Dashboard
Nothing spells out 'classic
British car' more than a nice wooden dash. This is the
signature item on these cars and I was not about to deviate from
that. The original dash was very badly delaminated.
A new one would have to be made.
Also, with the new V6 all
gauges would need to be replaced with modern non-mechanical
units. This would need to be incorporated in the new dash.
Gauges
This took me a long time to
decide on. I wanted something that would look modern but
not gaudy, and believe me there are plenty of those around!
I finally settled on VDO, the same gauges used in the wundercars
from Stuttgart. VDO makes a line called "Vision" with black
faces and red indicator arms. The 'kit' consists of an
electronic speedometer, volts, fuel, engine coolant temperature
and oil pressure. In addition to this, a matching
tachometer and oil temperature gauge were purchased.
The speedo is quite unique.
To calibrate the speedo, you simply find a mile marker, put he
speedo in 'learn' mode and drive for exactly one mile.
Then with a press of a button the speedo has remembered the
number of pulses sent by the reluctor in the gearbox. This
ensures a very accurate speedometer.
To give a nice look
at night, all bulbs have a jacket that makes the gauges glow
with a soft red light when the light switch is in the on
position. This is very pleasing to the eye
and with red glow being comfortable to the eyes a rheostat is not
required. Plus it matches the body colour.
Dash
The dash has been hand crafted
from a solid piece of quilted maple. Nope, no veneer.
It is a solid piece that was made to resemble the original
dimensions of the original dash. The quilted maple board
was planed to the appropriate thickness and hand sanded and
rubbed with tung oil. Many hours were spent with steel
wool in hand to give the dash a near glass-like texture. I
decided against a varnish or polyurethane, instead the dash is
finished with good quality furniture bee's wax. This has
to be applied on a regular basis, but it gives the wood a very
warm, natural look.
As shown in the photos in the
picture gallery, the dash has no provision for a glove
compartment. The thought of cutting the dash up and
loosing the view of that nice quilted maple just did not appeal
to me.
Since the openings on the dash
were different from the original a new backing dash was made
from aluminium. The original backing dash was made from
steel and was heavy. The new one is light but gives a nice
backbone to fasten the wooden dash.
Switches
With all the good looks of the
dash, the question came up: why clutter up things with
switches? To give the dash a very
clean and stealth look, all switches are hidden.
The key
switch is hidden in a very convenient location behind the dash.
Once the ignition key is turned to 'On', a starter switch is
depressed to start the engine. The light switch is also
hidden behind the dash along with the emergency flasher switch. The windshield wiper switch, heater fan switch, horn and
windshield washer switches are all hidden inside the custom made
center console.
The result is a simple and
elegant dashboard. With a little practice, the switches
are very easy to get to.
Center Console
Since the transmission tunnel
was altered the original center support console was unusable.
A new one made of aluminium was fabricated. The new
console helps support the dash to the transmission tunnel and
also helps hide several of the switches.
The console took some time to
form and was later finished in a black, crinkle material.
This has a matte finish, and gives the console a very 'factory'
look.
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