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I moved onto the next job which was to reattach the vinyl dash cover. I cleaned it down inside and out to make sure that it went on without a hitch. I also heated it up with a hairdryer to make the vinyl more pliable as it was bitterly cold! Again, I glued round the edges where the vinyl was...

After cleaning the surface rust off the vent flaps, I gave it a coat of Kurust, two coats of primer and two coats of gloss black. Once dried I cut some foam to size for the flap seals, then glued them on with Evo-stik.

Next job is to tackle cleaning up the vent flaps and rod, paint it, fit new foam to the flaps and install them. The top plate needs cleaning and painting then reinstalling. Once that’s done, it’s onto reinstalling the vinyl cover, gluing the edges down and dying the vinyl to match the top dash.

I dug out the Kurust and painted the whole dash with it. After it dried, I gave it two coats of primer and two further coats of satin black. I didn’t see the need to paint it the original russet brown as it’s going to get covered anyway :)

While I was cleaning up the metalwork for paint prep, I discovered yet more welding required.:confused:. I cut it out as per usual and patched some fresh steel in. Hopefully that is the last welding required on this dash panel!

It wasn’t until I welded the bracket in that I noticed the small bridge that provides the pivot point for the spring was missing! Rather than drilling one off from another dash, I made one from some 0.5mm steel and tacked it on. After a quick trial it seems to be spot on. :).

Had a bit of time today to do a bit more to the dash. The next thing to do was to cut out the other vent flap hole. I made a template from the other side and copied it over. I drilled four holes then used the cutting disc to cut it out. After that I salvaged the small bracket that the flap pivot...

Many thanks. I feel as if getting this lower dash done is a major milestone as there is so much additional work required on it that I was never expecting to do. Gotta love Landys! :rolleyes:

While the dash was sitting in position I marked around the vent flap hole and drilled the screw holes. Next time, the plan is to square up the hole, cut it out and fix in the locating tab for the rod. While I was tidying the welds, I noticed a small fatigue crack, so gave it a couple of tacks...

After making up yet another cardboard template for the remaining section, once cut out, it took a fair bit of fettling to get it to sit properly. After tacking in position, checking yet again, I fully welded and dressed off the welds. Now that it’s sound, I’m thinking that I may put a skim of...

I’m starting to see the light at the end of this particular tunnel now. To make the curved section, as I don’t have a shrinker/stretcher tool, I thought I would bend up some thicker gauge steel and put some slots in to make the curve much easier. Once I got it about right I welded up the slots...

I thought I would have a go at reinstalling the dash vinyl to see how it all sits together. To be honest it needs some tweaking, but it’s not too bad. This also gives me the opportunity to shape the curved section of dash and get it as close as possible using the dash as a template.

Moving onto the right hand side, I cut out some more cardboard to make a template. This was a bit more tricky as it curved in two directions with a flange. Nonetheless, it seemed to fit okay. Once welded, I ground the welds down to make it a bit more neat. I gave it a quick coat of primer, as...

After cutting out the left hand corner, I used some CAD (cardboard aided design) to cut and shape a replacement section. Once aligned and welded in it looks much more sound.

Okay, so moving on with the dash, I drilled out the spot welds on the flat section then cut it off past the rust damage to get to sound metal. This allowed me into the two corners which are also missing due to rust…

Looks great in the snow! Hope your heater is working :D

Yes, that’s the same message that I get. Don’t hit the ‘upload a file’ button. All I do is type in the text box as normal, copy the pictures from my photo stream, then paste into the text box. They will go in full size. Hope this works for you.

Thanks, it’s good to make some progress for a change! I now copy and paste the photos now and it seems to work for me.

The next bit of fabricating will be making the repairs to the duct area. You probably noticed that I never cut the hole out for the vent flap. The plan is to do that when it’s all welded up as it will be stronger by then and I can use the other dash as a template. Will get on with that the next...

Now that I was on a roll, I thought I would weld it in which was a bit tricky due to the thin material. I turned the amps down and it came out okay. Not MOT standard but it doesn’t need to be. :D