What a day. Just sitting down to a well earned cup or two of the Algerian Coffee Stores Imperial Noon blend tea (Lapsang Souchong and Keemun teas with jasmine flowers and oil of Bergamot) and some bread and the last batch of raspberry jam my neighbour Jane made before she passed away of cancer. So a red letter day. Why? because I got the zebrano veneer panels off! First the passenger side one was not easy but not too bad (the thin cardboard lining of the glovebox died in the attempt but there was no other way short of removing the dash). It is held in by two 10 mm plastic nuts. The heater vents have to be removed (from behind - first pull off the heater piping, then having removing the vent opener with a sharp pull from the front, twist the rear of the vent pipe which if you are lucky should pop straight out, then the swivel nozzle and spring, a retaining clip and finally push the plastic surround forward. The thin metal surround to the vent opener is a b ugge r to remove without bending.
With the plastic nuts undone with a bit of fiddling the wood is freed from the dash. The veneer is microscopic, the wood backing it is more supermodel than thin, while the aluminium panel the wood is glued to could pass for some turkey foil.
So the passenger side took an hour, armed with the knowledge gained I thought I'd attempt the driver's side.
All the light switch, vent opener, vent and handbrake have to be removed (from left to right).
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Off with the steering wheel which really does get in the way.
Of course, this side was absolutely dreadful. First the location of the nut between the steering wheel boss and the ignition key is just awful - you have to put your hand in from behind. Of course, this uses a 9mm nut just to be different (which you don't know when you start), and there is no room to use your hand close up so using a socket extension appeared the only way. Except the nut was so tight that didn't work. I tried everything, different socket sizes, my fingers, pliers, none got close. The heater vent refused to move and it took half an hour of fiddling and pressing before finally it popped out, then all the other bits took forever too.
The handbrake handle was easy, the light switch required the most fearsome tug and the surround needed a knife to spin it round.
Finally, in desperation, I grabbed my 9mm little torque spanner and with about a cm of movement got the plastic nut off slowly but surely. A push from behind and all done. The veneer is pretty ok under the badly flaking varnish. I'm going to see my polisher next week and ask his opinion on getting it repaired and re-polished to get the best out of the wood. The main piece looks a bit bland so I may get that replaced with some showier wood.
Allowing for a leisurely start, popping in and out and walking away when fed up, that took me all day. I banged my head trying to remove the A pillar internal trim (it should pull out but took a lot of force which then led to me flying forward when the resistance stopped), I cut my hand behind the dash on a metal cable tie, and my main socket wrench died a death as the direction control gave way taking out the steering wheel - so a new one required!
