Hello again,
I’m wondering if I’m missing what is called in the Service Manual (and shown in the photo below) a Dash Casing? Might it be the part which holds the Map Drawer up as mine hangs down. If so, would anyone have a photo of what it looks like please?
Cheers,
Tim
Hi Tim,
The dash casing is a rexine covered piece of 1/8" plywood that covers the whole bottom area.
Obviously I have not gotten as far as making a new one.
The map drawer has brass support slides that can be adjusted.
Hi Tim.
Was a radio once fitted there as it may be a drawer from another car and not quite matching?
You may be able to remount the brass angled parts of the runners up higher if possible.
I’ll look at mine.
Thanks for the clarification Rob.
Looking at the photo in the service manual it seemed that there was a metal piece something like a guide for the drawer but obviously not. I had a new under-dash section made when I had some interior work done recently. The upholsterer had a pattern for it!
I notice that you have the ashtray option in your map drawer. In looking for information I found that there were two different part numbers. There were also options for an ashtray, or none, in the top timber piece in front of the rear vision mirror.
The photo of the car in action was taken two months ago and before we went into lockdown.
Hi Graham,
It’s the original draw for the car. I’ll pull it out and investigate why it has dropped. Thanks for the offer to look.
Cheers,
Tim
You can tell if a map drawer is original to the car if the walnut burl matches the rest of the instrument panel. They are also book matched down the middle.
With Mark V, early cars had the front ash tray in the map drawer and the rear ash trays on the backs of the front seats. Later cars had the front tray where yours is on the dashboard top rail and the rears for saloons on the rear doors, but nothing at all for the DHC rear seat passengers. There is supposed to be a glass eye in your lighter that glows orange when the lighter is hot.
Hi Rob,
The walnut veneer does match which is nice. I do need to have the instrument panel timber and drawer stripped back as it wasn’t well restored by a previous owner. I have someone who can do it so will get it done soon as I need to remove the fuel gauge and have it serviced, as it tends to stick. The rest of the timber work is beautiful. I suspect that the drawer has just dropped through use over many years and is in need of some adjustment.
The cigar lighter needs to be replaced at some stage, it’s just a matter of priorities at present. I also need to re-letter the light switch bezel.
Tim
Dear Tim,
Rob is correct, the dash casing is just an upholstered trim panel mounted underneath to cover up the whole area under the dash.
The one challenge we encountered was the area under the drawer - the underdash area is all the same level/flat, but the area under the center panel where the gauges/drawer are, that angles up at approx 15deg.
So we ended up cutting a slot in the fibreboard, to allow it to angle up, almost like a hinge, and I reinforced it with strong duct tape on both sides, before trimming the whole panel.
It takes a lot of fiddling to make a one piece underdash panel - thin fibreboard works well because it is easy to shape and cut…
Thank you very much for that. I was able to have one made by the lovely man who re-carpeted and renewed the ‘Furflex’ in the car. He had an original pattern which made it somewhat easier. I’ll take the draw out and renew the securing screws once the varnishing has been refurbished. No doubt there will be some scope for adjustment.
Tim
