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2/15/00 -- Once I started taking the interior apart for the purpose of repairing the footwells with fiberglass overlays, there was no turning back. As much as I'd like to get my Mk3 back on the road, I've decided to go ahead and have the dash facia panel restored. Since I had to remove the parcel trays and gauges to facilitate this, I've decided to clean them up as well.
The entire interior has been stripped. Good gracious, what have I done!!
I needed to remove the parcel trays before I could pop out the wood facia that contains all the gauges. This was very simple to do. The PO did a very nice job of fashioning sheet metal parcel trays, covered with red and black swirl vinyl that matched his custom door panels, brake boot and gearshift lever boot that he fashioned from the same material. While it all looked very smart, my preference is with the original factory look for the car, so everything will be restored to stock, with the exception of the sheet metal backing for the parcel trays. I purchased some vinyl paint and I'm going to attempt to simply spray over the vinyl on the parcel trays, rather than replace the existing trim, which fits very nicely. I expect that this will turn out nicely. I'll certainly let you know if it doesn't!
Once the parcel trays were removed, I discovered that the steering shaft can be raised about a half an inch and I'm going to do it! There is good access to the back of the dash, where the facia is held in place with four nuts. Two on each end.
I wasn't keen on simply unplugging everything, so I opted to remove just one gauge at a time, keeping the wiring aligned properly, then restoring the cleaned gauge to the connections while I wait for the wood dash to be restored. I'm shipping it to Northcoast Industries, where Gordon Peterson will work his magic for me. While I can choose from 175 different veneers, I'm probably going to ask him to simply replace the English Walnut with hopefully slightly enhanced grain and hopefully even a swirl or two of burl.
Simultaneously, I rather impulsively ordered a new wood facia piece from Rimmer Bros., which will be just like the original -- so I may take a chance and ask Gordon to refinish my old dash in something more exotic -- like a Birdseye Maple, Burled Walnut or maybe even Zebrawood! One thing I want to retain though, is the original light stain of the dash.
The gauges, while all functioning perfectly, have been mated to the old dash for so long that the mounting gaskets have turned quite tacky and sticky, which made the removal of the large gauges in particular, impossible without damaging the old veneer. Since this is being replaced anyway, I wasn't overly concerned, but it's a shame nonetheless. My green lens for the turn indicator also broke up, so I've ordered a new one as well.
The gaskets under the chrome bezels on the gauges were in very bad shape after 33 years -- and getting the bezel rings off was very challenging and difficult. I ended up prevailing by carefully squirting some Silcroil into the bezel ring and waiting for it to work itself into the crumbling rubber gasket material inside. After a good 15 or 20 minutes of wrestling with each gauge, I was able to get the rings off. Working from left to right, my first gauge removed and to work on was the gas gauge. Pictured below is the gas gauge after it was taken apart so I could clean the glass. I actually took it apart more than I needed to or wanted to, but here's an opportunity to see inside of a gas gauge in case you're interested. See the little hole on the side of the casing? That's where I inserted my tweezer tip to push up the face (and the glass) from the inside, since it sits flush in the housing.
Scraping out the chrome bezel ring took the most time, but now I'm ready to insert some new gaskets. I debated on whether to replace them at all, but have listened to the counsel of other Triumph owners who have convinced me to do things right. As difficult as it was to get the gauges open, the outstanding condition of the gauge faces gives me incentive to keep the dust out. Once the glass was cleaned and reattached to the gauges, they cleaned up absolutely beautifully. I've heard that spraying Endust on the face of the bezel gives the gauge that semi-gloss "new" looking appearance, but I'm loathe to apply any kind of substance to the face of my gauges out of concern for long term effects. I've seen other gauges that look as though the paint had been contaminated. Since the faces of these gauges look so well to begin with, I've decided to leave well enough alone.
The green jewel for the oil pressure warning light had fallen out of its socket probably years ago. I tried to press fit it back into place, but it wouldn't stay. So I turned it over, applied a tiny amount of crazy glue gel to the underside rim with a toothpick, and reinserted the plastic piece into its socket.
I discovered while removing the light switch and ingnition from the dash panel that my wiring for the lights do NOT match up with with the contacts shown on the master light switch in my manual. The master light switch actually has more contacts than are used for some reason, so making sure that the wires are connected correctly is vital. The wires are all correct -- proper color coding and so forth -- but I'm glad I paid attention to how they were connected (even though disconnecting them isn't necessary to remove the switch from the dash.
