A dash of style

I'd searched the internet and my own books for pictures of period dashboards and found that the ones I liked most wouldn't work in my car because of the constraints of the double hump bulkhead as used in MGs before the war. This rather dictated the general positioning of instruments so I opted for the principal dials to be á la MG - rev counter in front of driver and speedo in front of passenger. Presumably this was done because in motoring competition the rev counter was the key dial, not the speedo. Anyway, having thrown away the exterior ply dash - what to use? It had to be engine turned aluminium, which, after a lengthier search that I had imagined was found at Europa Specialist Spares. Using the bulkhead as a pattern I created a cardboard pattern which I then transferred to hardboard and checked fit against the bulkhead. Next was the marking out of the instruments and switches - quite a time-consuming process but important to get right. With a degree of trepidation I set about marking out the ally and then cutting it out. This was done with a mixture of tools - the guillotine to remove larger pieces and then tin snips and the linisher to finish off. The different holes were cut with hole cutters and then, if needed, enlarged by hand with a file.

A fair bit of jiggling was necessary to get the dash to sit at the right height relative to the steering column and the bulkhead itself. The dash is held in place with some chrome bumper bolts that I managed to find, but which were too big so I ground them down and then painted the heads with a steel coloured paint.

So - which instruments to use? I wanted period style instruments and spent hours looking on Ebay. The odd 5" diameter speedo and rev counter would appear, but rarely a matching pair. If a matching pair did show up then invariably the price was far too high to consider. Eventually, a matching pair of dials appeared - according to the seller, of unknown heritage. A quick Google showed that they came from a Mark VII Jag of late 40's or early 50s vintage. These would be fine I thought so bid on them and won. When they arrived I found that the instruments sat behind the dash rather than held in place by a bezel to the outer face of the dash. In order for them to fit I mounted three machine screws from the dash front, held in place by nuts behind the dash, that would match the fixing brackets on the dials. A piece of duct tape on the inner dash face acts as a gasket between dial and dash to stop water getting in.

OK - so now I have a 6 cylinder cable driven rev counter and a much higher geared speedo than is suitable for the Brookvale Special. A check on Google quickly found a company in Yorkshire that would convert the rev counter to an electronic one for 4 cylinder operation so the rev counter was despatched by post for conversion. I had spoken to Speedy Cables about recalibrating the speedo but surprisingly, despite several emails, I never received a reply about costs. What did surprise me was that the Herald speedo cable fitted the Jag speedo, although it was too short for the revised position. I thought I'd try Speedograph Richfield in Nottingham (another Google find) and emailed them asking if I could order a standard Herald cable but 20 cm longer. Within an hour and a half I had received a reply saying the cable was made. How about that for service! I was then in no doubt where the speedo would go recalibration.

Recalibration - that's a game. Mark a rear wheel and a make a corresponding mark on the body. Make up a flag and connect it to the end of the speedo cable (speedo end) and push the car for 6 revolutions whilst recording the number of turns of the speedo cable. SWMBO was enrolled for this task as I did the grunting and panting (pushing). Together with the result of the above, the speedo was sent of to Nottingham and returned in 2 weeks looking like new, with zeroised oddometer and a new trip reset arm (missing when purchased). I can't praise Speeodgraph Richfield highly enough for a superb service.

Together with other older style instruments and switches I set about rebuilding my new dash.

In my desire for a period feel, I had bought a Lucas style ignition switch and an older style dash light switch. These older style switches use screw connections rather than the Lucar type which does give a bit of grief as they tend to increase the diameter of the switch because the wires stick out at 90 degrees to the switch. Not only that but they are not easy to get a chunky cable (or two twisted together) to fit. Still, after much perseverance and a degree of swearing, the dash was built up.

A bit of metal bashing

I have always wanted to be able to shape metal, particularly aluminium. However, I've never had the opportunity or the tools to do so. All I have at my disposal is a metal guillotine, a sheet metal folder, and various hand cutters, snips, etc. So having decided that the central ply transmission tunnel had to go, the obvious replacement would be made in aluminium.

Ply transmission tunnel

 

The tunnel from the rear of the car to the gear change area was  relatively easy as it was single plane curve with lips at 90 degrees to fix to the floor. With the new extended remote I wanted to enclose the whole of the gear mechanism so I would have to join the small rear tunnel to a larger one covering the gear change. I sometimes think I make life very difficult for myself!

With a suitably sized sheet of aluminium ordered I drafted out the shape I wanted to achieve. It seemed relatively straightforward (stupid boy!).

Only when I had received the aluminium did I realise that it wouldn't be enough as the height was greater than my pathetic calculations had forecast. Never mind. I doubt that I could have made it in one piece anyway and I wanted an easily removable access panel to be able to reach the clutch slave cylinder and the gear box filler plug. Using the few tools I had and ably aided by a 5 litre can of Dulux emulsion and a handy log I managed to achieve the desired shape.

 New transmission tunnel

I cut out some ribbed rubber for mats in the passenger and driver's side floor and then turned my attention to the dashboard - a relatively 'orrible fabrication made largely out of exterior ply and housing the original Herald speedometer and switches. Something more period in style was called for.......