Interior
Before I started the restoration of the interior, I had to prep the floorboards and heavily paint to help prevent future rust. I was fortunate to have a fairly rust free body and the floors were perfect except for a little surface rust. The MG's original interior was in farley good shape to be original but it was not the look I wanted for my V8.
Insulation and Carpet I used three different types of insulation in the interior. I used a woven fabric kind with a Mylar coating on one side for areas like the transmission tunnel and places that wouldn't normally get wet. The fabric and foam insulations have a tendency to draw up moisture and cause rust. I used a foam and rubber sound/heat insulation on the bulkhead to help kill engine noise. For the floor boards and other areas prone to get wet, I used a Mylar and bubble rap style of insulation that I bought at Lowe's home improvement. It will not hold moisture and is an effective heat shield.
Trim The interior trim was made buy Prestige Auto trim in England and is very high quality. There are pockets in every panel and carpet on the doors.
Dash board The dash was a tough animal to conquer, and I am not sure I liked the end results. I may be changing it's designed, but for now it works. I used a stock late MGB dash as the base. I reformed the top part of the dash to give it a uniform line across the top edge. Then I made a solid plywood dash with birds eye Maple veneer as the inlay. I had my upholsterer cover the dash in black vinyl. I redesigned the console to accept the row of toggle switches that control the heat, vents, fan, fogs, etc.... The center console was made up of both MGB and Miata extraction. I used the front half where the gear lever enters from the B, and the rear half, cup holders back from a Miata. My upholsterer covered both these pieces with vinyl to hide the union.
Gauges I bought all new VDO Vision gauges for my MGBV8. All the gauges are electronic with analogue dials. The Speedometer is programmable and can be set to any gear ratio to read the correct speed.
