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MG MGA - Help: Front Cockpit Rail - Foam height?

Hi guys,

it's cold so I'm working on the interior indoors, and I've got the cockpit rails to cover. The door cappings and the rear rail look plain enough, but I am concerned about the front padded cockpit rail.

I have two (one Moss, one Brown and Gammon, due to me forgetting about the first one). The rubber on both is the same. The rubber is not as high as the metal plate at the end - about 3mm (1/8 inch ish) lower.

I have looked at Barney's site and there is no mention of this issue.

Is this normal, or should the rubber be the same height as the metal end?

Many thanks,

Grant :-)
G Hudson

Grant, When you say your foam is not as high do you mean the width?

I've just bought a length of dash rubber from SF and this is 1.25" wide compared with my (original I think) metal end strips which are just over 1.125". This last measurement stacks in with the footprint width of the door trims and also the rear trim. So I'm going to have to lose 1/8" on the rubber width and I'm hoping that stretching the vinyl tightly around the capping before stapling will achieve this.

The dash width appears wider than the door trims on many car pictures I've seen so I was expecting my rubber to be wider than it was. Also I've noticed vinyl creases in many which is probably due to insufficient stretching.........................Mike
m.j. moore

I've just remembered that before I got my SF dash foam I nearly bid on some on Ebay which the seller claimed was from Moss.

The reason I didn't bid was because I asked him the width and he said 26-27mm which I thought would have been too narrow.......................Mike
m.j. moore

I have two articles on the front cockpit rail. The first is describing recovering my front rail that was purchased form Moss in 1986. I included a note about adding a layer of vinyl over the steel end cap to reduce likelihood of perforating the cover at the end. See here: http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/interior/int106.htm

The second article shows a new front rail from Moss in 2004 where the rubber pad is too thin. I don't know if this has ever been corrected. See here: http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/faulty/ft014.htm
Barney Gaylord

Hi Mike,

no, the width is just about ok. It's the height / depth of the foam that is the problem. I've attached a photo which should hopefully show the problem.

As you can hopefully see, the top of the foam is lower than the top of the metal end piece by a few mm. I appreciate the foam is slightly out of alignment, but even when aligned it is a few mm below lower than the metal end.

Any suggestions?

Cheers,

Grant :-)


G Hudson

Hi Barney,

thanks for the links. I saw the "int106" and was planning on doing that. I didn't see the "ft014", but looking at it, that's my problem! It seems it's not just Moss in 2004, as the B&G one was bought this year :-(

Hey ho, additional packing it is.

Many thanks,

Grant :-)
G Hudson

At least eight years since this was identified as junk. Do they have inventory that long, of do they insist on reordering the same junk without a fix?
Barney Gaylord

An interesting point is that Grant's two faulty but identical dash rubbers were bought from different suppliers. So do Moss and B&G share parts?
I had this suspicion several years ago when I returned a faulty gearbox suspension bush to Moss and got one from B&G. They both looked identical in appearance and the B&G one was also faulty but I ended up modifying it in desperation.
The dash rubber from SF, on the other hand, looks different to the one in the above picture but may be, if anything, too thick at 11/16"..................................Mike
m.j. moore

Hi guys,

I "fixed" the problem by using strips of draught excluder (got the inspiration from the cold weather and the draught coming through my front door). It's about the right thickness and is of a similar density foam/rubber to the rubber strip. I put 3 strips on the rail, trimmed them to fit and then glued the main strip on top of them.

I think there are very few suppliers of parts nowadays, so Moss and B&G and problably others do share the same parts suppliers. It's just a case of who's the cheapest. It's only for some specialist bits like body panels (Sportscar Metal works) or lighting where the items are used on several vehicles, e.g. SVC, that there are viable alternatives.

Cheers,

Grant :-)
G Hudson

As an afterthought I will add the the SF front rail rubber was indeed much larger and more square that the original. I did buy it in 2004 so things may have changed. An image of the SF rubber and the original is attached.

Jim


Jim Ferguson


Has anyone a supplier of the captured metal bolts that go thru the timber and into the cockpit coaming? And also the correct name?

Mine are totally rusted out and the timber has rotted as well, but enough is left to be able to make copies .

Dont fancy also having to manufacture the bolts as well.
M THOMPSON

Jim, Yes the SF dash rubber I have has the same section as the one in your picture.

MT Todd Clarke has the correct original style screws............................Mike
m.j. moore

This thread was discussed between 04/12/2010 and 08/12/2010

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