Replacement Chimaera dash

[J400GED]

Hi all,
I'm considering returning to the TVR fold by buying a Chimaera and have a couple of questions about the dash.
First question is, how much is it likely to cost to get someone to replace the wood veneered dash panels with stainless? - the veneer on the car I'm considering is badly damaged.

Next question is, the car I'm considering is a 1998 facelifted Chimaera and does this dash have glued on LEDs or are the warning lights push in versions?

Final question is, how easy is it to remove the dials and controls?

Any info or help will be gratefully received.

Cheers,

Ged

[666 SVT]

There is a guide on this page http://woodys-tvr.blogspot.com/2006/08/dashboard-r...

I followed this when I put a carbon fibre replacement in mine a month
or so ago and it wasn't that hard to do. Labour cost should be about 2-3 hours
if you don't fancy doing it yourself ? Mine is a 98 and had the glued in lights which came out easy enough. The worst are the heater LED's which take
a bit of persuading !

[ralphy12345]

666 SVT said:

The worst are the heater LED's which take a bit of persuading!

More than a 'bit' in the case of mine!!!

R

[666 SVT]

ralphy12345 said:

More than a 'bit' in the case of mine!!!

R

In Hindsight I wish I'd got a set of these? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TVR-Heater-LED-Chimaera-Dash...

[ralphy12345]

666 SVT said:

In Hindsight I wish I'd got a set of these? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TVR-Heater-LED-Chimaera-Dash...

That's the ones I've now got , it was removing the old ones that was the problem - I think they'd been Araldited in.

R

[J400GED]

Gents,
Thanks for your responses but I was hoping that someone could give me an idea of how much it would cost for someone to do the whole job for me and hopefully the name of somewhere that would carry out this work.
2-3 hours for someone to do the job seems very short to me considering they would have to remove the dash?

Cheers,

Ged

[Harrytsg]

These people can re-veneer the dash,

http://london-carriage-craft.com/tvr.htm

not sure of the prices, but would guess towards £300, I took my dash out and replaced the broken veneer with the textured carbon fibre as well, removing it isn't an big problem, probably takes about 1-1 1/2 hours, taking your time and labelling everything.

[raceboy]

666 SVT said:

TLabour cost should be about 2-3 hours
if you don't fancy doing it yourself

Having just done a dash swap, all be it on a Mk1 94 car I'd say that is very optimistic considering the little issues that you inevitably run into with it being a 'TVR' and considering the following....

Leven Technology said:

Fitting is easy, and takes about 8 hours. Alternatively we have a number of dealers who can provide a competitively priced fitting service if preferred, call for details

Very difficult to recommend somewhere without knowing where you are, a 300 mile round trip to do a dash swap might be a little extreme.

http://www.leventechnology.co.uk/index.htm

[666 SVT]

I'd want the engine and gearbox out as well as the dash in 8 hours !!!

[J400GED]

Gents,
Thanks for your help, I will get a quote from Leven tomorrow.

Cheers,

Ged

[666 SVT]

See if you'd waited a week you could of bought mine and the
dash is already done


Looks a lot better in the vid than the pic.

http://www.youtube.com/user/cgnw28517#p/a/u/0/xxhW...

[Pacman1972]

You can buy the wood veneer for about £60 but it will need sanding and polishing once glued on.