Dashboard

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2007 Walter Mitty

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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Gallery 1

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