Topic

It was enough to stop the rattles by itself

I’ve been in engineering, electrical, electronics & mechanical, all my life & built my business around those disciplines & so I have around me a vast array of stuff. Where some would be unaware of the existence of an item, I have them at my fingertips. It’s difficult sometimes to fix in my head that not everyone has these advantages & I prattle on assuming everyone understands.
And so I’m sorry if I refer to devices not usually in peoples toolbox. Accept my apology.
The rivnuts push in the dash through the holes vacated by the screws, which are now nestled in the heater duct awaiting removal with the magnet. They’re glued in to create a reliable fixing
They & their attendant screw are there to hold a rubber washer where the hole is off centre & the arrangement I’ve used is M3 washer: rubber washer & finally another M3 washer. I made the washer myself by using, if my memory serves a 1/2” hole punch & then the 3.5mm eccentric hole offset in the washer. Note the use of mixed dimensions. By rotating the rubber washer I could adjust the cover, setting the centre one first followed by the other two, so the rim was held just above the dash. I might have put the tiniest spot of contact adhesive initially, but that has long gone.
I hope there is greater clarity in this. M

As you said you wish to get some fun driving it I would leave the screws for now as your be back there once you find a good binnacle, when I got mine it had been bodged with clear sealant and did not last long. The advantage was it worked for a while and when I got around to doing it the old stuff peeled off easily so don't buy an expensive sealant it might stick permanently!

Two Tips:
1] Don't bother looking for a perfect binnacle, I did then cut the mounts off because they are not up to the job, I stuck (2 pack epoxy) shelf brackets bent to match the binnacle curvature, for the dash I used screw in plasterboard fixings with 2 pack again.

2] My original binnacle also had a split at the front right where the screw for the instrument cowl located. The screw goes into a nylon insert in the binnacle when the screw is tightened the insert expands and puts a spreading force on the binnacle and I think that caused the crack. I junked the inserts and and stuck 2 x speed clips behind the binnacle lip so now its a much better (in my mind) clamping force. In this case I used UHU contact adhesive as it has some give if the clips are not dead centre but will stop them dropping off into the electrics if you remove the cowl in the future.

I must be getting old I'm stuttering

Result, I didn't think I still had this:
Binnacle showing split
Offending (I think) insert
speedclip

It interesting what you keep & what got binwords. If it was deemed duff to need replacing why keep it other than “you never know it might come in” in all probability it won’t & certainly not in it’s original form. An old piston makes a good door stop.
The nylon captive inserts were a pain in almost every application which is why I replaced them with nutserts & araldite.

Airportable wrote:

Can I refer you to my first addendum from earlier on. First poke them out with a pin punch, then when you hear them rattle into the heating duct, pop out the central vent, a paint scraper under the lower edge is ideal & it can be lifted out. I have a (and here’s one for Cobber to mangle) long flexible pearl catcher, into which I attach a magnet, that can then be fed into the trunking & providing the screws haven’t gone too far around you will be able to retrieve them. It’s a long time since I did this & the memory fades, you might have to pop the off side vent out to collect any stragglers. QED
One thing to note as you have the off side vent out is the clear view you have of the OBD port, I’ve reposition mine by making an extension, but prior to that, rather than root around in the fuse box, I’d pop the vent out & plug in via that, a couple of seconds as opposed to a couple of minutes of contortions.

Excuse my ignorance but, what on earth is a pearl catcher ???

John

Airportable: I didn't keep them only the photo which I thought might be useful (it was), re pistons for years I had a cut down Ford (Escort?) one as a paperweight, someone (not me) whilst working on the carb unknowingly dropped the ball bearing in the carb down the inlet and wondered what the noise was when they started it up. When we got the piston out it resembled the surface of the moon with a shiny ball bearing stuck in it, I thought it was a thing of beauty and kept it alas my mother was of a different opinion.

sworkscooper: according to the dictionary a "pearl catcher" is an outraged woman, who wouldn't be after being stuffed in an air vent? although I suspect a different meaning here.

Sorry chaps pearl catcher is more parochial than I thought. I refer to a parts grabber; when you press the button, as you would a retractable biro, four sprung hooks are pushed out of the other end & when the pressure on the button is released the hook retract.
If you were trying to catch an itinerant pearl which has so far evade all attempts at be caught, with a pearl catcher its time is up; cornered & caught.
Well mine's longer, 18" & when I clip a spoke magnet off an old bike speedo, it's a combination that would make anything magnetic, which happens to be hiding in a corner, give up its hide & seek & go gracefully.

A pearl catcher is any girl who’s willing…..indeed hoping to receive a pearl necklace of course,
A long flexible one would probably also be a statuesque contortionist…….bonus!

Airportable you knew I couldn’t let you down!

Ahh , now I'm with you . I've always used a magnetic telescopic probe for this sort of problem, except when working for London Taxis International when some of the screws were immune to magnets ( and grabbers) but not immune to a sticky blob attached to the end of a telescopic probe .
Pearl grabber would be useless if the Clam shell was shut ! 😡
John

I've put several of those pearls of wisdom to good use. A drive later should reveal if its oyster tight or rattles like a bag of shells.
Some soft plastic edging strip lurking at the bottom of a dusty draw has been put around the cowl. The only stuff i could find was white, it stands out but oddly looks quite intentional. It will do until i can buy some black edging to replace it. A further delve uncovered several large neoprene self adhesive feet for computer cases, about 3/4 " diameter. I fitted these on the dash in the positions where the 3 screws had been. I glued them on with some CT1 sealant but being impatient for this to harden I resorted to self tappers through them.
The plastic had indeed broken around the nylon insert front mounts so I ditched these as recommended in favour of speed fasteners. The top metal brackets of the instrument pod had been bent forward over the years due to the mounts failing and then probably made worse by the cowl flapping up and down. I bent these back into position which helped with the angle of the cowl.