Dashboard out!

Rek

Rek

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I removed the Dashboard without taking the windscreen out, which meant plumbing the seventh level of hell and having a pact with the devil; (being honest the advice on here was excellent).

What seemed to be just a delaminated veneer turned out to be confetti on the end of the large wooden piece across the face.

No happy face here then. Family and pets keeping their distance.

Are these pieces available? Does anyone have a RHD spare? Does anyone know anyone who could make one?

Can this be rescued or do I need to consult with the 'dark one' again.

Any help or advice very welcome indeed.
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Reach out to Bella here on the forum. I believe he goes by the name of bela22.
Haven't used his services personally but he comes highly recommended. Plenty of endorsements on this site for him.
He' s in Europe.
Erik.

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Rek said:
Are these pieces available?
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I'm sure they are, though I only know of sources for LHD pieces. Others will no doubt advise you on where to get RHD pieces.

Does anyone have a RHD spare? Can this be rescued?
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I wouldn't advise installing used parts or trying to salvage that de-laminated plywood. You pointed out the difficulty in getting the dash apart (and you haven't yet had the experience of putting it back together!). So you only want to do this job once. Better to start with parts that are 100% good, and not have to repeat the process in your lifetime.

While I'm spending your money, I would reccomend inspecting and possibly replacing all the wooden dash pieces. The horizontal tray is probably water-damaged as well.
 
i removed my dash today ... it luckily looks a little better than yours ... but not as good as the spare i had. i think Jay has sound advice ... get some solid RHD pieces, trying to reconstruct this into a viable piece that will withstand the pressures of laying up the veneer on a curve will not end well.
 
That dash is so far gone I would be amazed if anyone could glue all of the layers together and come out with the correct curve.
Some of us were talking about making cores but the challenge of getting the curves correct without having a furniture craftsman make each piece is daunting.
 
Sound advice. I will be veneering myself so want the wood substrate to be in good condition.

Regarding the dash removal, the tricky bit were the screws to the rear of the instruments section and its cowling. All else was OK. I plan to see whether an alternative fitting is possible for these to aid removal. My MB 420SL had a push in instrument set which relied on just friction to keep it tightly in place.
 
Update: bela thinks he can save this piece which is incredible. He only does complete sets and I need to consider my budget so might look for a furniture maker or, my son's old school might want to be involved. They have a first class CDT workshop and make these type of things regularly.

The base wood is sound but needs a little TLC. The picture shows bad wood but that is the cruddy varnish on the wooden crosspiece that we have on rhd cars.
 
From now on I'll even taken better care of my woodwork then I already did.

Good luck in restoring it to it's former glory.
 
Rek said:
Update: bela thinks he can save this piece which is incredible. He only does complete sets and I need to consider my budget so might look for a furniture maker or, my son's old school might want to be involved. They have a first class CDT workshop and make these type of things regularly.

The base wood is sound but needs a little TLC. The picture shows bad wood but that is the cruddy varnish on the wooden crosspiece that we have on rhd cars.
Click to expand...
patience is truly a virtue ... and Bela obviously has a lot. i was looking at the set that i just took out of my car, and while its not this bad ... it got relegated to the sidelines for a while ... until i have time to mess with it.
 
Impressive. Any other tips? My glass is out but hoping to remove and reinstall actual dashboard (after new leather)then put windshield in then finish up the dash,wood,instruments. Is that an option.?
I can always take a spring Sunday drive with tachs taped to my knees but the windshield out gets me the eye rolls from Gladis


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I don't think I am qualified to advise as mine came out easily, although I did flip it from the front and bring it out upside down which helped. Also the poor quality of the wood at the end probably helped.
 
Hi Rek,
I am currently restoring my dash. I have finished the parcel tray.....new timber ..............re upholstered and the trim timbers gloss finished. If you go into the Blogs under 73 cs rotiserrie restoration you will see what I did. Still laminating up the rear part

Paul
 
I would like to take a look. Which blog are you referring to? I searched on this forum and could not find it. Can you post a link as it will be useful.

As for my base piece - it is now solid. It was fine apart from the end where the back piece was frayed. I used a two part epoxy resin to impregnate it and them finished by sanding. The result is a robust piece. Whilst looking at two part epoxy coating, I came across liquid glass two part 'glas finish' coatings. It seems that the marine businesses use two cost of this and then a final of varnish for a rock solid finish. I tried it out on a piece of wood which was my practice for veneering, and it worked out quite nice. There are a few issues though - the veneer has to be dust free. I had a few specs and it does affect the finish.
 
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