Carbon Fibre Dashboard ??

[chief1]

With the wood veneer all cracked on the dashboard on my 390se I had a look at different options......
1 Wood veneer it again
2 Spray and lacquer in the body colour (midnight blue)
3 Carbon fibre veneer

I have access to a lathe when I am at work so also thought about turning out some bezels. Some 6mm aluminium sheet was sourced and managed to turn out 5 small and 2 large bezels. Finished them by hand with wire wool and scotch pads before lacquering them.
The bezels probably turned out better then I thought they would and after considering the above 3 options I decided on the carbon fibre look.
Anyway, thoughts appreciated from you guys on what you think of the finished article before refitting into the car. I have also recovered the heater controls plate and glovebox in the same carbon fibre to match.
My interior trim panels are away getting recovered at the moment so will post up some pix of them once received back.

Dave.

[chief1]

A close up pic of the bezels.

Dave.

[loud430]

that looks great.

[PHJayV8]

Very good indeed like it a lot

[Rockettvr]

I like that a lot. The bezels look great.
Probably going to open up a can of worms but I've often felt that the wooden dash is a bit out of place in the wedge. Wedges were designed to be kind of cutting edge and futuristic with their angular styling but then they cover the dash with a piece of timber like a car from the 1920's!!! Carbon is probably more fitting when you take into account that tvr were dabbling with composites when they built the Seac.
Ok I'm going off to take cover now

[Jack Valiant]

Is that in keeping with keeping it original??? oh god I'll get me coat

[Kevwoodsjr]

Hi, dave think the carbon looks awesome, if you don't might me asking what kind of time/costs were involved and could you re-produce another?
Kev

[mrzigazaga]

....Not normally a fan of the carbon look but the bezels really set it off well, You could probably make some beer money producing more of the bezels as people are always trying to source them...Ziga

[chief1]

Hi Guys,
Thanks for all the positive comments.
I know its not original but I think it looks at least as good as wood veneer and that bit more modern. The purists would disagree but its my car at the end of the day. If I sold to someone else its easy enough to have the dash re veneered, so no real train smash.
I must admit I wasn't too sure about the carbon fibre myself, but as Zig pointed out, the bezels set it off. I think it takes the blandness away.
Making the bezels took probably a day after making a tool for the rounded shape and a few mishaps. If I had my own lathe at home I'd make some more but as I haven't then I'm sorry to all the people who'd like some making.
Again, thanks for the positive comments guys.

I also made some rocker badges in stainless but will post another thread for these.

Dave.

[ElvisWedgely]

Here is one I did earlier in bullet proof stainless steel :-

Tony. TCB.

[chief1]

Looks great Tony.
Do you get much glare back from the dash when driving in bright sunlight ??

Dave.

[ElvisWedgely]

chief1 said:

Looks great Tony.
Do you get much glare back from the dash when driving in bright sunlight ??

Dave.

People keep asking me about the glare but it's not at all bad. You can actually get just as much glare from a shiny veneer. I tell you what though, it looks absolutely awesome when you drive through one of those long lit up tunnels like the Dartford Tunnel. The dash is gleaming and flashing all colours. I'll have to video record it one day and put it on the forum. It really is great.

Tony. TCB.

[JVaughan]

Having just been through the anguish of what to do about my dash, I decided that wood was the place to stay. I just like the contrast between the leather and wood. (Hope to get mine back from London Carriage Craft in the next 2 weeks)

[gog440]

My new wedge has a leather covered dash instead of the veneer (from the factory)
It looks pretty good.

[TVRIK]

I'm wanting to cover mine in leather to match the seats, dammed if I can get the bloody thing out though.. I know there are some clips behind somewhere, bu I can't locate em!

[tweety]

Have just done the same with my dash in carbon plus carbon knob and a set of Ians fantastic wiper/indicator arms, some bezels would finish it off.... I was going to post some pics but they're too big and I have no idea how to resize...

Cheers, Al.

PS. please can someone make some bezels.....

[TVRIK]

If you are posting on your iPhone go I to the pic you want to post and crop and edit, doesn't really matter what size you choose when you get options, once you have saved the edited pic, which will still look the same, try uploading it, you should find it will upload!

Rik

[tweety]

Thanks Rik....

Cheers, Al.

[wedgeinald]

tweety said:

Thanks Rik....

Cheers, Al.

I think it looks nice, as with a lot of these things its all down to "personal taste", nothing was really "standard" on a TVR so there is scope for playing, will it hurt the "resale value"? do you really care? I think if these mods are done in "sympathy" with the ethos of the brand and with quality materials and workmanship then they are acceptable.

I'd say your mod looks the dog's danglies!!

Certainly doesn't hurt the look of the car IMHO

[Dragon Wedge]

Dash and bezels look superb in my opinion - great job!