Dashboard and dash support
For three years the ONLY new item that arrived with the 21 boxes of rust this project started with, was a spangly new dashboard. Looking at the label on the box, I suspect it was a Christmas present from the previous owner’s wife to him, as an incentive to move the project along.
Whatever the origin, I was itching to start refurbishing the rest of the items - gauges etc that make up the centre piece of the car.
Whatever the origin, I was itching to start refurbishing the rest of the items - gauges etc that make up the centre piece of the car.
Metal dash
The wooden dash screws onto a metal backing plate. For some reason, I seemed to have one and a half of them. I robbed whatever I could from the half, welded and painted the complete one and mounted the air vents. Again, I seemed to have a box with six air vents in (the car has four). Not sure what the back story is there.
Switches and knobs all looked a bit sorry for themselves, as did the gauges, all of which were mounted in what must have been a home made dash.
I thought I might need to replace the switches but they cleaned up ok (I still don’t know if they work yet). With the gauges, I took the bezels off and painted them, cleaned the glass and put them back together.
I mounted the dash support on a block, bolted on the metal dash and (finally!) hooked the wooden dash out of its box.
The dash support had an enormous hole in it. The top hole is fine given I’m installing a radio, but I don’t need the bottom hole. I put a metal sheet in, covered it in foam and wrapped vinyl round the support.
I then dug out the radio, which fitted with a bit of tweaking, and getting a bit carried away, added a USB port.
I then dug out the radio, which fitted with a bit of tweaking, and getting a bit carried away, added a USB port.
The vinyl on the padded crash pads that sit underneath the dash was ripped in a couple of places. I spent too long trying to convince myself I could fill/spray/polish them away. Ultimately I bit the bullet, removed the vinyl and cut and stuck on a new piece. You can buy new items but firstly they’re expensive and secondly I’ve heard they don’t fit particularly well.
Yet another trial fitting
This part all took a lot longer than I would have thought. The glovebox was a pain to fit and the crash pads needed a lot of work. But I’m glad I sorted it off the car as I suspect it’s going to be hard enough to install in a confined space