Instrument Cowl

Instrument Cowl - Broken fixings

The design of the Instrument cowl and it's fixings is such that over time vibration and flexing causes the plastic lugs on the forward edge of the cowl to shear. Such is the design that the fixing screws are fed from under the dash, of all places, which makes it very difficult to repair.

These two photos of a stripped down dashboard should give you some idea as to how the upper cowl is fixed in place, and the inaccessible nature of where the screw heads actually are - inside part of the air vent ducting!

Not only had ALL 3 lugs broken on mine, but in doing so, it had taken out a small section of the top face, the gap of which could be seen through the windscreen.

I felt that it would be difficult to replace the cowl with a new one and that it would probably suffer the same fate, so I opted for an easier approach and one that would allow for further flexing of the dash and cowl. Simply put, it was to repair the broken section and remount the original cowl but bed it into silicon mastic.

However, if not all the lugs are broken, I am not sure that this approach could be taken without breaking the remaining ones!

REMOVING THE COWL.

NOTE: Before removing the nacelle covers on the steering column and the instruments, DISCONNECT THE BATTERY AND LEAVE FOR AT LEAST 10 MINUTES FOR THE SRS AIRBAG SYSTEM TO DISCHARGE.

Remember too that disconnecting the battery will mean your radio will loose it's security code and will have to be re-entered.

Undo the three screws that are underneath the steering column and that hold the two nacelle halves together. These halves clip together and excessive force will easily damage the clips. Mine did!

Gently prise out the rubber grommet from around the ignition key-switch.

The clips seem to be designed to pull apart, but are fragile and can easily break.

Testing out a way to undo them with my old nacelles, it seems that if you can get your fingers into the square holes for the indicator and light stalks, then gently pull upwards and downwards to separate the two half at this point on either side.

The rest should then come apart, but make sure that the farthest ends of the nacelles halves, underneath the instrument panel, have separated before trying to pull the separate halves out. You may need to reach underneath and separate them at that end in a similar way.

Gently ease the lower half over the ignition key barrel, and remove.

Then ease out the top half.

Remove the 4 screws that secure the vertical front face of instrument cowl the dashboard facia.

Release the cowl and disconnect the panel light dimmer switch multi-plug from the rear of the cowl. Leave the switch in the cowl.

You should then be able to see the 3 screws (one upper central, plus one to either side) that hold the upper dome of the instrument cowl to the facia.

Note the 3 little rubber covers on the lugs. They are inclined to fall off easily. Make certain they are all in place and not on the floor when you come to re-assemble.

Having removed the cowl, the 3 broken lugs and fixing screws can be clearly seen.

The section of cowl that had actually broken completely was araldited back in place, but had to be left to allow the araldite harden - ideally 24 hours! It doesn't look very neat but once the cowl is fixed back in situ, it's out of sight and the more araldite used will give extra strength.

A small amount of silicon mastic (black, of course) was then squeezed onto the top edges of the broken lugs - enough to provide an adequete seating.

The upper cowl dome was then carefully placed in position, the three screws holding it to the vertical facia frame were refitted, and the assembly suitably weighted down so that the mastic bedded in properly.

Refitting is the reverse of this procedure - don't forget to check that those 3 little rubber covers are in place!

ANOTHER SUGGESTION from Branko, Victoria, Australia, bkrt@westnet.com.au

I had to remove the dashtop cover (not sure what you call it exactly but its the curved plastic cover over the instrument/speedo cluster.) so that I can fix it. Two of the plastic tabs at the back were broken and the 3rd was cracked. After getting it off (now there are 3 broken tabs, which I have repaired), I cannot see how to access the 3 screws from behind the dash to attach the cover again.
The 3 screws held the tabs on via the metal clips. The screws appear only to be accessed from inside the air vent pipeing which is tool small even for small hands. I have never seen anything like this in my 35 years of working with cars.

Here is how.

You will need:
A soldering iron (or some type of strong glue to fix the lugs back on).
A thin round file will suffice instead of melting the holes bigger. (I used my iron)
Three larger self taping screws.
A couple of cold beers to assist in concentration. (OK you really don't need the beers, but what the Heck!, its more fun that way)

1: Fix the broken cowl plastic lugs using a soldering iron and melting them back in position with more similar scrap plastic for added strength. It takes some patience and a little skill to do this and a cool drink at hand. I had my speedo cluster out when doing this as it was easier to access the rear cowling screws.

********************************* WARNING *************************************
Do the melting in a well ventilated area as the fumes may be bad for your health.
*******************************************************************************

2: Remove all 3 screws using the magnet on the bent coat hanger trick** as I would hate to leave a screw rattling inside there. (Keep screws for some future project or repair).

** Use a wire coat hanger, unfold it and permanently attach a small magnet to the end. Then put a curve in the wire and shove it into the duct to retrive the screws as you push them in.........

3: Make the screw holes bigger in the tabs so that a larger screw can go thru it cleanly. I again used the soldering iron to melt away from the inside of the hole.

4: Pre-insert the larger screws into the dashtop holes so that they thread in. It will be easier to repalce cowl when the thread is alreay made as the screw angle is arkward when putting back cowl.

5: Place cowl on to dashtop and insert screws and then replace the 3 front screws of the cowl which hold it to the dash front frame (loop thingy).

Hope this helps somebody. It did me. :-)

OTHER SUGGESTIONS FROM MIKE SATUR

The MG dash cowl is attached to the dash before the vent ducts are bonded on!! Weird I know as the screws should have been from the outer face in, not the other way around. Even more weird is the fact that the cowl is not available as a separate part.

There are two ways you can repair the damage, remove the dash and establish where the 3 screws are and drill access holes to remove and refit the screws and then patch up the holes afterwards, ok if you are taking the dash out for some reason, about 2 hours to do.

OR

You can remove the 3 screws by using some pliers to loosen and let them drop into the ducting and retrieve wth a magnet, you can then screw through the lugs with self tappers a size larger and use some polysuphide panel adhesive/ hot glue to hold it all in place, the lugs are pretty fragile and may snap off again. Another solution is to use some counter sunk pop rivets or some c/s or dome head screws and make a 'feature' of the fastenings through the out side of the cowl and some small aluminium brackets on the inside and self tap back into fresh holes on the dash. If you don,t want to see the fastenings then cover the cowl in some matching leather/fabric.