What color is the instrument panel?

The aluminum panel all the gauges rest in is painted and mine could use a little touch up. Anyone know what color it is and where to find the paint?

 

The panel is finished in clear anodizing it is not paint. To properly re finish it requires stripping and re anodizing done by an aluminum anodizing company.

 

Ron, Superformance sells a perfect one (at least to me). Inexpensive too.

Regards, Alberto

 

As alberto has said, it is perfect. i tried to get mine re-anodised and was really disappointed with the result.

So I gave it to suerformance UK and they had exact copies made, looks sooo much better now.

Not sure if they ever located the rubber trim that goes around the outside should yours be missing

tony

 

Buying the Superformance one is an excellent piece of advice. I re-annodized the one on my 308 and it turned out perfect. The problem was that first I went to the annodizer to get it stripped and then I wet sanded the aluminum for about 6 hours to get it perfect removing all previous scratches. Then it was off to the annodizer again to get it re-finished. A ton of work where I valued my time at less than nothing.

 

Decisions, decisions...
- Superformance dash panel -> $152 USD
- Dinoparts.de dash panel -> $73 USD

Any experience with the much cheaper version?

 

At times, you gets what you pays for...
Really no clue Ron, I just remember that I paid a lot less at SF.
I'll check trough my invoices.
I guess if not satisfied, you can always return the lesser one. Cheap to ship.
Regards, Alberto

 

Isn't there an instrument panel made in Australia (or somewhere) that moves the guages around so that the speedometer and the tach can actually be seen in their more important ranges? I think I'd like to try that if I can find one. Of course I'd keep my original instrument panel.

Mark

 

Lyle Tanner (Ferrari Parts Exchange) sells the panel for $240, so Superformance is middle of the `pack'.

http://www.ferraripartsexchange.com/246faciapanel.htm

 

I really do not see how one can make a cheaper or a better version of the panel. It is nothing more than a flat piece of aluminum with holes cut out for the instruments. From the manufacturing side (and I deal with CNC cut pieces of metal a lot) there is nothing to be gained in making the panel thicker or thinner. I am sure that both SP and DP just sent an OEM bit to a CNC metal fabricator and had them cut out direct copies. As for the finish it is a dead standard clear annodizing similar to refering to something as gloss black or gloss white in finish; all pretty standard stuff. That said I would buy the SP parts as their service is good, shipping is reasonable, and for sure they have enough other stuff to justify a slightly bigger shipment.

As for making the instruments more visable, there is nothing that holds them to a particular orientation. As such you can use the old racers trick of rotating the instruments so that their operating range is within your best line of sight.

 

Aside from accommodating the thin rubber gasket that fits over the outer edge of the panel, I could see an advantage to a thicker vs thinner panel. While trying to extract mine I discovered it was easily to deform the panel at the ends, and given that the attach points are inboard, there's nothing to flatten the panel out when installed. A more ridged panel would assure that all the gauges fit flush against the panel around their entire circumference rather than just the 2 sides where they're held against the panel.

 

Have no knowledge of the dino parts item, SF used my original as a template so i know its good.

Dino parts are not very good when things dont go quite according to plan, it took me months to get them to reply to my emails about a steering bearing that didnt fit at all.

There prices have gone up quite bit lately but volatile currency exchange doesnt help them one bit
Tony

 

Tony, I would agrre. Especially if it comes to authenticity DinoParts has a problem...
Every thing made from stainless steel, because it`s better ;-)

 

Ok, so I decided to order the Superformance instrument panel per everyone's suggestion and it arrived today. But I have one concern and that is that the new one is not the same color as the original one. Note that I've cleaned the original one of the grime that had accumulated on it over the years of previous ownership.

So can someone tell me if the new one is still `correct'?
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Even a new piece from the factory(if available) would be different from a cleaned up 40 year old one methinks. So does one color match an aged old piece?

 

Not sure I understand...my pics show the new one vs the original (darker) one. I should note that since 1988, this Dino was pampered and saw little use...if that would make any difference to the aging of the panel color.

Or was your question directed to other FChatters?

 

My thought is that new metal out of the box freshly painted will look different from the same metal, painted in the same way, but 40 years ago. It ages, in other words. If it was wood, I'd be certain. Aluminum probably tarnishes with age. Exposed to sunlight and other elements the rate of change may be more rapid. Even just sitting in the dark, it probably oxidizes under the paint, the paint itself will change over time. One would probably never notice it, until a new piece was put up against it. Now that's not saying anything about the SP one, it might or might not be right. That's another question.

 

Very interesting, Ron. I wonder also if the color varied over time during production, so that our Dinos may not have the same shade. It is good you have an eye for detail that I would have missed probably and taken the time to photograph and post. Thanks. Andres

 

An eye for such detail has been a blessing and a curse for me. I'm willing to spend the money (within reason) to make my Dino as accurate as possible, so it irritates me if I spend a lot of money for items that turn out not to be correct. That's why I post such questions to this forum where the incredible wealth of knowledge can be so valuable. I'm new to this whole collector car scene and want to do it right...it will generate that much more pride in what I have.

 

Per previous entries to this thread, the instrument panel is anodized, not painted (otherwise I would've just repainted my original one). I have no idea if anodized aluminum would change colors with age. Given the time and hassle to remove and re-install the instrument panel, I was hoping to get a definitive correct/not-correct response before my gauges come back from the `spa' and are ready for reassembly into the instrument panel.

 

anodized, agreed, principal is the same. I have attached a photo of mine, I now have the SP one and its is cleaner looking , brighter looking, newer and yes a shade lighter. But for the reasons I have set out, as far as I am concerned, it is what is to be expected and correct.
So my vote is it is good.
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The aluminum cluster panel in my early L-series #504 is for sure painted. It's painted in a slightly more grayish / bluish color than the anodized panel I got from SF. I'm quite sure the panel is the original since the build number is engraved on the backside and there is also the characteristic arrow pointing upwards. I have removed some of the paint and have found no traces of anodizing below (Neither any traces of anodizing on the backside). Could these early panels be painted as Ron initially indicated in this thread or am I on the wrong track?

Best regards

Peter
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my .02cents worth.
The SF one is as near to perfect replication as possible. Slightly blueish tinge to the silver. Same as Daytona and almost certainly same manufacture

 

Peter I have no doubt that you can determine the difference between paint and anodizing and from the photos it very much looks like your instrument panel is painted. That said I can only offer the opinion (because nothing is ever absolute with Ferrari) that the instrument panels should be anodized for all series of Dino. Within that comment there is an important distinction I have discovered since making my earlier posts in this thread over 3 years ago:

206, 246L, and 246M series cars have instrument panels that are anodized a very light shade of silver/blue. The finish is even with no brush marks in the aluminum. I have documented my restoration experience of the instrument panel here:
Dino 246 Restoration Blog: A hint of blue causes a heap of trouble: Re-manufacturing the instrument plate to perfection

246 E Series cars have a more silver coloured panel with horizontal brush marks (or mill marks as they are known). This is much easier to achieve at a local anodizer and is almost a dead match for what Superformance sells. One note on the SF panel is that it is my understanding that the SF panel is cut from stock aluminum and never anodized afterwards. While the look is the same as original, it is MUCH more prone to scratching as the anodizing provides a surface hardening that keeps the panel looking newer longer.

 

Thanks for the thorough explanation Rob. It's difficult to say if my panel is original or if someone has changed it out at some stage and just painted it to make it appear in the correct color. I have decided to use the anodized panel from SF on the first install and then get the old panel re-painted and have that as a spare.

Peter