Dash project

[Mark 4.3]

I have a 4.3 Griff with original dash in great condition but IMO looking a little dated and in need of some ally bits. The dials are the original black face/black surround type (different from the 500 dials). I would like to remove the dials and either paint silver or polish the surrounds(which I understand are stainless?). Having removed the dash and instruments, is it possible to remove the outer rings from each of the dials for subsequent polishing or painting, or is it possible to polish them in situ without causing damage to the dials? Also, I want to retain the veneer dash which is in VGC - is it easy enough to remove the instruments without damaging the veneer?

Any advice would be appreciated

[ATG]

Assuming the dash is broadly similar to that in my Chim, then the challenge will be to get the dash out in the first place. Once out, the instruments can be easily removed, however the guauges themselves don't come apart. I saw on another thread that someone had used some paint stripper to remove the black paint from the guages' bezels, and had then put some clear lacquer on to stop the metal corroding.

[dai capp]

Mark,

The dials can be cleaned off in situ...

I found out that the dial surrounds are only painted metal so here's what I did on my old 94 Griff (and it looked the business when finished)

1. remove the paint with cellulose thinners (very time comsuming, took me 2 days to do it right and not suffer from the fumes). You'll need thin cloth and a very small screwdriver to do it properly.

2. Wet and dry the dial surrounds

3. Apply clear laquer otherwise they corrode (and they go quickly)

The only dial that can't be done is the clock as it is plastic.

The veneer is extremely delicate to remove so take extra care. It could be worth talking to a friendly dealer for the low down on how best to tackle this. I had my veneer cracked for me by a dealer who is normally very careful with everything they do. But it is a tight fit and will crack with very little pursuasion...

Cheers

DC

[Mark 4.3]

dai capp said: Mark,

The dials can be cleaned off in situ...

Thanks for the info; was there any risk of getting thinners running inside the dials and causing havoc? What did you do with the clock surround to get it to match?

[mel]

Don't use thinners, strip them down and do the job properly. I've now got satin chrome plated surrounds on all my gauges (including clock which is metal but slightly different size ) which was achieved with a bit of patience and resolve to do it correctly. The end result when combined with a few other mods creates a stunning impression, I would advise phoning Leven and talking to Simon about this requirement and dashboard mods on general, top people who have always got more projects waiting in the winds.

[dai capp]

Mark 4.3 said:

dai capp said: Mark,

The dials can be cleaned off in situ...

Thanks for the info; was there any risk of getting thinners running inside the dials and causing havoc? What did you do with the clock surround to get it to match?

Mark

the clock unfortunately remained black on mine, but the dials did look good once done. I also wrote to a Chim owner who wrote back and said that his clock was metal as well so you may be lucky...

I used celulose thinners on a cloth and got into the gaps with a small screw driver and had no problems at all. I masked the veneer off just to be safe.

Mel says to get the satin look dials and I would have to agree that they do look good, but I believe they are quite expensive. I was planning on selling the car quite soon after completion which is why I went to the trouble of doing it rather than forking out the dough.

I guess it depends on how deep your pocket is and whether you can be bothered to ask the next question which would be 'how can I be sure the new satin surrounds would fit...', because knowing TVR the dials won't all be the same size!

Cheers

DC

[mel]

Mel says to get the satin look dials and I would have to agree that they do look good, but I believe they are quite expensive.

Mine cost me the grand total of nothing, I put a fair amount of work to our local electroplaters so it was done as a favour. I do however realise that not everyone else is this lucky so would suggest once you've got the dials off a little trip over to a local platers and for a "tea pot" job I would expect a 20 quid bung for a polish a coat of nickel, satin graining and then a coat of chrome, try saturday mornings it's always a favourite for the boss to not be there.

[david beer]

Mel, did you do the LED dash? Any left over make great fairy lights !!

[mel]

David, yes I did, I replaced all the poxy dull filament lamps with the LED's you sent me only to be disapointed with the result blue LED's just don't work that well with black dialed clocks, I'd hoped for a VW look but ended up with what looked like a poor mans immitation so ripped them all back out again, I tried again with red LED's and got much better results. I did find though that with the speedo and rev counter it was no good just putting a cluster of 4 LED's in the pod vacated by the filament lamp as the spread angle meant you got focused patches of light and not a nice spread, I ended up attaching the LED's with sticky pads around the inside of the clock case to give a nicer spread of light up through the diffuser. I'm now really happy with the results as the clock illuminate with a really nice even crisp red glow very similar to an Audi. I also took the oppourtunity to replace all the LED's on the heater control panel with "white when off" flat topped LED's and the three big warning lights (red, green, orange) with high intensity stainless steel bezelled LED's, oh yes and the warning light panel completely with a laser cut brushed stainless steel panel that's again got the "white when off" LED's in place of the illuminated symbols.

The only thing I would say is don't get distracted the way I did with the mindset of "I've got a convertible car and need to see these warning lights in bright sunlight so need the brightest I can find" the end result for me was that I got LED's that were too bright and as such I light up like the incredible hulk when indicating and they can be almost dazzeling.

Edited because I've just re read that post and don't want it to come across as I'm at all ungreatful for the help, parts and advise David gave me when I started the LED project, he was a great help and set me off in the right direction to achieve the end results I really wanted. Thanks again.

>> Edited by mel on Tuesday 17th December 09:08

[simpo one]

And the price of an *original* 4.x Griff goes up again!

[dans]

mel do you have any pictures of the finished product?

[mel]

pictures are imminent, I'm actually crap with a digi camera and they won't do it justice unless I get them done by someone that knows what they're doing

[david beer]

Mel, glad you got there. My Griff with white LEDs was so easy. I guess we "TVRs" are all a little bit different. So what about the christmas tree LEDs?

[tivhead]

simpo one said: And the price of an *original* 4.x Griff goes up again!

You know it makes sense