I got the crash pad back from my interior guy Ken. As usual, he did a terrific job. He ended up not using the sewed in seam that came with the kit. He instead sewed his own using the extra material and as I said - it turned out great. Much better than stock but not goofy looking like a custom car interior - no dingle balls. It looks stock, just nicer than stock. I spent a couple hours fitting it, trimming out the excess and making sure the dash lined up. I had already installed all the switches and gauges into the dash so now it was time to tackle the wiring. I taped some rags over the face of the dash to avoid scratches on the install process. I then placed the dash in place and tied it in place with some string. Just kind of hanging out so I could see what was in there and get my hands in to plug in all the wires.
The wiring harness was the pretty standard British codes; B = Black, R = Red, W = White, U = Blue, BR = Brown, G = Green, LG = Light Green and P = Purple. I spent about 3 hours one Friday afternoon and had it all done. Next morning however as I sipped my coffee, waiting for the coffee to do it's morning magic, I caught myself staring at the brand new Europa dash that was hanging on the wall in my den. I thought I liked the original dash better and I thought I would sell this one on ebay. But the more I looked at it the more I liked it and the less I liked the dash I had just re-done and wired up in the Europa. The negative to the dash on the wall was that it did not have a plug for the radio hole, which meant I would have to install a radio if I used the new dash. The positive points about the dash that I had already installed in the Europa was that it did not need a radio (hole was plugged) and also that it was already installed. Well, after the half cup of coffee had flowed through and I had done some more contemplation in the shower, I went out to the garage. I turned on the lights and then took a drop light to take a close look at the dash that I had completed and installed yesterday. I really liked the finish and the color was perfect, but it wasn't a perfectly smooth finish. You could still see where the wood veneer was a little lumpy and upon further investigation I saw my final motivation. There was a big scratch on the right hand side between the panel switch and one of the gauges! Almost looked like a crack but it was just a big scratch. Somehow I had scratched the "still a bit soft" polyurethane finish during the install process. Well, too early for some contemplation fluids (yes it does happen) so I just jumped in and started unplugging the old dash.
In about 20 minutes I had it out and had all the gauges, switches and glove box removed. I brought in the new dash from my den and worked over the wood with some polish and wax. It had a rough finish from sitting around for 12 years. It was new old stock. After some elbow grease it turned out pretty nice. Since this was a new dash with all new wood, I had to mark and drill a bunch of tiny little holes on the back and two on the front for mounting the switches, gauges, vent levers and glove box. 1/32 inch drill bit - that's small! That process took a couple hours.
I then placed the new dash in the car and started wiring things up. Since I had just unplugged everything, the re-plugging didn't take long at all until I got to the last switch (of course!). The panel lamp switch is just a turn the knob type switch but the wood dash has to be countersunk on the back so the threads of the switch stick out enough to get the chrome round nut started. Unfortunately, I hadn't noticed that the new dash was countersunk on the wrong side. No way, no how was I going to be able to grind out the backside while the dash was in place and no way to swap the switches around so out the new dash came out and the can of "end of day" fluids came from the garage refrigerator as well!
The next day I gently ground out the backside of the hole where the panel lamp switch mounted. It went well but unfortunately the sawdust made it's way into all of the gauges through the holes where you plug in the lights. So now I had to take all the gauges out, disassemble them and clean them out. Argh!
Next - Europa Euphoria, Part 24
