The sun was out, well it wasn't actually raining, so I went for a blast around the New Forest. Somehow I ended up at the classic car garage at Beaulieu. I was admiring the stock through the window when the owner came out. He remembered my car from last time we met and was pleased with the progress (loved the door handles).
I explained I was trying to decide what to do with the interior. Possibly retrimming the door cards but the centre console was giving me a head ache as it is one piece from the rear of the cabin to just below the air vents at the front. I have covered the back half with carpet but don't know what to do at the front where the buttons and heater dials are.
He took me into the showroom and we looked at a very nice series 1 e-type. The centre tunnel and switch board were a slightly patterned aluminium with leather detailing. Perhaps I could fabricate a switch panel that I stuck over the top of the plastic?
Off to b&q for a £7.20 panel of aluminium. Park in the garage which is war. For once and I hit my first snag. The heater dials won't pull off. They have to be removed from behind which means removing the centre console which is what I was trying to avoid. I was about to go inside and think it through when it started raining so I grabbed a screwdriver and started removing the centre console.
Ever get to the point when you think - I am not sure I can put this all back together?
Never mind, let's plough on and remove everything we can.
I hate clever German electrical connectors so broke this one.
Now the console is out I have loads of room, perhaps a wine rack? The photo is to show the space available.
My current thinking is to create a hidden box behind a nice aluminium switch board. All the modern switches will be inside the box. The false switch board will have a nice analogue clock, a chrome hazard button and a chrome 'Launch Rockets' button, assuming I can find the appropriate buttons.
A morning spent on the car
I went down to the garage to see if things had improved over night but the car was still looking like the middle had been ripped out
I decided to see if I could reuse some of the existing trim to help make the new dash look better integrated
Make a template out of hardboard. The plan is to use some nice oak faced ply for the final thing
Yeah, I can't cut straight but I was using a jig saw rather than a proper saw. The final version will be better
Slight comedy as Ikea pencil disassembles itself
Now just need to work out how to secure the switches in their new deep set position.
Thanks Ollie - I broke it after I had removed it.
total disregard to health and safety twaddle I am sure you would love watching me sharpen pencils on the bench grinder then.
Latest update.
I put some bracing wood in place becuase every time I tried to tighten anything it seemed to move
I found the culprit, the passenger side dash board and glove box was being held in place by one loose screw and some dirt. I refitted the three missing screws and tightened everything up nicely. Shame the side template didn't fit properly anymore :-(
more template making. This time for the gear surround and another comedy Ikea pencil. This time as you try to write, the lead pushes out the other end. Gosh how I laughed
Well this is sort of the expected end result. I will cut a flap in the most upright bit of wood through which the modern buttons can be reached.
Bonus points if you spot a straight line or clean join ;-)
Now I need to decide which bits to do in Oak faced ply and which bits to do in metal.
I also need to decide if I want dials, switches or just a clock showing on the false dash. I think I shall google some '50s dashboards to see what might be suitable
3rd and final instalment before I retire to the batch with a car magazine and a bottle of Pinot Grigio...
I decided that I should make the hazard warning button and window switches accessable. Previously they were hidden under the carpet.
Cut some holes
Spray black
Dry
The rest of the time was trying to decide between wood and steel for the gear surround and dash. Whichever I go for will be stuck to the hardboard structure so I cut out some precise templates for the two pieces require out of some old floor vinyl. You can also see where I have fitted the hazrd and window switches. Reasonably discrete but still accessible. The wiring loom was too short to hide them in the false dash
Looking at the dash in the white tiled effect is steering me away from the steel which would be similarly light and go for the oak instead. Still a light finish but not as big a contrast as the steel would be. It will also match the wood panels at the sides of the foot wells.
A quick mock up I prepared during this mornings copnference call. It iwll be a wooden dash with a wooden raised panel wit5h the clock mounted in it.
The clock is going to be real but the toggle switches will be dummies. Probably sprung moment switches so they are always in the up position. I 'might' put a little battery behind them linked to a kids sound effect toy so when you press the button down you here machine guns / rocket launchers etc. Depends how the next conf call goes.
Not much achieved today because I have had to do my day job. I did manage to get the basic shapes for the dash frame cut out. I started with a particularly large piece of ply so had to get the car out of the garage for the first few cuts.
Notice the grey foam matting on the floor. it was a pack of 6 tiles I picked out of the bargain bin in Halfords for £5. When kneeling on the cold concreete floor trying to get the dash together and apart the mats are a god send.
I had all that wood and I still made the cutting difficult for myself by dqeezinf the peices up together. Actually this was partly so that the bits of the dash that butted up to each other had continuous grain pattern flowing through them.
First peice cut from the hardboard template and the standard trim piece fitted. I was pleased with the result.
The other pieces were more challenging due to the differences between hardboard and plywood. Hardboard bends more easily and little bits of plastic trim are hard enough to dent hardboard whereas ply needs cutting. You can use a stanley knife to cut hardboard but you need a saw to cut play. Ply is thin and fragile and will snap in a really annoying manner some times.
The first person who says 'It doesn't look any different to yesterday' will get a slap. Actually, the second person will as I am not in the habit of slapping my wife ;-)
I still need to put the flap on and add the switches and clock but have stopped after taking that lot apart again to varnish it. I am now waiting on the varnish to dry.
