custom dash project

[Ed Poore]

At the risk of turning this into Project Binky if you've got access to a lathe have you considered turning your own?

[FridgeFreezer]

13 hours ago, Retroanaconda said:

Less of an issue on the later wheelboxes as they are not round in section so cannot fully rotate in the bulkhead.

Later wheel boxes have modern-style wiper splines with a nut to hold the wiper on too.

[ianmayco68]

Unfortunately I haven’t Ed , it was something I’d looked into and had priced up a new Chester one but then I brought a Defender and my spare money suddenly disappeared  , but I don’t regret it , I think  . That’s another plus point Fridge and I think I may be wright in thinking that the spindles on the newer ones are a little bigger which is another plus and the outers have flats on them so would hold firm in the bulkhead .

[Ed Poore]

I think SiWhite was selling one here for not very much. He's not that far from me and I'll be passing you later in the year. Either in Novemeber or just before Christmas...

[ianmayco68]

Yes I’ve seen one for sale in the for sale section , but unfortunately funds are low at the minute with the 110 and the 90 project , also I think it’s been sold. I’m 50 next month so might wait and see if I get some pennies for me birthday .

[ianmayco68]

Did a bit more on the wiper MOD today , it's getting hard to motivate myself just lately but here goes , I think I said earlier the arm's are off a disco 1 wiper system . So cut the disco wiper spindles off as the diameter was to big 

drilled a hole in the center at 50mm , which was what James had worked it out to for the sweep ( hope you don't mind James  and thank you )

had to cut the sides off the wheel box as the arms wouldn't rotate with them on 

and they ended up like this

wanted to knock them on to the spindle shafts as the shafts are serrated like a cog but when I tried I bent one shaft and damaged the collar on the other so drilled them just large enough to put them on and will have to put a blob of weld on to hold them , and one of the mock up of how it should work .

I need to lengthen the operating bar's and take the pivot arm pin out of one of the ends and fit a bolt as it's not long enough to take 2 arms . Still haven't decided on whether to use new version or the older type of wheel box , so I'm going to order 1 of the td5 type and see what's involved in making it work , as they are 25 quid a pop .

[steve200TDi]

I left the back on and opened out the top (to get the arch) so that the spindle wouldn't fall out!

I've been looking at the newer type too as they have a nut on the end to secure the wiper arm too thus deleting the horrible little splined adapter that causes all the play!

I was half tempted to put a wanted add for knackered later style wiper spindles as we will only chop them up!

Good progress!

Steve

[steve200TDi]

Done!

Steve

[ianmayco68]

Yes I think the newer type will be stronger and if I remember correctly they used ones with a nut to secure the wiper arm on project binky as it enabled the to use better wiper arms .

[steve200TDi]

11 hours ago, ianmayco68 said:

Yes I think the newer type will be stronger and if I remember correctly they used ones with a nut to secure the wiper arm on project binky as it enabled the to use better wiper arms .

Exactly!

This is going to be mk2 for the Racer!

Steve

[ianmayco68]

Found a place that does them cheaper shop4autoparts they’ve got some at £18 and I need to order some parts off them so going to order one .

[discomikey]

Looking forward to seeing more! 

I've recently modified a dash (Massive job, much bigger than you think) to clear an internal rollcage. I'm just waiting for it to come back from the trimmers before I get some decent photo's. I've retained the standard look and feel though. 

It's super satisfying to achieve what you have in your head though!
 

[ianmayco68]

Cheers Mike , no it’s not an easy job especially with the doors so close and clearance needed , l did mod the dash in the 110 but not to this extent . Will look forward to your photos when yours comes back from the trimmers. 

[ianmayco68]

Not much done on this project as I've been trying to get the main project to the point were this becomes more easy , but hopefully by the time Christmas is over I'll be ready to push on with this . So as I couldn't get any old td5 wiper boxes I ordered some new ones of ebay , did a bit on it this morning prised the cog off the inside with a scraper which was pretty easy , I actually think the weak link in the wheel box is the cog and how it's mounted and when removed and an arm welded on I think they will last a hell of a lot longer , as all the knackered ones I've seen move pretty freely still .

the holes in the bulkhead will need some opening out , well more elongating a small die grinder should work okay .

And when I brought the disco 1 wiper mechanism I got the whole caboodle , so was thinking of using the frame and mounting the wheel boxes in this , a quick pic

 The motor bolts on to the frame and the arms will need cutting down so they fit , so in theory everything will bolt to the frame and then the wheel boxes will push through the bulkhead in the usual way and the 2 nuts will secure it , it might need some more bracing I'll post some better photo's up over Christmas when I've got all the other bits done 

[ianmayco68]

Did a bit more on this today as I needed to fit the newer td5 type wheel boxes before I sprayed the bulkhead , and to be fair it was a lot easier than I thought . Firstly opened the existing holes out to 12.5mm .

Then using a steel deburer/rotary file bit in a battery drill opened out the hole to the correct shape .

And voila it fits great .

Got the bulkhead primered today and will finish spraying it tomorrow , so this part of the project should start to move along faster now .

 

 

[ianmayco68]

Hi all , not done anything on this for a while as I've been trying to get other stuff done and I need to get cracking on it so I've drawn up a plan and so the weekends now are dash orientated . Right was originally planning to try and use the disco 1 frame but on trying it was a no go , and I brought some later wheel boxes opened the bulkhead holes out which was easy enough but you just need to take your time and do it slowly , I'm glad I did as the wheel boxes fix themselves to the bulkhead and there's no need for any extra .

