Dash 99% finished

 So after last weeks debacle, things worked better. For reference, this is what the brushed on glue looked like;

It makes me cringe just looking at it, but at least it peeled off very cleanly. Fast forward to this weekend with spray adhesive;

This was far more successful, and the finished product is exactly what I was after. I was so happy to see this come together, it's a huge part of the overall look of the car. 

I also did the gear shift surround bolts, which can be seen in the pic above. Problem is that the leather was just a bit thicker than expected so it's left a gap. It also means the surround is higher than 2.5mm so it no longer meets the radius requirements. A bit of 3D printing for a profiled surround and I have this;

It's not quite as clean as metal on metal, but it still tidies it up a bit and gets everything level and IVA friendly. I'm tempted to glue the leather to the underside of the frame as I'm not sure it would stay in place over time, but I'm also tempted to make another gaiter.

And that comes to yet another digression. With the dash in place I can see the black steering wheel and shroud look a little out of place. A wooden wheel would be perfect, but they're not cheap (well, some are, but they're made of chinesium and I've seen some scary youtube videos on those!). The current wheel is Momo so it's definitely good quality, and it needs a centre boss made up anyway. So I'm thinking a bit more leather work might be good. If nothing else the centre boss should be the same colour. The shroud is also the dull black plastic from Mazda, and I think I can do a bit better with just a layer of leather. That in particular will really tie it into the dash and seats. I'd end up with leather soft furnishings, aluminium interior, and black fixings. Nice, clean, simple. Well, not simple, the amount of work to make it look 'simple' is actually quite complex!

Right, back to wiring. I keep putting it off, but it's got to be done. Rather than looking at it from a 'dash' point of view, I'm going to do it one circuit at a time. Today's mission, wire in the indicators and hazards. So that's front and rear lights, tell tales, column switch and hazard toggle switch. All connected to the light relay. That's something my brain can deal with, I just hope I can find enough green/white and green/black wiring.