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MG MGA - Repainting interior panels

Hi everyone

After 15 years of B ownership I finally fulfilled my dream of acquiring an A - a lovely red 1960 1600cc.

After a couple of months of driving I have a few ideas for some longer term improvements for the car but one of the immediate jobs I want to tackle is renovating the interior trim panels.

The black door cards are particularly scuffed & faded along with the footwell sides. The cards themselves are fine structurally but need repainting/refinishing. Can anyone recommend a product to use please?

Thanks for your help and I look forward to getting to know people here.
D Largent

I would recommend using 2mm millboard for the card and covering it with a black vinyl cloth called called 'lionide' which is not too thick and you will have no problem then in fitting the top of the pocket opening into the lip of the steel reinforcing brace.............Mike
m.j. moore

DL,
As you are knew to the MGA world, you may not yet be aware of Barney Gaylord's excellent website (mgaguru.com ) - here is the link to his article on trim panels which may be of interest
http://www.mgaguru.com/mgtech/interior/int103.htm

Where about in Bucks are you? - I am in Middx, but on the border with Bucks
Graham M V

If the vinyl is in in otherwise good shape but only marred, many of the mainstream manufacturers have a product they claim will work. Search for vinyl paint and chose the manufacturer you are familiar with.

One I have found is: http://www.duplicolor.com/products/vinylFabricCoating/

I have never used the product so can't make any recommendations.
Chuck Schaefer

I have used the Duplicolor vinyl paint before with good results. You do need to make sure the surface is really clean. It has been a very long time since I used it but I believe I used alcohol to clean the vinyl before spraying. Make sure you don't get it on too thick and use several thin coats. I did the complete interior on a car once and it worked out really well, but did start to wear thin on the drivers seat after a couple years.
Jeff Schultz

I traced a friend's panels and cut my own out of 2mm plywood. I then covered them with vinyl using spray adhesive and overlapping the vinyl on the back about 1/2" to 3/4" using fabric glue.

You can get suitable automotive vinyl from Joanne's fabrics around here - but you can probably easily find black (I think they even have vinyl at the sewing center at Wal-Mart). The "right" red might be harder to find.

You can order bolts of MGA vinyl from the usual suppliers, but there are also many good upholstery sources on the internet.

Here is one.

http://www.martrim.co.uk/catalogue/vinyl-1.4m.htm

AJ Mail

Thanks everyone

I found the MGAguru site already and have done a lot of reading there.

It seems the challenge is actually working out what is on the car already? The panels just seem like a textured black card and dont have any kind of fabric covering. My old B's had an obvious fabric/vinyl feel but these just appear to be a stiff card? I'll see if i can get a close picture of a door card later.

Looking at the MGAguru pictures more closely it seems his Moss kit is clearly covered with some form of vinyl coating and differs from mine. This is what is making me nervous about choosing a paint. I really dont want to spend £120 for replacement panels as these are fine, just scuffed and faded and being a card I'm sure they simply need an appropriate paint.

BTW I'm in North Bucks in Buckingham, just a few miles from Silverstone.
Damon

When I got my millboard from Segals in Manchester they had a choice of 1. plain which I bought and which you cover yourself and 2. 'painted' black. The 'painted' version has a grained, plastic type finish and is probably what you have. It was around £7 a sheet which would be enough for one panel.

Woolies is closer to you and also sells the stuff (http://www.woolies-trim.co.uk/p-1648-millboard.aspx). Their sheets are more expensive at £13 but larger and you may only need one for both panels...............Mike
m.j. moore

Damon, Sounds like you have somebody's self-made door panels. If you are happy with what you've got,except for the scuffing, why not just take what you have and cover them with some vinyl. You should be able to pick some up at any fabric store for about $20 US. Add some adhesive and away you go.

Mike, I have never seen that textured millboard before. Kind of interesting at best.
Chuck Schaefer

I think thats what I have as they certainly arent vinyl - I think MJ MOore best described it as a grained finish. I picked up a rattle can of matt black PlastiKote spray paint today so will do a test area and see if it does what I'm looking for. Longer term I may go for a vinyl covering but for now I hope this will provide a lift for the interior while I get the big jobs planned...

I'm looking at the 5 speed conversion in the winter and while the engine is out it seems worthwhile to get the engine overhauled and tuned at the same time. I'm currently wrestling with the question of whether to tune the original engine or swap it for a 3 bearing 1800 and rebuild that.... More thought needed!
Damon

OK, so I took the panels off and it turns out they are a thin sheet of ply with vinyl stretched over them after all! Original looking at them. So I think its plan B and time to recover them as suggested above by a few people.

Thanks all again for your suggestions and links etc.
Damon

This thread was discussed between 22/08/2010 and 23/08/2010

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