dashbaord fitting

[lotusbzz]

hallo all Elan People!

I'm in trouble to fit the dashboard!
the side holes are ok against the thread of the body

the bottom holes around the tunnel are nearly against the holes of the bottom cross profile of the V-bracket of the heater

the two top holes around the chocke/heater cables are 15 mm away! damn?!?!?!

If I push these top holes a bit the wooden board bend too much having the two L-bracket on the bottom edge of the heater that are the limit

question:
1) do I make a wooden spacer to close the top gap between the top edge of the board and the bottom crash pad edge?
2) no spacer at all just the bushes of the screws
2) do I shorten the L-brackets (... but the spade&connectors of the button could crash into the heater!)
3) do I slot the holes of the V-bracket and move it backward few mm (but it's not enough there is still a gap on the top! )

thanks for the help

Ciao a Tutti Paolo

[oldelanman]

Sounds like the heater is not far enough forward and may not be fully seated in the notch in the body.
If you have replaced the felt under the heater box it may be too thick ... original on mine was about 6 mm and the normal carpet underfelt is about twice that thickness. Also if the foam seal between the top of the heater box and the plenum is too thick or too hard that will also prevent the heater going fully forward.

[lotusbzz]

Hi !
I do not have felt but Dynamat ( the aluminum foil with thick glue )

The heater pairs with big hole of the air intake with a thin rubber gasket therefore the black box should be all up and this is the position that define the gap between the box and the notch in the body.

I've pushed the box all forward and all up with some wooden stick against the floor and backboard , therefore the box is definively against something that the is clarely not forwad enough to allow the dash to seat in its proper position ... but I cannot see what is this block.

any idea?

[oldelanman]

If the heater box is correctly located as it appears to be, the only other think I can think of is perhaps the bottom "Y" bracket is the wrong way round. The bolts into the chassis should be in front of the vertical part which the dash bolts to (nearest the heater) if it's the other way round the bottom of the dash will be too far forward.

[2tmike]

I had a very similar issue replacing my dashboard. Basically it was caused by the dash wiring and particularly the ignition switch connections being trapped between the dash and heater box. I'd rewired the complete car and it was quite tricky to get the new dash loom into a position that didn't obstruct the dash going completely back into place. This was made worse by the new loom having all straight connectors onto the ignition switch rather than the shorter l shaped ones on the original loom. These also stopped the dash going into place and needed careful bending out wards of the spade terminals on the back of the ignition switch. then it fitted!!!!

[lotusbzz]

Y" bracket is the wrong way round?
What do you mean?
I fit the Y bracket with following sequence : dashboard - base vertical part of the Y with hole next the wood - Y bracket frontward
... the other way around it means that I need two bushes to fit the wood onto the vertical base with the Y bracket in between! ... this config allows me to go a bit forward with the base of the dashboard and hopefully even with the top
.... maybe maybe
Let me try

[oldelanman]

Sorry I am wrong, I was relying on my memory of how the bracket is made.
I have just found a pic of the "Y" bracket and, as you say, it's not possible to fit it the wrong way round.

dscn1277.jpg (59.99 KiB) Viewed 1134 times

[lotusbzz]

Auch!
In this case there is no other solution then leave the tiny gap between the top of the dashboard and the top inner edge of the crashpad, it cannot be seen and the wood is not stressed or bent