So even though I didn't use the disco frame I've used the parts off it , the operating rods have nice brass bushes in them so should aid the smoothness of the new system and the arms down from the wheel boxes were the right length and have nice pegs on them so can retain the rods with a c clip .

As you can see above the bushes also these are set to run as a pair back to back , but the disco set up has the motor in the middle of the rods so had to knock the pin out of one of the arms and out of the arm that fits on the motor and swap them over .

The holes the other end were opened out to 10mm and were taped onto the wheel boxes , they are snug but a blob of weld might be needed to stop them slipping .

I've done it like this as not having access to a lathe and such the pins out of the disco setup are far better and squarer than I could have made .

This is a shot of the wheel box over the passenger side and shows why I had to change round the pins . Next is a couple of shots of the arms fitted in , I had to lengthen the middle rod to 572mm that's center to center of the wheel box spindles .

And finally one of were the motor will fit but a need to make a mount for it . I'm thinking that I really need to get the windscreen in so the wiper arms/blades will sit against the screen correctly so I can set it up correctly and test it . The motor isn't a problem as the arm can be set in any position , as you tighten a nut down and the arm locks against splines on the motor shaft to stop it slipping .

The plate is off the disco set up I might use it as the holes for the motor are already there and weld some legs to it so it can be fixed to the bulkhead .

[discomikey]

the plate is usually rubber mounted on the disco's. something thats probably worth mimicing. 

[ianmayco68]

Yes I think your rite on that one , when I brought the complete mechanism of ebay the original rubber gromits were in the plate so I can use them or upgrade to something more substantial if needed .

[steve200TDi]

Good progress! It'll be interesting to see where all the dash parts lie in relation to your new wiper set up.

Steve

[ianmayco68]

Cheers Steve , part of the custom dash is the vent flaps will still be fitted but not operational I'll fit new seals to the flaps then they'll be clamped down some how , I've got an idea but not tried it yet . So I wasn't going to fit the black steel back plate ( I will once the wiper's are all finalised to see if it can be done by people with a standard dash ) but I'm now thinking of fitting it and bolting the wiper motor to that and altering it as needed to fit the dash parts . I was intending to be on it this weekend but I ended up finishing off a few odds and sods to get them done , so hopefully next weekend . But as we thought using the later style wheel boxes is a lot easier and better than the older type as the bulkhead holds the wheel box in position , it just means you have to file the hole out to suit with a rotary file .

Edited March 17, 2019 by ianmayco68

[ianmayco68]

So a bit more done this week , and a lot of head scratching . I think I've decided to use the lower part of the dash for ease of clearance issues , but this could change as time goes on . So fist I thought it best to assemble the dash parts and check for clearance issues for those with standard dashes , only place I can see issues is with the vent mechanisms which I didn't get round to trying as other things got in the way . 

So welded the arms on the boxes , just used tacks and they still move freely after so no problems there .

Need to paint the rod , so fitted the dash up to this point .

Then fitted the wiper boxes and arms and all looks fine .

As I'm fitting the vent flaps but having them fixed the operating levers aren't a problem to me , when they're painted and new genuine seals fitted they'll still be hinged as per factory look but will be fixed at the rear like this ,

rivnuts fitted to the flap , one each end and one in the middle then fixed under pressure to the bulkhead with these .

but when all done we'll see if there strong enough , but should be fine .

[steve200TDi]

Excellent, good to see plenty of clearance. And now know to have the pivot arm hanging down from the wiper arm!

Can you judge or see if the vent arm mechanism would clash with the set up you now have?

Steve

[ianmayco68]

I’ll put them in the weekend when I get back on it and put some pics up.

[ianmayco68]

Sorry Steve forgot to offer the vent mechanism up and see what clearance I have , I'll try and do it tomorrow . So as the engines now in and I can't really do anymore till I get some cash together for parts it's back to the dash . There's been a lot of head scratching and thinking as it's not as easy as you probably think , that's why it's took some time to come back to it as I couldn't quite get my head round it on where to start and how to do it , so I needed to start somewhere and hope the rest fell into line , so decided to start with the center console . It took all this afternoon sanding a bit here and cutting a bit there to get to this .

So opinions please ? The base is fine , I just need to trim the front down so it fits over the gearbox tunnel , the top at the rear is ok as that will be a cubby box/arm rest . Where it slopes down from there on will need trimming off so I can fit the auto gear lever inside and the plastic trim in the top plate , also need to fit the Disco hand brake on there , trimming will be done when I've set the width which I already know from the cubby box I made for the 110 , also need to make a separate piece to join the dash and the center console . I've got to alter the top part of the dash now as I've decided to fit  puma clocks so I've made more work for myself , hope I can pull it off  .

[ianmayco68]

Got a bit more done tacked the back in and a piece at the front to support it ,

trial fitted it ,

then cut the sticky up bit off the back and tacked that onto the front and also tacked some right angled strip around the top where the cubby box will be ,

then had a trial fit ,

had to fettle the sides down at the front in places so it fitted on the gearbox tunnel , there will be carpet fitted so any slight gaps won't be noticeable when finished , then fabed a plate up to hold the gear shifter and surround ,

I now need to work out how to fit the shifter in the console as I'm also fitting a disco 1 hand brake lever . have fitted one on the 110 and it makes using the handbrake a much easier operation . So I'm thinking of making a plate up and fitting both the handbrake and shifter to the seatbox then the console can be placed on top then a removable top plate for the console then the shifter surround can clip on top and have sourced some gators for the handbrake and hi/lo lever , hopefully it should all fall into place .