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Willie

LCR Track car
Aug 6, 2004
8,939
1
Sunny Scotland
Ripping out bits again, always a happy time :)

So, as I don't have everything for my bottom end rebuil;d I've decided to leave this for now and concentrate on other things.

Since stripping out my interior I have always wanted to remove the last pieces of Nomex matting in the car. These seemed to be stuck behind the dash. Also due to me removing the air con system in the engine bay there is no need for me to have the interior bits either.
So, ripping apart time!!

First things first, interior fan.

IMAG0317.jpg


The bottom part unbolts and the fan slides out.


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Then due to some screws being obstructed I removed the center console.

IMAG0324.jpg


After a fair bit more faffing about it seemed like all this air con stuff was built behind the dash and interior crash/strengthing bar. So this all had to come out.
I already have the steering rack removed from the steering colum so it was just a case of dropping the steering colum, unbolting the dash and feeding the wires etc through this.

IMAG0326.jpg
 

Willie

LCR Track car
Aug 6, 2004
8,939
1
Sunny Scotland
With the dash off it was just a case of getting this bar out to free up the rest of the pieces to be removed.
There were two bolts from the scuttle panel into this too.

IMAG0335.jpg


IMAG0336.jpg


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IMAG0338.jpg


There were plenty of sneeky bits of sound deadening in there too along with some matting and Nomex mats.

IMAG0339.jpg


With the accessible bits removed next it'll be onto the pieces behind the rest of the center console/aircon. Once this is done I'm going to strip out the extra wiring out of the interior loom.

IMAG0343.jpg


As I have the dash out it would be rude not to get it flocked along with the centre console piece which will go back in. I have some ideas for a switch panel but i'll see how this pans out later.

So next will be rip out the rest of the offending air con system and the nomex matting :)
 

Willie

LCR Track car
Aug 6, 2004
8,939
1
Sunny Scotland
Get in there son! :D Been a busy lad eh ;)

Yip just trying to get this show on the road.
I've got no excuses and its good having a spare pair of hands there to help out with the diffiuclt single man jobs.
Really need to get the interior sorted out as its been left in a crappy state for too long.
It's top priority now though
 

Willie

LCR Track car
Aug 6, 2004
8,939
1
Sunny Scotland
Good to hear Will, looking forward to seeing how the car turns out with all your mods, the hybrid etc. Bet its a hoot!

TBH it was pretty savage in stage 2 guise but it always was going to be going from OEM map.
It was as fast or a little faster than a Star performance stage 2 LCR in OEM map guise.
I believe that a hybrid is chalk and cheese with a stage 2 mapped KO4 so looking forward to the extra grunt.
This will make up for the additional weight when the cage goes in....whenever that actually happens.
 

Rgm racer

Active Member
Sep 22, 2009
317
0
u done well to get the dash out,i have tried getting it out but even though everything seems to be undone,the bu**er still won't come off,any special tips or tricks??

Also are any of the aircon bits you are removing inc.fan etc. seperate from normal parts required to operate basic heater/cold air blower? Basically i have removed engine parts of air con but want to maintain a heater/cold air blower but wondered if there are still additional bits of aircon that can be removed that don't affect heater/blower working as normal?
 

Willie

LCR Track car
Aug 6, 2004
8,939
1
Sunny Scotland
u done well to get the dash out,i have tried getting it out but even though everything seems to be undone,the bu**er still won't come off,any special tips or tricks??

Also are any of the aircon bits you are removing inc.fan etc. seperate from normal parts required to operate basic heater/cold air blower? Basically i have removed engine parts of air con but want to maintain a heater/cold air blower but wondered if there are still additional bits of aircon that can be removed that don't affect heater/blower working as normal?

Hey Rgm Racer
Prior to removing the dash this time I had the lower half of the dash off for 3 years.
The main issues I had were the steering colum and the trim around the steering colum.
The trim around the colum was bolted in a place that I couldn't get into so ended up hack sawing it off.
There are two bolts from the trim to the dash are between the steering wheel and the Speedo clocks.
These have to be unbolted from inside which I found impossible.

The blower/fan system, as far as I can see just now, can be run independently of the engine air con system.
The car interior parts don't seem too heavy and are all interlinked.
I would say its not possible to remove any of it and allow it to still fully function.

