For all things Rover V8, the TVR Griffith and Chimaera and TVR T-Cars
One of the simplest ways of adding a bit of your own personality to your car, any car, is to modify the dashboard. It has the added advantage over many mods that it can be easy to revert to the original so resale value is not hit. But there are more reasons than just conceit to work the changes.
I was surprised just how crude the mounting for the led warning lights on the Chimaera dash was. It was remarkable the they had not been pushed in at sometime during its 15
years of life. Closer examination showed that one had broken away and only the friction of the plastic surround against the veneer kept it in place.
Further, when starting to dismantle the dashboard, I made drawings of which wire went where – never ever depend on a wiring diagram from TVR – and took photographs. I then converted the drawings to a crude digital image. When I came to rewire the heater blower motor I found it went low:high:medium. Irritated that I had written the wiring down incorrectly I rewired it as it should have been but then checked the photographs. Imagine my surprise to find that it had been wired incorrectly originally. One wonders if it had been that way since new.
Almost every Chimaera or Griffith that hasn’t had a new dash or had it reveneered has some damage, normally through age. So what do you do?
The obvious answer is to have it reveneered. This means taking the dash panels off to one of the companies that do
such things and, for a price, you will get an absolutely perfect replacement with your choice of veneer.
However, this is not a cheap method but see Here.
You could reveneer it yourself. This is a much cheaper option.
You could modify your dash so it is easier to remove it without damaging the veneer.
You could modify your dash in a way that will make it much more likely that veneer and blank will stay together.
You could do something different yourself.
Or you could do something that just makes your car look different and, at least in your opinion – which is the only one that matters after all – makes it look the business.
RV8R would love to hear from anyone who has done something rather special to their dashboard.
TVR’s led mounting method is not what you might call over-engineered
Dashboards
Left is the V10 Porsche. Not a cheap car. On the right, the cockpit of the pre production prototype Sagaris.
Which do you think is more inspired?
A Chimaera with ACT’s carbon fibre dash fitted.
RV8R has negotiated a price saving for readers. Go HERE to save 10%.