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Cockpit surround?

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RickB

RickB

Yoda
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What do people do with the cockpit surround on early cars?
Mine has old cracked vinyl and bare metal.
I could recover with black vinyl, what about removing the vinyl all together and just shining up the metal?
I have a proper set of side curtain hold downs from my parts car, the chrome is a bit iffy on them but at least it's a complete set.
 
I believe originally the only part to be vinyl-covered was the part over the dash, the rest was bare metal, over the doors and round the back. See Original Sprite and Midget p24.
 
Mine is bare but not polished, was vinyl covered I'm willing to bet (raw metal isn't very smooth, like casting marks in it and such). Doesn't fit as tight as I think it should, probably because the vinyl is gone. I should polish mine. I thought vinyl covered was standard from the factory though, no?
 
My MK1 Midget and MK2 Sprite both have vinyl covered surround.
I think I'd like the look of them bare & polished, and if not I could always cover them with vinyl.
 
I agree with Chris, only the piece over the dash was covered originally, the other three pieces were polished. I have all pieces polished on mine and like the look! PS: If not too badly pitted, try Barkeepers Friend on it first, it does a nice job, thought any polishing compound type product does a pretty good job of cleaning them up (with a lot of elbow grease of course!!)!
 
assuming we're talking about Frank, I'd suggest you get a new rubber piece - We are talking about the edge from the back if the front door to the back of the passenger door, if so, that's what it is - an edge. two pieces welded together and and a safety hazard. I really don't think I'd want a metal edge like that behind my head
 
Nope - talking about my 64's. MK2 Sprite and MK1 Midget.
 
Ah - then I have no clue :crazyeyes: OK, I have no clue most of the time
 
The original for the early cars (at least BE) was vinyl over the front piece (piece that is right above dash) and then polished and anodized remaining pieces (door and rear deck).

That's what I did to mine and I think it looks nice.

Mustafa
 
anyone got pics???
 
Rick,
If your talking about the cockpit trim that's "half round" shape, HAN7-GAN2, these cars were all vinyl wrapped, un-like the MKI and earlier MKII sprite and early MKI midget. I’ve never looked at the surface of this style of trim to know how much effort would be needed to polish. Recovering it would be simpler and period correct. It would be different if polished.
Dug
 
The Sprite2 and Midget1 pages of "Original Sprite and Midget" (pp50-58) show both of the formats described": Vinyl only above dash, and vinyl all around. Go figure...
 
RickB said:
anyone got pics???
Click to expand...

Here's my boys hanging out in the '63 the day I bought it. Shows the "natural" aluminum of the surround, although I still think it would have been vinyl covered originally, but I have no idea really. I'll polish it up someday.
cockpit.JPG
 
I like the idea of it being metal but I think it will look really good in black vinyl against the red of my car.
 
Rick -

I think their are two types - bare metal (screw holes obvious) and padded / vinyl covered. Was this a special "upgrade' package or not ????

Mine is padded and I re-did mine. Frankly, the cockpit was the very last piece I did 9wanted to get down in the 'learning curve' - it is one piece that covered the entire rear cockpit and had (2) 90 degree turns - a difficult item to re-do without wrinkles.

The secret - slow and steady (you've heard that from me before). I took each turn carefully with a hot glue gun and NUMEROUS small clips (2 for $1 at home cheapo) and went slow and pulled the wrinkles out along each of those curves.

https://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=28hznr9&s=5

(Pick at one of the bends)

https://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=j92flt&s=5

(Entire Cockpit Surround)


https://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2sb5yjr&s=5

Dashboard

My preference is obviously the padded (I have it) - it gave me a lot of satisfaction to complete such a hard task - but we all have our own preferences.

Good Luck -

Geo
 
That looks great George.
That's challenging!
 
It looks fantastic- but how's it attached to the body? The original parts manual for my MkII Sprite shows the 'matching' screws that mount into the holes in the trim surrounds that are countersunk to accept the beveled head of the screws. When I bought my car none of the trim pieces were covered, and it looked right since the screws would either have to 'punch through' the vinyl or some other fastner method used.
 
Chrpark,
If your parts manual is an AKD 3567 it will show both styles of trim and the fasteners. If your car chassis number starts with
H-AN5 / G-AN1 and H-AN6 then the trim is attached with the semi oval head counter sunk 10-32 screws that show. If your chassis number starts with H-AN7 or G-AN2 then the cockpit trim is held on by stud with a flat bit at the end (tee-nut) that slide into a slot in the half round molding from the backside. It adds “lots” more fun to the installation than the earlier cars!

Only the front bit of trim over the dash was covered on the first series of MKI / MKII cars to be period correct.
Dug
 
The trim has a channel int he back of it. A specialized bolt (square & very thin head) holds the channel to the sheet metal of the car.

The stainless trim 'features' the heads.

The 'upgraded' trim has the padding and the channel to secure the piece.

George
 
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