Capri - Instrument Pod Recovering 2

After some initial fitting of the new vinyl cover, I was rather apprehensive that I could do it successfully. In fact, I couldn't see how it was going to fit well at all, especially around the rounded corners. In fact, I walked away for a while.
Back to the task & this time armed with a hair dryer (I think the heat gun might have been too severe) & a lot of clamps. One of the difficult parts of this job is keeping the seam straight & it fits on the edge of the pod. So, with the clamps in place & some heat, especially on the corners, I could see it fitting OK without any bunching up on the corners. It took several attempts to secure it in the correct position, ensuring that there was sufficient overlap on all sides.



At this stage, I was fairly confident I could do a reasonably good job. Next job was to glue it down. I used the spray on adhesive that I have used before on other similar jobs. However, I did it in small sections using the hair dryer to smooth out the corners & making sure the vinyl wrapped around all sides. At the end, I was fairly happy with it & how the seam followed the edge of the pod.

While I had the facia out, I decided to do a bit of refurbishment on it as well. The wood grain colouring that I had used previously was a bit light so I went for a darker stain (walnut). After a good cleaning down, a very light sanding & three coats of the stain/varnish, it has come up OK. I also retouched the silver gauge surrounds & the black inner sections. This is a fiddly job requiring a lot of patience, something which I am starting to lack. All of this was done over several days so it is not something to hurry.


Now it was time to put it all back together! I was quite concerned about this as I didn't know if the extra layer of vinyl over the original covering would allow the facia to fit in. My first couple of attempts were very frustrating as I didn't want to break any of the plastic facia. There was already one small crack/break under the lowest switch. I then realised the wiper switch was catching on the metal frame & that was not allowing it to slide in. I removed this, spayed some WD silicone spray on the corners & luckily, it slid in but very tightly. That didn't worry me - it was in & fitting well.

The reassembly was the opposite to what I have written above. There are several very fiddly parts - screwing back the instrument panel into the facia & then re attaching the speedo cable. Thankfully, with a bit of a turn & twist, it went back on. the whole pod then fitted back on really well with the three screw holes lining up well. On putting it back together, I came across a new issue. The radio control spindles were sticking out mush further than before. A bit of a walk through Bunnings found me some black plastic spacers that I used to cover the space. Next day, I found that all this time had been wasted as I forgotton to replace the radio facia panel which I had stored in the car for safe keeping!!! Just make sure all the switches are fitted correctly & that all the wires & bulbs in the instrument panel are slotted in & firmly fitted.

In retrospect, the whole task was more difficult & time consuming that I anticipated. However, this how it all looks now & I am happy with the result & it is much better that it was previously.