Frame Off Restoration - Step 7 - Restoring the interior hard components of a vehicle (Dash, console, heater, gauges, etc).
Introduction
This is another one of those steps that will vary wildly based on your specific car and the options on said car. The interior hard items
are a collection of everything that sits inside the tub (i.e. inside the body) that wasn't already removed as part of the interior soft items.
Now, this part of the process consists of a number of assemlies. Always remove one assembly at a time, completly restore it, store it safely and
then move on to the next.
Metal panels and shields
This is the simplst part. All removable internal metal panels and shields should be removed and prepped for painting. If they are to match
the body color the best thing to do is completely clean them and then either treat them so that they don't flash rust, or cover them with a
coat of primer. Then you set them aside for the major painting process that comes later.
Dashboard
This can easily be the most complex part of this phase. The trick to this is to take out the entire dash assembly as a single unit (if possible,
this isn't always the case). As you remove the dashboard, I prefer to first get in undrneath the dashboard and photograph all the connections
as they presently exist. Then I disconnect all the wiring (if you're lucky the dash has it's own separate wiring harness, if not, then you have
to disconnect wire by wire). During the disconnection process I put masking tape on the ends of the wires to label them as to where they went
and or what they connected to. Then disconnect the speedometr cable. Depending on your car, your oil pressure gauge may be connected to wires only
or to a hard oil line that goes to the engine. If it's the latter, disconnect it and put a plastic baggie over the end (and tape it shut to protect
against leaks).
Once you can get the dashboard completely disconnected and out on the bench, photograph everything and slowly break it all down for cleaning and
restoration. Now, the dashboard parts are somewhere that you may want to farm things out. For example, the dashboard on my Jensen Healey is a padded
dash. While I can get a hard plastic cover for it to hide the cracks, for a really good proper restoration I would prefer to send it out to a dash
rebuilder (which I will do on my project). Additionally, in the Austin Healey world, most people send their gauges to specific gauge rebuilders.
This is an area where I recommends that you ask around in your car community, as they are the best resources for specialized information like this.
Once everything's completely broken down and all the parts restored reassemble the dashboard wrap it in bubble wrap and store it away.
Under-dash Items
Ok, I call these under-dash items, but they may be found in multiple places, depending on the car you're working on. In this I'm referring to
items such as the windshield wiper motors, heater boxes, etc. The point for this is to work thse items just like the dash. Remove them as an
entire assemble (one assembly at a time) do all the necessary restoration work, and then package them away.
For some examples of this sort of work, you can see how I restored the Windshield wiper assembly and
Heater box assembly for my Jensen Healey. After you take care of the first assembly, it's a matter of "rinse, lather, and repeat"
for the rest. Once you've removed everything there should be little remaining in the interior of the body, short of some cables, a blanking plate
or two, and the wirinng harness. Remove the rest of these items, restore/replace them as appropriate and store them away.
Conclusion
This phase sounds pretty easy, and on th whole, if you move slowly and carefully it is. Don't try to rush through it. It may be frustrating at
times because you feel like you're spending far too much time fiddling with stuff you'll never see. But this is all time well spent. First off,
if you're new to the restoration process it's great practice on regions of the car which won't be visible after the fact. Secondly, this work
has to be done. If it's don before the body and paint work, thn you won't be double frustrated having to fiddl with it while that pretty painted
car body sits in your garage gathering dust. Thirdly, it allows you to continue to spread the cost of the restoration, which helps termendously
for budgeting purposes.
On to Step 8: Front End Accessories
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