The plan is to stick a carefully cut pair of pieces over the top of what you see in the photo. The idea is that everything in the photo is structural to the dashj and the two extra bits will purely be cosmetic cladding.
I could have left the hardboard for the structure bits I suppose but I wanted to practice with the ply before doing the bits that really show. Now I wonder how many coats of yacht varnish I should use?
The varnish is taking forever to dry in this weather. I get to give one side one coat per day even with a little warm air to encourage it.
Thanks for the advice, it is much appreciated. The bits done so far won't actually show, well the side panels will a bit. I will definitely take my time with the cover panels that willl be on show.
I wish I had taken the seats out before trying to do the dash rebuild. So much more room and so easy to do.
Seat fully back and up.
Remove 2x13mm front nuts.
Seat fully forward and up.
Remove 2x17mm rear bolts.
Tilt seat and remove 16mm seat belt bolt.
Unclip the eletrical connectors under the seat (3 on my car)
Lift seat out.
Collect £3.27 and a plastic ball that was stopping the passenger seat dropping down properly. This was why Chris felt so wind battered during the drive to the station, his seat was 3 inches hugher than mine so his head was above the windscreen
Umm, no. Why?
I needed the electrics working to move the seat back and forwards
Are you sure there are airbag related stuff in the seat of a 1999 Z3 2.8?
If you look on the previous page at the centre console when I have stripped it you will see a white sticker and a yellow sticker. The white one says something like Baur USA and the yellow one says something about SRS and danger. I smacked it with a spanner (by mistake) and nothing happened.
I think the three wires under the seat are seat belt warning, heating and seat motors. I could be wrong but nothing went bang.
I will disconnect the negative on the battery when putting stuff back together.
Ollie - I too suffer with electricity. At school the science teacher made us hold electric contacts and then measured each pupils electrical conductivity. We plotted this on a chart. I was described as a statistical outlier even after three or four retests.
Well I have a cheap Chinese OBD and free phone app so might be able to reset the airbag warning if it appears.
Failing that I will stick some black tape over the warning light.
Will post pictures if it all goes off!
Will disconnect battery before playing about again
Here are the wires I disconected
Here is the airbag sensor I had spotted sat behind the gear stick and inside the centre console
And here is all the space with the seats removed
I spent my lunch hour planning the flap that will cover the modern instruments. This will sit on top of the wooden construction that you have seen to date and be very visible so I have to get this right.
I thought I would try a bit of prototyping while waiting for the latest coat of varnish to dry so grabbed a scrap off cut.
The problem is that the panel has a very distinct bend about half way along and a smaller bend near the gear stick end. This does not make for a flush fitting flap.
What you need is a former to try and bend the ply against to get it in the right shape. Look what I made.
The ply wasn't as flexible as I had hoped so I cut the back with a chisel and panel pinned it place. Actually that isn't a panel pin but this is a prototype.
The end result looks like a much better fit
I think for the real thing I will make the 'former' out of a strip of metal so that it is less bulky. I just need to work out how to bond metal to wood.
Do you think I can get away with mixing some of the glass fibre resin only or should I stick a layer of fibre as well to hold the metal strip in place??
Good tip. I have a steamer somewhere. With luck it will retail its shape when it cools to.
Looking on YouTube most of the bending ply videos say "Start with several sheets of 3 mm play that you want to glue together. I only have one sheet of 3mm ply. :-(
I am now thinking of cutting out a piece bigger than I need, making a couple of formers for the edges outside of the area I need, soaking the back of the wood and then gradually forcing the ply against the formers while tickling the wood with a heat gun to loosen the glue. I might still stick a metal strip to the back of the piece I will use to stop it relaxing back to flat over time.
Nearly there - pictures tomorrow!!
Satin metal background with wooden panels for clocks and switches.
Hinged for access.
Pictures tonight while wife watches crap on TV
I put all of the stained and varnished framework together ready to take the 'pretty' cover panels. Gear box and ASC buttons easily reacheable by my left knee.
I then decided I didn't really like the wood effect so dug out the metal sheet I bought after seeing the e-type panelling. It was too shiney and proper machining was too expensive so look in awe at the WCA metal satin surface creator.
Shiney metal
Satin finish
Lots of careful marking out
I then realised I have never really worked with metal sheet before and had no idea how to cut and shape it!
A hacksaw worked well until the frame of the hacksaw hit the metal and prevented the saw going any further. How to proceed?
Well, I had an old wood chisel that was knackered anyway so might as well see if we can punch that through the metal sheet...
... more pictures tomorrow
Forgot to take many pictures but you can guess most of it.
Metal cut out along the lines marked.
Four screws around the gear leaver to hold the gaitor in place.
Four switches below the hole to clamp the hinge in place.
Hinge lying backwards in the hole and also pulled forward as it will be to access the switches
And now with the gaitor in place and the clock panel in place. A small magnetic catch hold the flap shut.
Just need to vacuum the carpet again and refit the seats. After that it is just a full body respray and powder coating the wheels (neither of which I will try) and the car is finished...
...for the moment...
...except for the steering wheel...
...and a decent interior trim job...
...and upgraded rear springs...
...and new shocks all round...
...and possibly bigger tyres...
...I don't like lists. Of the the bath with a car magazine and a bottle of wine. Have a good weekend all!
Glad you got the Maserati clock reference
£6.99 from The Range. Guaranteed cheap and guaranteed to break within a week, another Maserati reference.
;-)