Dashboard out

[andyallen]

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Dashboard out to fix blower fault and just check out general things before I vinyl wrap it.

Anyone know of who's signature this is in my chim
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/KQTuacUf.jpg[/img]|http://t...

[MADMAX2]

Paul Stanley

used to be in a band called Kiss

[Alun450]

Damn another job to do, I've had the dash off and I didn't even look?

That's cool that is!
Can't help but it would be great if you can track them down.

[AV8]

The smaller radio panel, what actually holds that in place? Seems to be double sided tape on mine.

[Alun450]

Thin air I think.
I seem to think there's two clips but mine are missing so not sure how they fix.
I'm probably wrong though!

[AV8]

No sign of any clips on mine. I'm making up a stainless dash and wondering how to keep the small panel in place. Might try to glue a couple of clips to the back of it.

[Chuffmeister]

andyallen said:

Anyone know of who's signature this is in my chim
http://thumbsnap.com/sc/KQTuacUf.jpg[/img]|http://t...

Sames a these

[s p a c e m a n]

AV8 said:

The smaller radio panel, what actually holds that in place? Seems to be double sided tape on mine.

There should be a thin metal bracket glued to the sides of the radio hole opening slightly hidden by the radio cage, two little screws on each side through there.

[Chris71]

andyallen said:

Dashboard out to fix blower fault and just check out general things before I vinyl wrap it.

Funnily enough, I was just about to post a thread on doing exactly the same thing.

How difficult/time consuming did you find it?

My blower seems to have developed a fault too and the car is slightly let down by the nasty homemade wooden dash panel in it currently.

Planning to swap to a turned aluminium one (ordinary I'd go for walnut, but the car is bright yellow with navy blue leather, so something a bit more contemporary seems in order...)

[BillC99]

Replacing the dash on mine at the moment.

Here is a picture showing the lower panel mounting brackets

[Chris71]

Slightly confused by one of the guides I've found online. Do you actually have to remove the top cover of the dash if all you want to do is access the dash panel itself?

[AV8]

So the lower panel is held in place by the brackets being screwed to the radio cage?

[BillC99]

No the plates, which are held in place by Araldite,are fastened to the fibreglass either side of the radio aperture.

If you look closely you will probably see two holes where the small self tappers have been.

[jojackson4]

While you are messing with that panal make sure your radio fits

I then welded the little clip/ brackets on as the glue didn't work
If it's a mk1 the light switches disappear in to the dash when the glue gives up

[jojackson4]

[Badgerchim]

Carbon skinning is another option, but takes a lot longer. Looked very rough to start with but Lots of wet & dry and 8 coats of laquer later, I'm pretty pleased with the result. Matches the inside of the roof well to.

[swallet]

Chris71 said:

Slightly confused by one of the guides I've found online. Do you actually have to remove the top cover of the dash if all you want to do is access the dash panel itself?

If you just want to get to the blower controller/wiring then you don't need to remove the whole dash top. Just removing the two near side bolts will allow you to "prop up" the dash top and get at what you need.
If you want to change the dash front or dials the whole lot must come off.

[Chris71]

swallet said:

Chris71 said:

Slightly confused by one of the guides I've found online. Do you actually have to remove the top cover of the dash if all you want to do is access the dash panel itself?

If you just want to get to the blower controller/wiring then you don't need to remove the whole dash top. Just removing the two near side bolts will allow you to "prop up" the dash top and get at what you need.
If you want to change the dash front or dials the whole lot must come off.

Thanks.

How big a job would you say it is to change the dash panel? As a general rule, I'm happy to do bolt on/bolt off type work, but the idea of bonding in brackets, re-wiring etc. is slightly daunting.

I'm not planning to re-cover mine as it's a rather flimsy single sheet of wood. Instead I'll just be whacking something like this in: http://www.willowsportscars.co.uk/bodyworkstylingwheels_and_2.html

[swallet]

Not too hard. It's all basic stuff. Undo this, unplug that. Just need to label everything so it goes back where it came from!
You do need to transfer some brackets from old dash and glue to new but this is easy.

A bit time consuming. Probably took me 8 hours in total going slow with tea breaks etc.

Shouldn't need to do any re-wiring.