Thread: 51 MG restoration.

That wood looks great.

This rebuild as been such a lot of hard word work.

I'm vicariously exhausted.

The mahogany veneer from Lee Valley worked pretty good. Little tear out along the edge but the chrome trim may cover that.
After some trial and error, I decided roof flashing was the material to make my glove box out of. Original was pressed cardboard so the flashing although thinner will actually be stronger.
So I started with a cut out slightly smaller than the opening in the dash underlay to serve as my bottom of box.

Raised it up into the flashing about 1.5” so I’d have some material to roll around the back of the wood and used a ratchet strap and some epoxy I cinched it to shape.
Let it cure, then while the epoxy held everything in its curved state, I rolled the bottom around the wood form and secured everything with metal screws.

Punched some holes for the electronic chargers that are needed in every car these days, but I wanted out of the way in Noddy.

Intentionally left the charge ports raised off the bottom so the car manual can lay flat under anything plugged in.

Can see how I’ve left the side shape loose enough still to draw out the taper as I secure it to the under dash with screws, as well as roll the edge over flush with the front.
Will then pop a few rivets into the overlap before cladding the entire interior, in place, in black felt that will also fold over the edge of the underdash and be captured and hidden by the finished dash.
Shall be plenty strong and more weather proof than the original.


Also added the proper, enameled new medallion to Noddy’s nosepiece.

She’s going to look right proper again before long!

Cool, Mike! I have a stash of some thin aluminum sheet and I make such things at times with the epoxy adhering it, but get things lined-up for using a right-angle drill and some pop rivets to make it right for cure before the epoxy is applied after which the rivets go in.
I use wood and shims, anything handy to stretch it all out.

Good work! Fun to see

Yup, if I laid out some guide holes the epoxy wouldn’t have cracked during the screw in stage but thats ok, I felt it a temporary bond till the hardware was added.
Your way the epoxy stays part of the bond, I like that too.

About 12 coats into the varnish now, but granted I’ve sanded away at least half of them slowly building up the finish. Problem with saying perfect is the goal, is that’s an easy bar to miss and as long as the 1000 grit wet step shows flaws,,, rinse repeat…..
Aside from that, working on yet another little enhancement for the car. Under the boot is wasted space, IMO hence why I put the brake booster there. Well I think I can add a 2” deep storage compartment as well between the frame rails, so sketched something up.

Will be near invisible when closed and can hold the tonneau cover when not in use, or maybe the racing screens, if they fit..
Will use 1/8” x2” wide angle iron for my frame and drop an 18 gage steel pan in the bottom which can be removed to easy access the axle, fuel pump, or booster in the future for maintenance reasons.

100% resto-mod..
Cheers..

Dash finish is just about as good as I can get it. A few slight depressions where the grain was particularly open grained, but with wood ya really can’t help it I suppose.


Onto the hardware, glovebox door hinges and such, then I can connect the wiring harness to the main controls and start to terminate everything.
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