70 S, RHD, Signal Orange, UK->Australia->UK

[Jonny Hart]

Had a quick look around. These folks say the have different tracer patterns.

http://www.narragansettreproductions.co ... -wire.html

[inaglasshouse]

Thanks both.

Next, a slightly strange job on the dashboard.

RHD dashes of correct quality were / are not available, so Garry is refurbishing mine.
It seemed salvageable, the only problem was that the speaker hole had been filled in. It looks like a previous owner had it reworked by a company that uses vacuum-forming type techniques to attach the vinyl - the many small holes are the clue.

Garry was not overly keen to make a hole that I (already earmarked as an annoyingly picky customer, for some reason ) might suggest was half a millimetre out of position and throw a hissy fit. So he kindly let me take some measurements from another dash, following which I measured many times, cut once, and ended up with a hole that seems to fit my nice original speaker grille. Dremel with router bit was the tool of choice.









After which my dash went off to be re-covered.

[BILLY BEAN]

Richard, as they say in the US : good job!

[RichardBTek]

Hi Richard

Great work!

Who's doing your dash repair and recovering?. I've a good condition but cracked RHD dash and a poor (with small bit missing) dash which at some point (many moons away!) will be needed for my 71T. The Vinyl covering is the bit that seems to be difficult to get done well.

Richard

[stretch]

Good stuff Richard, my kind of posts. Interested to hear if you came across the errors on the wiring diagram for the 70 cars. ? Crack on.

Best regards
Dave

[Dougieboy1]

On the basis that my loom was:

1. Really badly hacked about - there were additional wires spliced in all over the place for radios, speakers, aircon that had been badly fitted, weird horns and wires with nothing on the end of them so i have no idea what they were for, etc
2. The sheathing had deteriorated quite badly (heat) so there was no guarantee that the cores had not been compromised
3. I dont have your level of patience
4. I really dont want to run any risk of my car becoming a 45 year old bbq briquette

I have gone with the Kroon alternative. But i salute your endeavour to maintain the original components where possible. In all my many restoration projects, i dont think i have ever reused the loom come to think of it so i dont even think of that as a start point.....

[inaglasshouse]

i salute your endeavour to maintain the original components where possible..

Nah, I'm just too tight to pay someone to do stuff I'm more-or-less competent to tackle.
I also cheated - I bought a donor loom from a LHD 1970 E. Not identical, of course, but between the two of them I was able to cobble something together.

[inaglasshouse]

Who's doing your dash repair and recovering?.

The one-and-only Garry at Classic FX:
http://classiccarrestorationsurrey.co.uk

Tell him I sent you! Or perhaps not, he might have had enough of me by now.

Good news is he offers a 24-hour express turnaround service on dash recovering. He loves them.

Cheers, Richard.

[inaglasshouse]

Good stuff Richard, my kind of posts. Interested to hear if you came across the errors on the wiring diagram for the 70 cars. ? Crack on.
Best regards
Dave

Thanks Dave. I'm nowhere near your level, but learning. Inspired by you, Barry, et al who are "self taught".
Yep, there are a few curve balls in the wiring diagram. Nothing too confusing though. Given that I have infinite time costed at zero per hour!
How's yours? Can I come over for a gawp?
Cheers, Richard.

[inaglasshouse]

Another nice indoor job - time to build up a set of headlights.
First onerous task... decide which set of Biodes to use.



I have enjoyed the parts hunting. Possibly a bit too much.

[Tp81]

Richard are you having the dash covered in leather or vinyl ?

I have the same job to tackle, along with door caps, window trims, knee pads etc. Was thinking of having this all done in leather.

Keen to hear and see which route you have chosen.

[inaglasshouse]

Hi Tom,

I have most of the original interior bits, in black vinyl (+ basket weave). They scrubbed up amazingly well. I plan to re-use those, so it was a pretty easy decision to go with vinyl for the dash - Garry has stocks of vinyl which is a perfect match.

With that said, I won't be using the original front seats (which are ridiculously heavy and not supportive enough). They will go into store.
The replacements are leather, and are far too matt at the moment, hence look silly with the vinyl. Initially I will use them as-bought and see how they wear in - with luck will become shinier. But if that fails I will have them re-covered in more period-looking leather.
It's an area where lots of high end restos (especially from the States) are not to my taste - everyone seems to want modern-style matt leather, which looks wrong to me in an early 911. And even more wrong in a 356.

Have also been looking into options for basket-weave embossing the leather - might do that if I re-do the seats.

Cheers, Richard.

[inaglasshouse]

A couple of pics of the finished dash. With many thanks to Garry (classicfx on DDK).

[inaglasshouse]

Here's another one you'll like, Dave. Perhaps not a good post for the purists, though.

I should probably explain - having been quite careful about getting the shell and paint done properly, and having chosen to go original with that bit (original colour, textures, solid paint etc), I'm much more relaxed about stuff that bolts on. So there will be reversible mods for performance or for fun. And occasionally I'll choose to save time and money by doing something in a bodgy way, as long as it's not too hideous and can be upgraded later.

So... front indicators / sidelights. I got a pair of very nice, original Bosch, US front light units with the car. As you know, the main difference between US and Euro bases is the position of the sidelight. I chose not to spend a fortune on a proper euro set (and the cheap repros are nasty). So a bodge was called for, to add the bulb holder for the sidelight.

I bought a couple of NOS VW number plate lights, made by Hella. Very cheap on eBay.
They look like this:





(They are also nearly correct for luggage compartment lights for a '70 car. But not quite).

A bit of dismantling and the bulb holder was installed in the indicator unit:



The wire running inside the unit (will be neatened), joining a connector on the plastic backing plate, is the same scheme as original Euro lights, I believe.
Cheap and easy, and not too horrible bearing in mind there will be a lens covering it.

[MarkIII]

Another nice indoor job - time to build up a set of headlights.
First onerous task... decide which set of Biodes to use.



I have enjoyed the parts hunting. Possibly a bit too much.

Looks like you might have a little problem there Richard, reminds me of Darrens similar wheel issue.....