While I have the tachometer cable disconnected, I'm going to remove the cable itself from its housing on the distributor side and thoroughly lube the cable with graphite. I had a fair amount of "bounce" on my tach and removed most of it by lubing the cable from the distributor side while it was still attached to the gauge on the opposit end, but this method should prove far better. That graphite spray is extremely messy stuff. The can of McKay brand graphite spray does not have a small tube extension for spraying in small areas (like the inside of the cable housing for example) and any efforts to attach another nozzle with the adapter proved disasterous. All I can say is, thank goodness I was wearing latex gloves. Graphite lube sprayed wildly from beneath the foreign nozzle head. Apparently, they don't include the narrow extension adapter for good reason.
Before sending my facia panel off to Gordon today, I'm going to trace a template on luan board. One of these days, I may try making my own dash just for fun.
...I ended up speaking with Gordon for the first time on the phone today. Very friendly guy. I wanted to express my desire for something similar in shade to the original dash, but with nicer grain highlights. As it so happens, Gordon has some very rare Tiger Maple left over from a dash he's creating for a Maserati -- and it sounds exactly like what I want. According to Gordon, the wood takes on an almost three dimensional quality when finished. Tiger Maple it is... I should have the finished dash ready to install by the end of the month or perhaps the first week in March. By then, the new carpets, seats and door panels will be installed. Hopefully the radio conversion too.
2/23/00 -- When I ordered the moulded carpet set from Rimmer Bros. recently (my first purchase from them), I impulsively decided to buy the walnut dash facia insert (like the one I sent off to Gordon) based on the photos in their catalog. They picture beautiful, warm, honey-hued English walnut dash inserts that came with the cars when they were new. Imagine my surprise yesterday to receive a black walnut facia -- almost cocoa brown in color and resembling nothing close to the original or what was illustrated in their own catalog. I immediately sent a letter of complaint to Rimmer Bros. that so far has been ignored. In America, we call this "bait and switch". I was also overcharged for shipping and not given the 10 pound "new customer" discount that I had been promised. It'll be interesting to see if Rimmer Bros. makes good on their discrepancies -- or tries to stiff me. We'll see soon enough, I suppose.
I found a great alternative to the inner gauge gaskets for my smaller gauges (gas, temp). At Home Depot, I picked up two #88 O-Rings, stock no. 35706B. They are 54mm and dropped into the 52mm bezels perfectly (don't ask me how, but I guess 2mm isn't enough of a difference for it to be a problem). Two loops of 3/32" Teflon valve packing rope did the trick for the large gauges. I'm ready for that tiger maple dash to arrive!
2/24/00 -- Rimmer Bros. responded this morning. They wrote that they do not have an aftermarket dash like the originals pictured in their catalog. The closest they can come is in a straight grain walnut or for those who prefer darker dashes, the burl walnut (which is what they sent me). Rather than take a chance on sending another dash facia that doesn't meet my expectations -- and rather than incurring the expense of returning such a small item, they've told me that they are going to refund my purchase price in full, including the 10 pound overcharge for shipping plus the 10 pound discount that I was supposed to have received, but didn't. I applaud Rimmer for taking the high road on this dispute and will certainly give them another chance at my business because of their positive actions.
Since I still have the dash, I may experiment with creating my own exotic veneer for it.
Just for fun, I did a little magic on the computer to try and visualize a custom dash that takes up the same space, yet has room for two additional gauges -- an ammeter and oil pressure gauge. The gauges depicted aren't correct -- neither are the headlight and ingnition switches (in fact, they're all the same speedo) but you get the idea... The extra room is gained by closing the gap between the large gauges slightly. The biggest problem is deciding where to place the headlight and ignition switches with this layout. Otherwise, I think it looks pretty cool.
4/5/00 -- The more I look at the gauge configuration above, the more I like it. I may in fact, try to create a similar insert at some future date. Right now, I'm just interested in receiving my old refinished dash and radio support from Northcoast Industries -- both in Tiger Maple. They were supposed to ship about two weeks ago. Actually, I was expecting it by the end of February or very early March. If Gordon's last communication with me was accurate, I should have the dash and support by the end of this week and the glove box door hopefully by next week. With any luck, I'll have this project, the stereo conversion and the glovebox fabrication all completed in the next 10 days. Let's hope so!
4/8/00 -- Well, the week came and went and still no refinished dash. I'm disappointed, but trying to remain patient.
