush to the wood as there is not much space so the heads of the pins must be knocked well in out of the way. Try to get the arch over the steering column gap in a neat curve. The glove box is much the same only here you have to get the trim neatly out of the way if the door is to operate cleanly without any rubbing. This applies especially the screw heads which, if it is anything like mine, will have rubbed on the outside of the door previously. I had to do a little filling and dressing of the door to achieve a neat action. Thanks for the offer of the Jackall photos. I am struggling with getting the jacks apart at the moment and find I didn't take enough photos of the pipework routing at the front so I would appreciate some pictures of the front end routing if that is possible, especially how the clips go.

Ian
ian thomson

Hi Ian, presumably the hook part is bent over the pod and not the dashboard? I will send photos later today of jackal routing and clipping.

Mick.
Mick Smith

Mick, I can't for the life of me figure out why these photos are coming out upside-down, even though they are right way up in my downloads. Nevertheless, they might help a bit: pic. 1 is the instrument cluster, where you can just see the join in the brightwork trim on what is the right-hand side; on the glovebox lid, of course it is two pieces of brightwork - one between the hinges and the rest looping round the top and sides. Mine are the original 70 year old trim pieces, so come complete with little splits, but look fine in the flesh.
I also went down a different track to you, by salvaging the original veneer, filling in missing (water damaged) sections at each end, and making it as good as possible. I'll also put up a pic of the glovebox interior, as I adopted a different approach there. Yours, John.





J P Hall

Again, sorry it's upside-down: but you can just about see in this "work in progress photo" that as well as the correct little countersunk screws through the brightwork trim and into the ply, I have a second row of screws, with cupwashers to spread the grip, going into a secondary support plywood dash behind the visible veneered dash. It's very solid, and ain't goin nowhere!
Hope this helps. John.

J P Hall

Hi John,
Thank you very much for posting these photos. They are tremendously helpful. Can you tell me which way the trim faces around the glovebox and instrument pod?
i.e. does the J Type trim overlap the dashboard itself or does it turn back towards the instrument pod? I have had one attempt at bending this trim by hand which has not proved very successful as it seems to kink if you don't get it right first time!
I will post a couple of photos of my dash later.
Thanks again, Mick.


I've included a couple of photos for Ian.





Mick Smith

I'll take a close-up in the morning Ian, but on my dashboard the two trims are oriented the same way: the flat section begins inboard, and the curve of the "j" is visible as it comes out and curls back away from the instrument pod veneer; in the case of the glovebox you can just about see from my earlier photo that it's the same - flat section inboard, "j" curls outwards to be visible around the glovebox lid.
Hope this helps! John.
J P Hall

Hi John, It looks like I got the glovebox right, but I've probably bent the instrument pod the wrong way round. Look forward to your photos. In the meantime, I've posted a photo of my dash.
Mick.

Mick Smith

wonderful - perfect
what colour are the seats and the car ?
done it yourself with the feneer
FT Franz

Mick. Did you spot my deliberate mistake? Of course the gap in the trim around the instrument pod is half way up the right hand side as you look at it. Mine is original as far as I can tell. Unlike John's the "J" part which shows overlaps the pod but I don't expect it makes any real difference really. Thanks for the photos too they are just what I need.
Regards
Ian
ian thomson

OK - two more pics showing the back of instrument pod: the flat section of brightwork starts at the rear of the ply (what I clumsily referred to as "inboard", above sorry) and curls up and away at the front to reveal the nice shiny trim just lapping over onto the veneer of the main dash piece.
Same principle on the glovebox, except of course the trim is on the glovebox opening, not the lid.
Hope this helps.
John.




J P Hall

Hi John,
Thanks for sending the latest photographs. I totally understand how it goes together now and I will order a new trim and have another go.
Best Wishes,
Mick.

Mick Smith

... Still f*#@#** upside down sorry, but a couple of pics of the front of the glovebox side, showing the shiny visible bit of the "J" lapping outwards onto the main dashboard piece.




J P Hall

FT Franz,

I have a black car and when I purchased it, the interior had been reupholstered in cream plastic material which I didn't want to reuse. I tried for several months to locate a good cream or red interior without any luck, and eventually I was able to buy a poor green leather original set which I will be using in the car.
Best Regards,
Mick.
Mick Smith

So it appears that either orientation of the trim around the pod is likely to be correct, unless of course mine has been redone wrongly. It is also possible that "Fred" did it one way and "Joe" did it the other way. I strikes me, however, that doing it the other way from mine has a slight advantage in that tightening the wing nuts will pull the "J" section tight to the dash proper. Mine is certainly a little loose at this point. On a different but related topic when faced with a slightly damaged and time-worn glovebox I was able to hide all it's sins underneath a covering of the green landscaping flock paper which railway modelers use for grass. The colour is not perfect but it is more than good enough for me. Whether it will wear as well as the original only time will tell but I have plenty left on the roll if I need to redo it in the future.

Ian
ian thomson

I’m no metallurgist Ian, but it seems to me that the lads knew what they were doing back at Abingdon - on every “corner” of the bending process, the way the dash/glovebox trim is oriented on Y3348, the “j” portion is able to flex outwards, away from the stress. Even so, after 70 years, my trim shows a few cracks, but these do not extend to the visible j section. If the trim pieces were bent with the j facing inwards, I think the stress would cause an inward crumpling of the j section?
Good idea about the felt.

Mick - your veneer job looks amazing. It will be a real wow-factor when you get in for a drive! Did you treat the door capping the same way?
Also, I kept most of my original red interior leather in case anyone wants to use it as a pattern.
Yours,
John.
J P Hall

John. I had thought about what you say about the stress and orientation of the trim but came to the conclusion that both compression (on inside bends) and tension (on outside bends) were likely to lead to problems, with distortion of the "J" hook likely in both cases. Looking at it, however, this seems to be minimal. certainly tension would be more likely to lead to cracking than compression but how do you account for the lack of such problems on the instrument pod where both orientations are to be found, one on the corners and the other over the steering wheel cutout.
Ian
ian thomson

Fair comment Ian - I overlooked the steering wheel cutout. I think we’ll leave it as a “great unknown”. As I say, my 70 year old trim is still fine, albeit with a few wrinkles.
Good luck to you Mick, and let us see a piccie of the finished article - on your polished dashboard, it’s going to be stunning.
John.
J P Hall

This thread was discussed between 29/04/2020 and 06/05/2020

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