Thread: 51 MG restoration.

Moving along. Floors epoxied and painted up, mahogany veneer glued up and now intothe final fitment of the center covers. I’m waiting for my marine spar varnish to top coat the dash in. Once that’s done, so is the dash. Should outlive me, and my kids.


I need to fabricate a 6” cowl extension still to tie the tranny and ebrake cowls because of the engine move and would need to clean up the bottom edges regardless. Sound panel and carpets will hide their age well.
Also got the end bushing replaced on my sway bar using the press at work, so ready to get that installed as well.

Cup holder area.

The cup holder wasn’t standard equipment in 51. I believe the Brit’s loved their overpass diners and pulling over for tea more than we like to drink our joe on the go
I will be adding one on this resto though for sure Jerry.
Just not sure where yet.
I’m thinking a secondary dash strip, under the original to house that, the ashtray, lighter port, and heater control knob. None of those were oem, and by adding them on a dedicated dash strip it will be easy to remove the whole shabang later if someone wanted to go true oem layout.
Thinking mid cowl, above the shifter, which will be getting a 6” custom extension to bring it back where it used to be. The throw is too far forward for my liking thanks to moving the engine, as expected..
I needed the floors in to really decide if that was going to be an issue or not and I think it will.
Today trying to decide on the glovebox itself. Original was pressed cardboard rolled into a tube of sorts, then flocked. I tried one in 1/4” ply but don’t like the results. May hit the hardware store for some ducting metal and try to roll something closer to original. Will line it with felt as I have no black flock.
Another sunny, but cold weekend.
Full can of diesel and the misses pulled another weekend shift at the retirement home due to short staff..
Time is all mine. Hehe.

And a lil present from Amazon arrived early, as recommended by the Texas tech support line!

Should provide a nice spark upgrade in conjunction with the new carbs!

If you use points to trigger it Mike, remember NO condenser!
I never put a digital on a 4 cyl. Had to cut wires on the old Analog ones. Might be a switch?
You will figure that out!

I was hoping to use the optical pick up, but did order new points for the tr3 distributor in case that’s the way to go. Is coming with the order from uk still.
Right now,time to stop and clean again. Make that switch to electrical work and clean up all the wood and metal working tools and debris.
Looking for parts now I haven’t seen in a long while, and things are stashed behind newer boxes etc.. what a pain losing that extension was for this project..
Grrrr.

Safely got the busted windshield stripped down today for recutting by a local guy.

And got the windshield wiper motor and drive, as well as the defroster vents installed after cleaning up the chrome!

These are so high up in the cowl, they needed to go in before glovebox, gauges, and wiring.
Happily they don’t interfere with any of the original kit, although the passenger defroster is going to mean a little adjustment to the glovebox shape.
Better to know now, rather than later.