I took the car up to Blackpool on Saturday. The chaps at D&C Trim are going to retrim the interior for me. Started off early in the pouring rain :



I got to the bottom of my lane and stopped at the junction, looked briefly into the rear view mirror and saw the TVR continuing on it's journey !! Not entirely sure what happened but the cargo strap released. Proabably just pure incompetance on my part, I'm not great in the mornings. Fortunately there is only a little scratch on the front underside which will be straightforward to patch up but could have been nasty.

Anyway, the rest of the journey was fine. I took the cover off before I hit the motoroway in case it flapped against the bodywork.

So, car safely delivered to the old TVR factory. Managed to get a quick look around as well and got a quick peek at the Speed 12. Not my place to talk about it here but let's just say I need more aluminium honeycomb and carbon fibre in my life

Onto the dash. I haven't found anyone who can fabricate a new backplate and then veneer it for me. So I'm going to have a crack at it myself. I've not done any metalwork since school so it will be a learning experience. If anyone can advise how best to cut sheet steel without distorting it, please let me know ! The idea is to go for the later white face gauges and swap the black plastic switchgear with alloy . Got most of the bits so just need to get to work. I have 4 weeks before the interior is done.

What a really great thread. Great work.
It's getting me excited (little early) but looking forward to my winter body off rebuild of my V8S.

Can't wait to see pics of the D&C work

Simon

It's been a long time sonce I had any updates. Unfortunately things got pretty shakey on the job front and I was facing redundancy so the TVR project was on the back burner. The good news is the job is all sorted, for the next 12 months anyway, so I can focus on getting it all finished.

First job is to sort the dash out. Before I start paying someone else to do it, I thought I would have a crack myself and see how I got on. There is the main dash, and a small heater/panel so I can practise on the small panel.

There are two plates, one the switches are mounted onto, and another face plate which is veneered. I started with the back plate and made an MDF template.



It's 3mm smaller than the metal plate which is the offset on the nibbler head I have. This means I can use it as a guide for cutting out the new steel. It'll also be useful as a backing board for the steel when I'm cutting holes etc to make sure it stays flat.

Next I cut out a new steel sheet. That bit went OK. Cutting out the holes for the new switches wasn't so good. I used a step cutter which was a bit messy. I tidied up the holes with a file but they're not that round. OK for the back plate but I'll need to come up with another plan for the front plate which is what you'll see.

Here's the back plate with the switches mounted in place



It's not pulled up tight to the leather as I haven't rounded the back edges off yet and didn't want to damage the leather.

The front plate outline is cut out but I need to mount some studs onto the back. That's the current problem. I don't have a welder to tack them on - I tried a couple of different types of epoxy but they're rubbish. I can't bolt them through as it wouldn't give a flat surface on the front for the veneer. Any suggestions welcome !

Once I crack that then I'll make finish the front plate and get it veneered. I'm also thinking of using the MDF template to make a mould and try making a carbon fibre panel as well. It would take the car further away from an 'original' look but I'd like to try it as a wee project.

Thanks. Yes, been looking at those, but they're £15 each new then £25 for the Leven alloy covers. I'll be keeping my eyes open for seconds

Ah ! Interesting. Thanks

cracking thread and lovely build.

My front steel plate wasn't up to the job unfortunately. Need to try again or get it laser/waterjet cut in order to get the alignment

In the meantime I tried a carbon fibre plate. This is the back plate so I didn't pay much attention to the finish. However, it came out pretty well. I really like this so at the moment I'm thinking to go this route. I may change my mind tomorrow

Just read this article and you have done a fantastic job, you must have the patience of a saint,I am have trouble sorting out a poxy fan problem and it's driving me mad.
Fantastic effort .....

Few pics from today. Most of it is finished now. Just a few things to tidy up inside. I started it up today, first time since the carbon fibre IAD. After a few earthing issues I got it turning over and it kicked into life. As soon as it did there was a loud whining noise coming from the engine. Sounded a bit like a supercharger. No idea what it is - maybe a pump or something. I turned it off immediately to prevent any damage. I don't think I'll chance borking it up so I'll probabaly stick it on a trailer and get an expert to look at it. Bummer.

Anyway this is how it's looking. I'm pretty happy with the look from the front with the new lights and smoked indicators.

Re. The whining noise.

Could it simply be an over-tightened belt? I over-tensioned the alternator belt on my old Golf and it whined like it had a super charger, slackened it off and the problem was gone. It will almost certainly be that or some other bearing problem with something driven off the ancillary belt. You could always take it off an run it without for a few seconds to confirm.