MGB Dashboard pad replacement issues

[wkilleffer]

Hey gang,

Last summer, I got started replacing the main wiring harness on my 1974 MGB. This requires removal of the dashboard, so I caught a case of "might as well" and decided to replace the badly cracked and worn dashpad. The harness is run and connected, but here it is February and the dash is still out...

I bought a new dashpad and worked to strip off the old, leaving the harder permanent foam around the vent and glovebox. Trouble is, the fit doesn't seem right. The metal dashpanel wants to bow up away from the foam pad, especially near the gauges.

I don't think I bent the metal, and it doesn't seem that the permanent foam is in the way. Contact cement is supposed to be tough, but I don't want to go with it like this and have it pull itself apart later.

I'll share some pics very soon. Any ideas or experiences in this area would be appreciated.

Thank you,
-William

 

[princetn1]

William,
i did this job with a friend of mine (2 heads and 4 hands are always better than 1 & 2) and, well, we had very little trouble. I do have a slightly different dash on my '71...no glove box but that shouldn't matter. Get the dry fit to work and only when ready, use the expensive contact cement. Apply, wait until really tacky, and then apply onto the metal part of your dash. Of course I sanded and painted before installing. And now is the time to convert all your instrument lights, even the small turn signals, with LED. The first time you drive at night, you'll be glad you did.

 

[bob67bgt]

I did a 74 dash pad and it was a lot of work. It turned out OK but I found there was way too much padding on the new pad around the heater controls and the gauges. I had to do a lot of careful scraping to thin out the padding. It also has a slight bow over the glove box door. After I heard there were 2 different manufactures of these. For what its worth I heard on another site the ones from British parts northwest were better than the one I used. Good luck and I hope yours is easier to fit than mine was.
Bob

 

[wkilleffer]

The permanent foam sounds like it's contacting the new pad, but not resisting, if that makes sense.

The ends of the metal seem to tuck into corners at each end of the pad, and maybe that's too tight of a fit. If I take one corner out, there's far less bowing in the middle, but it's likely to cause more bowing on that end.

Hopefully that makes sense.