But if weight saving is your main goal there is a good 10kgs if extra 'stuff' that can be removed with the dash and crash bar out.

I'm removing the whole lot and will be tracking down an electric demister set up for the windscreen.
I'm also fitting a roof vent for cooling air supply to the cabin
 

Rgm racer

Active Member
Sep 22, 2009
317
0
Thanks for reply Willie.

I'm probably best leaving dash in place as i do still already have normal blower functions working ok through upper vents in dash etc.which i find useful still being able to have warmer or colder air through.

The sound deadening,which i guess is heaviest part ,i see is right at the back of the dash as you face it,below windscreen.

Sounds crude but do you reckon if i was to take a stanley knife and cut dash from one side to the other,just behind the central vent on top of it,that i would be able to pull just this piece of the dash off and then get to sound deadening to remove [or at least majority of it] before sticking dash back in place [basically track car so not too worried about cosmetics]??
 

Willie

LCR Track car
Aug 6, 2004
8,939
1
Sunny Scotland
Thanks for reply Willie.

I'm probably best leaving dash in place as i do still already have normal blower functions working ok through upper vents in dash etc.which i find useful still being able to have warmer or colder air through.

The sound deadening,which i guess is heaviest part ,i see is right at the back of the dash as you face it,below windscreen.

Sounds crude but do you reckon if i was to take a stanley knife and cut dash from one side to the other,just behind the central vent on top of it,that i would be able to pull just this piece of the dash off and then get to sound deadening to remove [or at least majority of it] before sticking dash back in place [basically track car so not too worried about cosmetics]??

TBH, getting the dash top off if its a track car would be easy.
you won't even need to drop the steering wheel.
But the sound deadening is well trapped in there with EVERYTHING so will not just pull out.
What I did yesterday took me about 4 hours so recon you could have all the air con system out and the dash top back in in 10 hours easy.
depends how much free time you have.
I'n the quest for a lighter car I will be going to the extreme so these pieces ar not nearly as extreme as I'm planning on going in the future.
But I'm anal as F##K.
When I get something in my head I will get it done to the best of my ability.
 

Willie

LCR Track car
Aug 6, 2004
8,939
1
Sunny Scotland
As I'm focussed on getting on with this I was back on it today.

This is the coolant lines in and out from the engine bay through the firewall.

IMAG0344.jpg


Extensions off and heat matting pulled back.

IMAG0347.jpg


Air con gas feed pipes from engine bay.

IMAG0348.jpg


With these bolts undone and some clips joining the two pieces removed I ended up just ripping it out as there were other mounting point which I didn't want to have to expose as the brake pipes were infront of them.

IMAG0350.jpg


So with the air con/blower system gubbins ripped out the Nomex matting is now completely removed YAY!!

IMAG0352.jpg


As you can see there is small bits of sound proofing in there too.

Now gone :)

IMAG0354.jpg


This area will be clean along with the drivers and passengers foot wells then next week it'll be onto stripping the loom and discarding whats not needed.
 

Al

Active Member
Aug 29, 2005
7,331
9
You are nae messing aboot - great to see loon :).

PS - I am hame this weekend.
 

Willie

LCR Track car
Aug 6, 2004
8,939
1
Sunny Scotland
She's lookin' fine and light for a large arsed motor ey!! ;)

Looking forward to see this flocked dash in! And liking the sound of this switch board! Do love the track slag look! :D

You may rub it when its done, but only if your hands are nae fool ;)

Aye track slag this will be.
Was jealous of everyone at Crail today strutting their stuff, was a beautiful day
 

Willie

LCR Track car
Aug 6, 2004
8,939
1
Sunny Scotland
Project on hold AGAIN

So just had a meeting with my finantial advisor and it seems like every penny needs to be a prisoner now.
I have recently split from my wife and am looking into getting a house on my own.
Looking at mortgages and realising the benefit of having a bigger deposit to get a cheaper mortgage rate and nicer house.

If it really comes down to making a bit extra cash I'll sell the car in bits.
But hopefully it will not come to this.

Please don't ask me about selling any parts of my car or first dibs etc and you'll get told to **** off.
If it does get stripped you will all know in good enough time
 
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