The Dashpad in In!

It's finally in.
It took me all day Saturday and Sunday - well a few breaks but that was my weekend - why?

The Vogue dashpad was not based on any kind of solid liner. It consists of foam and vinyl. For that reason it cost a lot to have this one made with a fibreglass base that fits the dash top.
Unfortunately the person who made it wasn't a clairvoyant or have magical abilities so it didn't fit quite right. The problem is that the demister trim and side wooden trim didn't fit.

I secured the wooden trim and drew a blue line on both sides to indicate how much room I had.

Now with dashpad installed. The circled bit is fibreglass and foam and will have to come off.

So I spent a long time hacksawing, snipping and filing VERY carefully to make evereything fit.
Here is the final result.

The little buckle is a trick of the light. It's there but very slight. I can take it out with the heatgun or just leave it to the windscreen rubber and sunlight.

Fitting the Dashpad

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We thought is was a bit funny that Laurel and I were sitting in the car on little wooden children's chairs so we asked William (son) to take a photo. Not as funny as we thought (can't see chair) but at least the dashpad is going in. Not fitted yet - even at the end of the day - but nearly.



The determined look on ours faces in the picture below tell it all.

Now I have an Engine Hoist

The time has come to disconnect all things petrol and pull the engine and transmission out.
I had been offered the loan of an Engine Hoist by a kind AEVA member but I have no easy way of transporting it.

Since I will no doubt need it for a while to "adjust" the way the electric motor fits - I figured I would buy one and sell it again when I was sure I had finished with it (hmmm).

Thanks eBay. I also purchased and Engine leveller which allows you to easily tilt the thing you are lifting.
I should have it by the weekend.

I have some house renovation work preparing the family room ceiling (prior to painting) then and I might get time to do some significant work on the Vogue.

Oh, I also dropped my old dashpad up to the restoration place in Brisbane during the holidays. He needed the old one to make sure that he knew how it would fit back into the car.

Dashpad Woes

The dashpad (padded bit on top of the dashboard) has occupied a fair bit of my planning time and looks like it is going to be expensive ($550).
We mucked around a bit with some padded vinyl and finally came to the conclusion that it would look OK but would be a pain to get it to extend out as far as the old dashpad - necessary to prevent sunlight from obscuring the LCD backlit displays. I found some 'D' shaped rubber foam molding from Clark Rubber and got a sample to see how it would go extending the bulkhead under the vinyl forward (about 20cm). I reckon it is "doable", but my better half thinks I have enough to do. So Dashboard Restorations (highly recommended from the Hillman yahoo group) get the job of fixing the old one. It seems they have a Singer Vogue mold...

This is what we have to cover.

The Dashpad

The Dashpad is the padded bit on top of the dashboard.
This is becoming a high cost-for-result item. I have had 2 quotes on restoring the dashpad - $800 and about $600 (including shipping back from another country).

I have found a couple of ideas on the web that make me think I might be able to do it myself but it will be time consuming and no guarantee of a good result.

This one seems the best way.
I actually emailed Daron checking how easy it was to get "Bed Liner" spray.
Turns out it has nothing to do with the bed you sleep in.

People with Utes (that's trucks in the USA) like to stop the truck "bed" getting scratched etc. so they either get a hard liner or apply a spray - hence bed liner spray!