W116.org

howdy,
been rather lazy regarding the cars lately with work occupying time...dad did say he wanted the car in the paint shop in the next week after 2 years of procrastinating!
almost fully stripped - but how the hell do i get the dash out...i have it free so it wobbles around, but if you take it out towards the rear of the car, it jams against the A pillars...it doesnt seem to come straight up? does anyone have any tips...i busted a couple on previous wrecks trying to get them out

getting it all unbolted is a bit of a turd...however some time saving tips...
the lower bolts are all easy 10mm...there are the 3 fortgettable ones - the handbrake, the one behind the light swicth and in a 6.9 - the hydro lever (this needs another post)....there are only 3 hidden ones...two lateral ones - one on drivers accessible with speedo cluster out and the p[assenger side, accessable with glovebox out...then the real swine, you can see it through the speedo cluster in the centre...bolt head is on the drivers side....to access it you either need a long ratchet with angled head (i didnt have) or take out the centre air grills, (you can remove their rubber attachment) and then stick the ratchet straight in to loosen it a little before undoing the rest by hand via the cluster segment again...

once again, if you know how to get the dsah out, please let me know,,,i even dropped the two 13mm bolts on the steering wheel to give me a few extra inches of freedom to no avail

attached is a pic of that central bolt which is the tough one...the pic is of me sitting in the drivers seat (RHD) and looking through the hole where the speedo cluster was...the bolt resides in the hole you can see at the upper aspect of the pic

regards
nathan

It sounds like it's almost ready to go. Is everything detached from the heater box?

Have you removed the blower yet?

Tim

?Long open ended spanner or ratchet spanner.

If you need anything - call me as I am going to Fremantle on Saturday and can swing around and drop in if you are stuck about middayish.

Bill

PS two new 116 tools arrived yesterday



On the left is the "Go-nogo Gauge" for checking correct rocker arm shim height and on the right is the socket for the rear hub bearings.

Bill,
your armamentarium of tools baffles me...i dont even know what they do but im impressed!
still dont know how to lift this damn dash out though!

Nathan, I can't remember how I got to that centre bolt in the 280 I dismantled but I didn't find it too difficult.  I'd heard about that bolt and was expecting some curry from it but it wasn't hard.  From memory I only needed to loosen the bolt rather than undo and remove itsince the tab is "U" shaped.   Maybe I just used a ratchet with extensions and a universal join somewhere along the way.  To be honest I can't even remember if I accessed it through the cluster hole or the glovebox compartment or both.

Now the big HOWEVER.  To remove the dash completely I had to cut the A pillars and removed the roof   Not very helpful I know, I feel your pain.

ah, yes the dashboard removal mystery!
 i recently took one out from a car i wrecked.
there is a thread on this forum somewhere where it (her Majesty The Dashboard)
could be apparently removed without removing the windscreen.
i tell you what i tried and tried after removing every bolt every clip every hose every screw every nut every trim every everything............
no way Her Majesty wants the windscreen removed and even then its a tight squeeze . good luck mate.
i dint think it will become a replacement for my current cracked one for some time.

heh Melcrom,
are you looking to offload the dash you got out?
if so, please PM or email me and let us know what you are after (if its in uncracked condition)
BTW, what colour is it!
thanks
nathan
ps stioll couldnt get that fricking think out, even with the bloody windscreen out!!!

I've got a long weekend coming up Nathan if you need some assistance.

Happy to come over in between gardening and mowing duties this next weekend (Unless I start shooting some paint on my 450).

Come to think about it I'm probably happy to escape all of those duties.

Bill

you're a champ Bill,
ill let you know if the car is still at dads or if we just give up and let them take it as is!

Try sending a message to Parkes at the topklasse.net.au forum.

He is a motor trimmer with much experience in restoration of interiors and will have the answers you seek.

Did you look at this ?

http://handbook.w116.org/Chassis%5C68-100.pdf

Why don't you just order a $100 dashcap?  They don't creak or squeak any worse then all the door trim...  and they won't at all if you use 3M trim adhesive liberally ONLY IN THE MIDDLE to glue them down. 

...at some point, the terminal value of these cars, even 6.9s, must take precedence.  I've installed 4 in 107s and all of them looked gorgeous.

Because dash caps are not available in RHD. There are dash "covers" but they are not the same thing and I can understand Nathan not wanting to install one of those.

We should call the manufacturer!  He's missing out - as more 116s are being restored in RHD right now - and maybe...  he'd like to take the risk since I pray he keeps making them for us.

We also need to learn when he plans to quit - and order some for one of our listed vendors to sell back to us.  Losing those will be a nightmare for future owners.

He can't be making money unless he gets chinese parts and chinese tooling - but how could they have made the 116 investment anyway?  I know they make boo-coo (how DO you spell that?) bucks on 107s though.

I'll do his market strategy if he'll make RHD - parts profit and inventory/production control is one of my particular talents.  Ford payed me tons and I made them tons - but quit due to the ethics after about 13 months.  They deliberately markup Ford only items over 2000%!!!  Even on cheaper models. 

Those corrupt fools.  Twice I walked away from a job (didn't quit, just stopped working) due to their ethics.  They never fired me, till I wandered off when I went mad as a hatter.

dqash covers are unacceptable from my dealings...they are too thick, dont feel or look the same and under the skin, you know the problem still exists!