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wooden dash trivia

1K views 10 replies 10 participants last post by  dmancini 
#1 ·
Does anyone know...

The wooden dash on some of models of the c900 eg the SE - what sort of wood is it, walnut? Or perhaps it isn't even wood at all?

Also, while I'm here, how should one start a c900?

Gearstick in neutral but clutch down? (I've heard this puts less stress on the box but have no idea why)

One thing I do know, which really does work, is when selecting reverse gear put it into first gear beforehand - it lines up the synchromeshes and eliminates the familiar c900 reverse 'crunch'.

thanks :)
 
#2 ·
entropy said:
Does anyone know...

The wooden dash on some of models of the c900 eg the SE - what sort of wood is it, walnut? Or perhaps it isn't even wood at all?

Also, while I'm here, how should one start a c900?

Gearstick in neutral but clutch down? (I've heard this puts less stress on the box but have no idea why)

One thing I do know, which really does work, is when selecting reverse gear put it into first gear beforehand - it lines up the synchromeshes and eliminates the familiar c900 reverse 'crunch'.

thanks :)
Pressing the clutch down when you start the engine desengages the gearbox from the engine, which reduces the friction that the starter motor has to overcome, thus the engine will turn over quicker and starter easier.

Rob
 
#4 ·
Matthew said:
The friction on the gearbox is insignificant compared to that of the engine compression. Dipping the clutch really won't have any worthwhile effect.

Twist the key, take the box out of reverse, twist key and start!

The OE wood dashboards are burr walnut.
Making a habit of dipping the clutch will remove a huge amount of stress on the car...
The stress of backing into the car/wall/tree behind you when you forget to take it out of gear!:lol:
The burl walnut is nice looking and I'm thinking of making a dash with some. Most of the wood dashes I see here in the good old USA are plastic faux junk.
Are the SAABs from Europe more commonly, real wood?
 
#5 ·
As far as I know, we have only one European supplier of wooden dashes for the c900, besides SAAB (if they still do). And that Woodcompany. But their dashes are fake wood.:cry:

I noticed there are real wood supplier in the US. But they ussually make a dash with the extra hole (left from the steering column) for the dashbord switch light dimmer. :cry:

Blacky
 
#6 ·
scubasaab said:
The burl walnut is nice looking and I'm thinking of making a dash with some. Most of the wood dashes I see here in the good old USA are plastic faux junk.
Are the SAABs from Europe more commonly, real wood?
The wooden dashes are rare - about 1 in 10 I reckon, possibly less. I wonder also if they are solid, or veneer?

I have also seen lots of non-standard items in wood as well - electric window switches block between the seats, ash tray, glove box cover. Occasionally they sell on ebay for lots.
 
#8 ·
og900i said:
Why should you put the gearstick in neutral when you start the car? I have never heard about this before and I live in Sweden where this is a very common car. I allways leave the stick in R and press the clutch when I start.
Because you can. Theoretically the least amount of friction would be obtained with stick in neutral and clutch down. But it's insignificant, and the throwout bearing is under stress when the clutch is down. Normally I would put the stick in N and crank the car, though it depends. It isn't something I spend time thinking about.
 
#9 · (Edited by Moderator)
900t said:
Because you can. Theoretically the least amount of friction would be obtained with stick in neutral and clutch down. But it's insignificant, and the throwout bearing is under stress when the clutch is down. Normally I would put the stick in N and crank the car, though it depends. It isn't something I spend time thinking about.

It doesn't matter how you start your car. I have seen hundreds of transmission failures, not a one could be blamed on cold start problems.
 
#11 ·
Wood dashboards and other bits in cars are often 'solid wood' but almost never solid burr or whatever the face wood is. Most common is some form of plywood veneered... even on rollers, bently's etc. The reason for this is that the intricate grain woods are rarely stable enough to be used as a solid piece. Sometimes you even see special plywoods with a sheet of metal as one ply in order to maintain a specific contour. Further if you look at the dashboards in the most expensive English cars you will see that the veneers are 'book matched' which means that the grain repeats itself left to right. for instance the grain in the door cappings on the left front door of my Daimler are an exact mirror image ot those on the right. The way this is done is my using a 'leaf' of veneer which has been taken imediately after the one before therefore giving a near exact grain pattern. Matching these grains is a large part of the veneerers art.

As for the SE dashboards they are indeed genuine wood veneers aplied to some sort of backing. If you look closely at the radius around teh instrument binacle it is actualy painted to match the wood as there is no way to wrap veneer around compound radia without many, many hours.

Most of the aftermarket 'veneers' you find are made of some sort of vinyl... Some are extreemly convincing and last forever.

- D
 
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