S1 and S2 dash trim question

[frearther]

I looked at the picture of 26/5447 and noted that there are vinyl pads at the bottom edge of the cutouts (above driver's/passenger's thighs). 26/4934 just has the hard-to-find "chrome" (plastic) trim at the bottom edges. Was this a running change, or was it exclusive to SE's?

[garyeanderson]

I looked at the picture of 26/5447 and noted that there are vinyl pads at the bottom edge of the cutouts (above driver's/passenger's thighs). 26/4934 just has the hard-to-find "chrome" (plastic) trim at the bottom edges. Was this a running change, or was it exclusive to SE's?

Hi Art
I did not touch the trim, I just took a couple photos so I can't say what it was made of. The dash below is from 26/4997 and has the chrome/gold plastic trim.


I believe that all of the S2 (non SE Elans) had this trim up until the switch to the S3 model.

Hi Carlos

Any photos of this substitute trim you are speaking of?

Gary

[frearther]

Actually, I was asking about the bottom 2 pictures of the series of 8 shots that you posted earlier. Is it the car you looked at in Hingham? It seems to have some sort of "knee pads" attached to the cutout portion of the dash. I'd attach an image of the part I'm referring to if I could figure out how to do it.

[garyeanderson]

Actually, I was asking about the bottom 2 pictures of the series of 8 shots that you posted earlier. Is it the car you looked at in Hingham? It seems to have some sort of "knee pads" attached to the cutout portion of the dash. I'd attach an image of the part I'm referring to if I could figure out how to do it.

Hi Art

I don't know much about S2 SE's, thats why I went an looked. Its only 8 miles from home and I wanted to see it before it was sold. The black trim could be ABS (most likely) or vinal stretched over fiberglass (not so likely)? I did not look closely and like I said I didn't grab hold of it to see what it was. I believe the trim is standard and its more or less how it left the factory. One other thing I checked was that the floors were flat, the another was the body number.

[frearther]

Thanks, Gary.

[paddy]

I'm now ready with my dash refurb to fit this trim, only I don't have it.

Has anyone found a source in UK? The usual suspects don't have it.

Paddy

[RotoFlexible]

This article - one in a series of updates from the Type 26 Register folks, all excellent reading - contains the following:

2. Chrome effect dash lower edging strip: This is not made but I found that MG TC and TD's used a very nice looking strip for the same purpose which is readily available.

I haven't followed up on this myself, but would be interested to know if someone does.

[paddy]

I found a few references to "dash bead" on MG TC/TD parts sites, eg here:

http://www.lbcarco.com/parts/dash-bead-set-454-110.htm

It looks like it is chromed brass. Not cheap !

Paddy

[billwill]

I bet you could find something very suitable if you looked around the Tile Beading stuff at any local DIY home buildings stores.

[paddy]

Yes, I've looked at that kind of thing, and the tile trims tend to have a much deeper part that fits under the tile itself and can't be made to go around corners.

I would happily go for an aluminium trim in a cope shape but again I haven't found anything small enough.

Thanks - Paddy

[Emma-Knight]

Gary,

looking at the pictures from 26/5447 I noticed the riveted aluminium plates on the rh door bottom - were the rawlnuts would go. They are not on the lh side. On my car its the other way round...
Could these alu plates be a factory fix or are they owner mods? Also the rawlnut drilling is slightly larger than 2 BA, some 5/16 or so rawlnuts came with the car.

Anna

[garyeanderson]

Hi Anna

I didn't pay much attention to the doors, I guess I was looking for grease pencil markings on the doors (body numbers) is the reason for the door photos. I have not seen the door plates before but if there are more than one it is probably "factory" built. Maybe they ran out of rawl nuts or the door panels didn't fit right so the needed a different solution. 26/5447 was sold and is now in Germany
elan-f14/new-member-t19543.html
so I can't get a look at it again. Maybe its close to you and you could meet up with Uwe and have a better look to see if they match.

Gary

[ardee_selby]

I bet you could find something very suitable if you looked around the Tile Beading stuff at any local DIY home buildings stores.

Yes, I've looked at that kind of thing, and the tile trims tend to have a much deeper part that fits under the tile itself and can't be made to go around corners.

I would happily go for an aluminium trim in a cope shape but again I haven't found anything small enough.

Thanks - Paddy

Bill, Paddy, et al

Just in case you haven't seen it yet...

download/file.php?id=15655
download/file.php?id=15658
download/file.php?id=15659

From Rods excellent thread "Restoration of 26/0086 unit 3067" in the Elan gallery:

(elan-photos-f18/restoration-0086-unit-3067-t21274.html)

HIH Cheers - Richard

[garyeanderson]

I found this molding track at home depot (part number inset photo), it was a couple dollars so I gave it some heat with the heat gun and bent it to shape. It seems like it would work just fine but I never installed it. Too dressy for me I guess. Maybe I should trim it like Rod did and just leave the holes and a bit.