Final body prep is nearly done, hoping it will be painted one weekend in October.
In between doing that, my father and I finished fabricating the gearbox mounts and cross member for the new box (OK mainly him), which he welded up today. I like the way he has taught me to do things; for instance, we cut the old mounts off as the angle was OK then fitted everything up in situ so that we knew it would fit naturally and not have to force anything. Once that's done dad just does a few tack welds to hold the various parts, followed by proper welding after removing it. Result? it all fits perfectly so I painted it this afternoon and can fit it in a few days once its hardened.
Now onto the steel dashboard. The car I'm building started life as a later rubber bumper car which has a different dash to the steel one I want to fit from my original now donor car, the main difference is the width of the main gauges apart to make room for the collapsible column I'm told. Who said you couldn't fit a steel dash to a later car?!
This is the dash from my beloved GT that's now giving its life for another. I did think about getting a MK1 dash as I like the key in the centre but then i thought why not just modify mine? The round hole in the middle under the air vents was where I wanted the key, but the windscreen wash plunger was there so i needed to relocate that. One of the rectangular switch holes next to it just had a plastic blank inserted, so I moved the headlight switch from above the oil pressure gauge to this blank, and decided to fill in its current hole and fit the plunger there (which is where it is on early B's)
This is the plunger hole that had to be only slightly opened up and tidied with a file to allow my new Lucas ign switch to sit in
And here is the plunger in its new location, the welds will be tidied up before painting:
Those who know MGB's know that the overdrive models have an overdrive switch to the far side of the fuel gauge near the drivers door. As my car has a 5 speed box now and won't be using this, I debated what to put there or just fill the hole? I;ve always wanted a start button on the car and took a long time to find one I liked. I liked the red ones you see online, but these look out of plate with the retro look I want on the car. I eventually found this lovely chrome button which is slightly recessed too, so no fear of anyone accidentally pressing it. The great thing with having this here too is I can start the car with my right hand and adjust the choke if needed with my left.
Now that was done, I had to get it into the car! In the earlier cars, the dash serves as the mount for the steering column, but the later cars with a collapsible column don't need this, so it was cut away:
My main concern is whether the shroud for the column would need spreading to get over it. As it turns out, it fits with room to spare!
I nipped it up so it would be sitting correctly then checked the clearance to the dials. Here you can see the back of the speedometer, and the odometer cable will exit above the green box bar you see
Finally I put all the gauges in, just to see how they looked, and they look gooooood
I realise going this route means I will need to make a specific column cowl, but I use design packages so can get one 3D printed or just make one up of fibreglass. I will use the indicator stalk from the later cars but retain the headlight and wiper switch locations from the dash.
So tomorrow I plan to fit the crossmember, paint the underside where we had to 'dress' it for clearance, finish paint stripping the dashboard and then obviously just doing the final body prep.
