New Dashboard Wood Replacement

[monstergrowler]

slowly been trying to get the TVR in top condition. One of the last jobs left was to replace the wood dashboard. Mine had a few cracks and was quite bad around the stereo where previous owners had been carless. I was going to buy from from Classic dash (anyone bought from them as I may get my old one refurbished in a greyish wood veneer?) but bought from TVRMADS who was advertising on the classifieds here on pistonheads. Very happy with the new dashboard pieces. I wanted to stay with wood as I felt it was more in character with the car and my particular colour combination.

I did the car stereo wood replacement without problem. I had to mark and glue the mounting brackets from the old dash before installing the new one. Some contact adhesive later and job was done without issue. It didnt take long at all and most of the job was waiting for the glue to dry.

Today I started the big one. I was slightly apprehensive after reading the bible suggesting this is best left to the specialist, however I like to do the job myself and know its done properly and to my satisfaction. The heater LEDs bust as I expected as everyone states they usually do, but thats easy sorted with new ones. The little warning light surrounds that the LEDS sit in were a real bugger to get of the old dash. They are held on with some type of spring circlipy thing. I got them off and dont think the criclip thingys will be reuseable and was thinking of contact gluing the new ones in place. Anybody performed this task and have any advice on this part?

I can supply a few picss if other members out there want to have a go and and want some advice.

[monstergrowler]

I know what I also meant to ask is:-

Has anyone managed to get there speedo illumination to match the intensity of the other gauges?
I hate this TVR feature and want to remedy whilst its apart.
Whilst its all apart I want to replace all the dash bulbs with new as one was out and I got a feeling the others will go as soon as its back together.

[Pupp]

monstergrowler said:

I know what I also meant to ask is:-

Has anyone managed to get there speedo illumination to match the intensity of the other gauges?
I hate this TVR feature and want to remedy whilst its apart.

Easy fix this. Replace the bulb with one twice the wattage (really). 2w to 4w from memory, it works.

[L33]

monstergrowler said:

... The little warning light surrounds that the LEDS sit in were a real bugger to get of the old dash. They are held on with some type of spring circlipy thing. I got them off and dont think the criclip thingys will be reuseable and was thinking of contact gluing the new ones in place. Anybody performed this task and have any advice on this part?

I did this job last week. The main dash took a godd few hours. Its well worth making a not of wiring colours and where they all go before you start.

As for the springy circlip things, I flattened mine out in a vice and re-used them. I put them roughly into position and knocked them home with a suitable sized socket over the top of them and a hammer - it worked a treat and they are once again as tight as they were.

Hope this helps,
L33.

[Cider Andy]

A similar situation to the one I found myself in. I couldn't reuse the spring clips to secure the warning lamps so I used a glue gun to re-seat them. No problems so far.

I left the 2W lamp in the speedo as I didn't want to risk a 4W replacement damaging its internals (through heat, being twice as powerful). From the previous posts I shouldn't have worried.

[monstergrowler]

Thanks chaps. Will get a new 4W bulb tomorrow and hammer my circlips flat. If it dont hold them tight enough I will dab a bit of contact adhesive to them.

[Pupp]

Just one thing to watch for if/when disturbing the gauges, is don't over-tighten the mounting screws on reinstalling. I did (very easily) with my fuel gauge recently and it just split neatly in two all around the bezel rim. Ended up gently digging out the redundant plastic and rebonding the bezel back onto a refaced housing (a few minutes on some wet/dry over a piece of glass). Best avoided

[monstergrowler]

Job done and looks amazing. Thanks for all the pointers. My advice is have all the tools to do the job. The LEDS didint want to fit the holes and I had to use some micro files to open the holes a little. Something I hadnt planned on doing. You will also need some glue like contact adhesive.
I also took the liberty of giving the top dash a really good clean while it was off. I also cut an d polished all the silver guage rings.
I didnt have a problem with electrics as Im an Electronic Engineer by trade. This is the most important thing to do. Carefully label items and make note of pin1 on the flat cables. Use a marker if you have to. I also took plenty of digital pics as a backup. Good luck chaps.

[2Munkys]

Works well with that interior MG.