1974 Daimler Double-Six VDP (higher axle stands)

The best dismantling lubricant (IMO) is Plus Gas... hasn't failed me yet. I'd get some down the bores and wait for it to work its' magic

Go on you know you want to:)

So, last night my intention was to get some celly primer on top of the epoxy on the sills & rear apron, for example.

I want to get some paint on the inner sills too and inevitably this could lead to overspray on the dash and any trim inside the car so before I knew it I was taking out all the interior and cycling home at 1am with the dashboard on the handlebars and some of the transmission tunnel carpet in my backpack

I took a ton of pictures which won't be of much interest to anyone I reckon but they were for reference when re-assembling it all later. This sorta went out the window when it came to the final stage of trying to disconnect all the wiring from behind the speedo etc.

Couldn't get a camera in or see what I was doing so I just pulled it all off and there will be no reference apart from the wiring diagram to put it all back together.

Despite what looks like carnage I feel strangely confident that it will all go back together easily. All that is really in the tunnel area is door/window switches and the dash is just 6 clocks with bulbs. Looks more than it is.

The Haynes manual I was reading from in the barn didn't seem to match what was in front of me and I ended up creating a few problems of my own as the job could have been easier with the benefit of hindsight. EG I was trying to remove the wooden part of the dash from its metal base in situ and also the dash side trims. None of this is necessary at it all lifts out as one and can be dismantled further on the bench.

On checking the factory manual at home tonight it seems that all the instrument wiring can be disconnected at multi plugs further back instead of what I done removing everything from the rear faces of the instruments.

There is some damage to the dash veneer but I don't really like it anyway so there's an excuse to re-veneer it in something more attractive but then it might not match the VDP only door trims.

In some ways it's good I took it all out as I discovered some perished hoses and damaged wiring on the way.



interior trim coming out. first unit is the little box for rear passengers for ashtray and window switches



to find passenger-side switch disconnected and missing a spade connector



then the plastic casing for the cigarette lighter is unbolted. heavy engineering for a cheaply made part



plastic cigarette lighter thing



and its wiring



driver's side rear switch still had all its connections in place



once the wires are disconnected the switches can be removed from the console and put back on the wiring again




one chrome escutcheon has been damaged in the past when being prised out. passenger side is good



post missing on this one


next thing to come off was dash crash roll. only held on by 4 screws. this is one at driver's A post



and the other outer one. A pillar trims made front haedliner rail hard to remove but you can't easily remove them till the dash is out. means replacing headling trim properly could be a bigger job than you would plan for




underside of crash roll pad reveals a possible speaker location not shown in the parts list



there is also a hidden connection for a little light above the centre console/air vents



this is the wiring for it



manual says de-mister vents should be prised off. they have been in the past and little mounting pips broken off. I reckon roll pad would lift off with them in situ as they are not connected to anything underneath




strangely the end of the crash pad are badly corroded despite no rust in surrounding areas




other end not so bad




these rubber trims clip onto end of crash pad to form neat seal between it and the A pillar trims



no photos taken of centre console as it just lifted off after disconnecting more switches like rear unit. looks scary but nothing to worry about imo




a lot going on but once it's all checked over and cleaned will be fine



radio & air con controls were removed before I got the car. parts in a box. rogue screw on RHS is telltale sign that someone has been in here before




these are areas on inner sill that I want to get paint on. currently black finish as supplied on new panels and red bits where coating was sanded of for welding




same in rear floorpan area




rear door aperture/C post area




front of B post



and rear



all interior carpet was removed years ago and is stored at home in spare room. only pieces left behing were those under centre console



which can be carefully peeled away without damaging the substantial insulation pads underneath

Following on from last night some more pictures which would really only be of any interest to someone who is also working on one of these cars. I'll stick them up anyway.



removing centre console reveals the aircon/heater unit and all its wiring/plumbing



where I found these small vacuum hoses had perished at the ends









these 5/16" nuts (x4) up behind the dash hold curved end-trim pieces on. very hard to reach but removing them gives more clearance at A pillars when pulling dash out



but to free dash at the ends you only actually need to remove one nut. this is looking up at rear of glovebox




it's these 1/2" ones which are easy enough to get to when scuttle trims are removed



only one part of the veneer is actually damaged. at oddments tray - which needs to be removed to expose another 2 x 5/16" nuts which hold the dash to the car




how far do you go?




when dash is removed you can then remove the side air vents which are held on by a bit of bent wire at each side. the wires even have a part no.



rear of glovebox lid. not quite finished to Bentley standards. number marked on it matches.....



.....that on the rear of the main dash



when oddments tray is pulled out these worryingly large cables are exposed




but one is just a rubber hose leading to some sort of sensor for the aircon




wiring to rear of clock




wiring to fuel tank changeover switch & map light



and the other 2 switches on the centre console/dash

Nice work on that dash, looks to me like that veneer is perfectly save-able, I reckon its just the lacquer going hazy which is hiding the Burr detail.

Some Wood Nitromors should lift off the old lacquer without damaging the veneer. When we re-lacquered the dash on my mates Wolseley, we gave give it a very gentle sand with some fine wet and dry paper (1200 or so) then lacquered it with rattle cans, but we brushed some celly thinners into the veneer first and did a light coat to really help the lacquer really sink in and darken the wood / lift the burr pattern. Then we just buried it under 5 / 6 cans of halfords lacquer and it looked proper

Yet another encouraging update...!!! The road is beckoning for this old beast, I cannot wait to see the end result...

hi pal
what plans do you have with the air con , r12 upgrade or leave it as is and open the window when its warm ?
I ditched mine as it didn't work and the compressor weighed a ton, the car actually sits slightly higher at the front now , but I would rather have got the system working . Your car will be a fine example when finished , and worth a right few bob.

If you need any v12 spare let me know - I've got a few contacts who can hook you up

polo6n1600i - I need 3 parts for the engine. Well 2 are associated with the engine (kinda). Will find part no's later but basically it's the fan belt pulley (early type) and the coolant cross pipe and expansion tank. The latter two are unlikely but the pulley would be great. I cracked mine with a puller

I've spent the afternoon scraping the old lacquer off the dash when I should be at the barn painting the sills. Was down late last night masking up the interior of the car. Have also spent most of the day shrinking about a hundred pictures of the wiring lol.

Would be a mammoth post to put them all on in one go and probably not of much interest to many people but I found it most interesting on Tuesday night putting the wiring back on the dash where I'd disconnected it.

As mentioned earlier there were indeed multi plug connections in the loom to detach the instruments and warning lights rather than directly from the instruments.




somewhere here is where you should disconnect the wiring when pulling the dash out




the number on this label doesn't tie in with anything in the parts list. multi-pin to left held loom to warning lamps



it's these two that you need to detach for the clocks etc




warning lights loom




instrument panel loom




clocks etc back in their correct places




this all needs re-connected. most of it will fall in the right locations




but this part of the wiring diagram matches the area to be worked on and will hold the answers



speedo and tacho can be withdrawn from dash in-situ due to these spring-rings which keep them under tension




this is locked position behind the fascia



and a push and twist from the other side takes them to the unlocked position. quite clever