John’s Mk4 Build Thread

[Fman]

Nice work! I like your modified competition layout... you will be into wiring before you know it.

[John Ibele]

Nice work! I like your modified competition layout... you will be into wiring before you know it.

Thanks, Fman! When I only get an hour or so a night to work on the car it can sometimes seem like a long haul, but its been great getting some bigger chunks of time to dig in ... put some Zep on the stereo and go to work!

[John Ibele]

More forward progress on the dash, which is coming together nicely.

I went through a bunch more layouts and finally ended up with this, which better be the final one, because the holes are now drilled!

On the bottom are the horn button, ignition, lights, and heater knob. I'll get a replacement knob for the heater to match the headlight pull.
Next are a pair of toggle switches on either side of the speedo. L to R: wiper, hazard, DS seat heater, PS seat heater
Above that are the indicator lights for the seat heaters. I'll replace the rocker switches with the lucas type switches for the seat heaters, and do a 50% on / 100% on with the indicator lights for the lo / high heater positions.

I talked myself in circles about getting genuine Lucas switches and finally decided to stay with the one larger wiper switch and three of the smaller FFR-provided switches. I was almost sold on getting all genuine switches until I determined that for the seat heaters, I was planning on using the ON-OFF-ON switch which they use for turn indicator applications. The genuine Lucas switches use a longer toggle on this switch ... then I'm picturing taking apart switches to get all the same length toggles ... not gonna do that. While they feel different (wiper switch has a nice chunky mechanical feel on actuation, the others have a 'tighter' click), the FFR provided switches feel plenty solid and look nice when installed on the dash, so in they go. I also geeked out on bezels to match the look of the dash, but more on that later. I think the motivation there was to enjoy picking out something with $3 cost AND $3 postage ... when does THAT happen with a roadster?!

I spent enough time with the layout so that I'm really happy with the end result. It has a nice balanced look and 'supports' the gauge layout above it. Its got the most important controls and indicators in nearest proximity to the driver. The only compromise of sorts was putting the headlight switch to the right side of the speedo. It was either there or under the steering wheel (or perhaps to the left of the wheel), and I didn't feel comfortable with that, plus liked the layout better this way. Its still within easy reach, even if reaching in from outside the car.




I drilled the smaller holes with a step drill, and went oversized on the holes in the back stiffener panel where I needed to. Be super careful about drilling undersized and getting the needle files out for any keys and flats you need to file into place. Yep, ask me how I know. Not a big deal ... I can add braces on either side of the heater control behind the dash if I need to.

Favorite tool of the week: hand countersink which I had in my woodworking toolbox, which works great to deburr holes in the aluminum.



After putting in this much time on the dash I got a little gun-shy about using the jigsaw so I went with the hand nibbler to do the glovebox cutout. This much took me about 10 minutes, and actually went around the corner without much trouble. The smaller radius took a little backtracking, but not bad. Add in working with the rasp and file and doing the back panel as well ... probably between 2 and 3 hours total. Not fast. But faster than having to do it over I guess, and it turned out great. Be careful with the dash if its unsupported once you cut the glovebox out. Very flimsy.



I found these Soss 106 hinges, and I'm pretty pleased with how they look like they'll work. They are made for use with metal, are completely hidden inside the glovebox, and don't take up much space. They have a nice look and are plenty sturdy. Like European-style cabinet hinges, their center of rotation is in front of the box (which is what you want).

Here's the approximate layout of the hinges from the backside of the dash, with the bolts from the grab bar coming through the dash. I still need to figure out exactly how the bottom of the glovebox will work out ... I left myself with a bit of head-scratcher there, but I think there's a solution.



Here's a side view of the hinge in the closed position. Dash would be where my thumb is, and glovebox door would be just above that.



Here's the same view, open about 135 degrees.



There are limits on panel thickness and minimum gap between panels, but as far as I can see those can be ignored if you're only planning on opening the door 90 degrees, as I am. Pretty cool hinge mechanism. I'll show how they work in this application in the next post (hopefully not more than a few days from now!).