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MG MGA - Old Dash Knobs

OK, so this may be a dumb question, but is there a way to save the old dash knob when replacing a choke cable?

I really do not like the new knobs appearance in relation to the rather nice older look of the original knobs. I have the original choke cable, but I don't see a way to get the knob off without ruining it.

I'd love to save it and swap it to the new working cable.

Has anyone done this before?

Cheers,
Christopher
Christopher Wilson

Apparently you can just melt the old solder and re-solder on the new cable.

Neil
Neil McGurk

Not all of them are soldered on - I need to do this with my choke and starter cables, and mine appear to be secured with some form of stamping into the shaft of the cable, so it looks like I have to drill the depressions out to release the old cable.
dominic clancy

The knob is molded around the chrome plated brass shaft, so you can't remove the knob from the shaft. Like Neil said, you can unsolder the inner cable from the old brass shaft/knob and solder on a new inner cable. You do have pull the brass shaft and old inner cable out of the housing and I don't remember exactly how I did that. I think there is some kind of clip on the back of the housing that must be released to allow the shaft to pull all the way out.

Jeff Schultz

As Dominic says, there's a mechanical grip on the cable: it isn't just held by the solder. I don't think it would be simple to straighten out the stamped section, but then I haven't tried.
Nick

I have a NOS MGA choke cable, still in the paper packaging. The cable is packaged separate from the knob. It seems strange to me, but there must have been a reason to sell them this way.
Steve Simmons

There is a spring clip/bearing on the shaft that is easily removed. The inner cable and knob can then be pulled free.
Neil McGurk

Well this is interesting, thanks fellas.

I'll have a look tonight at my cable and post pictures of what I find. I'm hoping there is some sort of clip, but I cannot remember seeing it.

Best,
Christopher
Christopher Wilson

OK, well mine are like Dominic's.

The shaft has a hole in it and the cable has been stamped flat at the hole so it cannot be removed.

Drilling in my case only served to widen the hole in the brass shaft, my bit evidently not strong enough to go through the cable itself. Unfortunately for me the shaft was weakened and broke, so now I must either try to repair my shaft to accept another cable or source another original.

Bummer :(

Christopher
Christopher Wilson

This thread was discussed between 24/03/2008 and 26/03/2008

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