I'm putting in a dash kit. Question: Does the gear shift **** screw off or what. Doesn't seem to want to screw off even after unscrewing the bottom part. The service manual seems silent on this issue. I don't want to force the damned thing until I'm sure of how it comes off. I appreciate your reply.

 

Pull straight up with enormous force. It will come off.

 

Thanks Maxcichon! Hey! are we related? lol

 

I don't see how, I took a wrong turn at Albuquerque! , Never made it to Pasedena!

 

Well, I appreciate the advice. The little sucker came right off. I'm installing a 35 piece Benevento burl dash. The state of the art in synthetic wood is amazing. I have real burl in my Jag, and this looks better, wears better, and is a lot cheaper. The only downside is I can't say yeh, it's real wood. It's also an overlay which is never going to look as good as factory installed. But it does look fantastic and classes it up a lot. Thirty years ago I would have chosen carbon fiber (had it been invented) but as an old guy I like the wood look.

 

Please post pics! This is another mod I'am considering. I have the two-tone grey interior and was thinking about getting the titanium burl wood, same thing as yours, the synthetic stuff. I'am curious to see how your overlay sticks to the glove box. I was worried about this area because of the texturized surface on the glove box. Didn't know how well the overlay would stick to this. The other surfaces are smooth, so should have good adhesion.

 

I've done the center of the car (all the smooth surfaces) I start the textured stuff tomorrow. I'll try to get some pics to you soon.

 

GB'sXFire, The stuff sticks to the textured areas quite well. The instructions tell you to get all the old vinyl treatment glom off. I used mineral spirits followed by formula 409 followed by alcohol. Seems to stick very well. I was actually more concerned with getting the overlay straight than getting maximum adhesion. I figured I'd rather have it fall off sometime in the future than have it on crooked so I lathered it up pretty good with a 50/50 solution of water and alcohol. It gives you a few seconds of slide to line it up properly. Time will tell if I compromised the adhesion by doing that. Once I got it lined up I applied heat while pushing down on it.

The manufacturer's instructions tell you to heat the bejesus out of the thing on the thing on the back. They tell you the backing tape should wrinkle and then straighten out. I found that the part started to bend from the heat and was too hot to handle without gloves, and I don't like to work with gloves, so I heated it less. Still seemed to bond ok. I bought a half pint of the 94 primer from a local supplier. They will give a couple of glass ampules with the kit that they claim is sufficient. I have my doubts about that. Once you break the glass you have to use it or lose it. Having a whole can of the stuff I could take my time. Cost me eleven bucks, well worth it.

I'm not quite finished, I'll try to get some pics to you when I'm done. It's looking fantastic. The only thing I don't like is the little cutouts so you can read the printing and symbols on the dash. They just should have covered them up. Some of the shapes around the glove compartment are a little weird but still look pretty good.

 

I did mine about a year ago. It has held up very well. I chose to only do the center console however. It is more conservative. There are pictures in my gallery.

 

After doing mine, I thought maybe I should have stopped with the center console. It looks good but kinda 'pimpy' with the full monty 35 piece set and they don't fit quite as well as the console pieces. In addition, you don't get the silver outline that makes then look a little less like stickons.

 

So did you get it all installed? Are you happy with the results overall?

 

GB, I Got everything on but the door stuff. The area around the gauges is less than perfect and there are some gaps around the pieces. I don't think perfection was even a possibility,these are curved pieces and are very difficult to line up. I think that pieces themselves make perfection impossible. That being said it looks pretty damn good. As I mentioned above, just doing the center console up to the air vent would give the most professional look because the silver on the edges make it look more like factory installed. On the vinyl you don't get that, but I still like the 'wood everywhere look'. I'm having trouble sending photos right now, some computer glitch, used to work just fine. I'm sorry about that.