In the meantime, I just went through another experience which should prove to be a good lesson learned. After cleaning and reinstalling my gauges, I noticed that my engine seemed to be revving much higher than it should. With the stock Spitfire Mk3 differential, my recollection was that the tachometer needle parallels the position of the speedometer needle when the car is in 4th gear. When I first bought the car, I had a mild case of "needle bounce" in the tach, which I remedied by removing the tach cable from its housing, inspecting it for damage or any frays and after satisfied that it was still in excellent shape, spraying liberally with graphite lube.
TIP: When handling graphite spray, be sure to wear your latex gloves -- that stuff is messy!
After reinstalling the cable, I was pleased to note that the tach readings had now become rock solid and smooth -- but very innacurate. The higher the revs, the greater the margin of error. As it turns out, at highway speeds, my tach was indicating about 750 RPM faster than the engine was actually turning. I confirmed this with an electronic tach / engine analyzer.
Another list member said that he had a working tach out of a Mk1 or Mk2 that he would sell me for $75. Considering that recalibrating my original tach could cost anywhere from $65 to $120, I opted to buy the earlier, used tach, so long as the seller would guarantee me that it was in calibration. Better still, he sent it to me and allowed me to try it before committing to the purchase. Very nice. Since the Mk1 and Mk2's had a smaller displacement, lower revving engine, the redline was about 500 RPM short of my Mk3 tach, but this really didn't bother me since I never red line my engine to begin with.
Sure enough, the replacement tach worked beautifully -- for about four or five days after I'd paid for it. Through absolutely no fault of the seller whatsoever, the counterbalance spring inside went BOING one day while I was driving and my "new" tach died right in mid shift. So much for saving money. I told the seller what happened and he very graciously has offered to try and fix the tach for me at no charge, which is going above the call of duty. I assured him that he should not feel any obligation to do this, since the tach in fact, worked flawlessly when he sent it and for several days thereafter. So now, I've packed it up and sent it back to him. If he can't repair it, then I'll have two bad tachs to send in for repair.
Fortunately, someone else had also sent me a free Mk3 tach with my purchase of a used boot lid. It was dirty, but cleaned up nicely and it's working very well. So at least I have a working Mk3 tach again.
The moral of the story is this: If you have a heavy-use instrument like your speedometer or tach go bad, send it in for professional repair and calibration. In the long run, it will cost less, provide you with a warranty and restore your gauge to like-new condition.
Hopefully, the $75 tach will come back working again -- and I'll have a spare -- but I'm still going to send my original, mis-calibrated gauge in for repair. Then, I'll have two spares on hand.
4/13/00 - My Tiger Maple dashboard and customized dash support arrived today! I am thrilled with the work that Gordon Peterson at Northcoast Industries performed. I'm particularly grateful that he managed to retain the coloring of the original factory dash facia inserts, yet managed to provide a unique and rare wood with a gorgeous grain in the process. The grain is actually very subtle and changes according to the light and angle.
I really wasn't sure how far down the veneer should extend on the dash support -- or even if something like this would be possible. Gordon said "leave it to me, I think you'll be pleased."
I am indeed! The only problem with the dash support was that the mounting holes for both the support itself and the radio plate were veneered over and sealed. I was able to drill them out by first drilling a very small pilot hole in the middle of each opening and then using a larger bit to drill out the remainder of the opening. The veneer was a bit brittle and a small bit tore off near the radio opening since there was so little clearance between the edge of the wood and where the hole needed to be, but since the mounting plate completely conceals this boo boo, it's no big deal. I was still a bit bummed by this minor setback, but I was able to glue the broken piece back on and the repair is literally invisible.
I wasn't sure how well I'd like the veneer on the dash support, so I bought a spare support which I've refinished in the original black crinkle finish. I'll hang onto the stock support -- but I have the feeling that it's going to be sitting on the closet shelf for many years to come.
I'm truly thrilled with how this project has turned out. The only missing piece to the interior puzzle will now be the matching glovebox door that Gordon is fashioning for me from the same Tiger Maple.
Tomorrow, I'll wire everything back up behind the dash and secure the dash in place once more. I'll also re-install the dash support pads, parcel trays and crash pads. The locking glovebox is finished and will be installed sometime this weekend. My stealth radio should be arriving early next week.
I'm looking forward to the day when the outside of the car looks as good as the inside. But in the meantime, it'll do just the way it is!
Please. Always wear your seatbelt while driving -- and that goes double for your children if you have any.