ronmanfredi

I have thought about this myself and found 2 cars whose owners had done this, images attached. I don't know where the racks came from, just saw the images that were shown when the cars were being sold.

From looking under the dash, the switch looks similar to mine and the color wires match.

The 2001-2007 Avanti's are really unique looking and beautiful to some. So when you open the hood, what does it look like then? My 2006 engine looked pretty plain, so I decide to upgrade the appearance by painting the valve covers. There are some aftermarket valve covers available, but for the money, you end up with "Ford" or "Ford Racing" made into the cover. So, I spent less that $100 to paint the covers to match the car color, including a new gasket set. Here are before and after photos:

I recently purchased a 2006 Avanti and it's missing one wheel medallion. I have found a black center cap that will work, so I will purchase the medallion by itself or with the cap, whatever is available. Thank you!

One of the things that I wanted to update on our 1982 Avanti II were the dash and console wood. The Italian Ash was warped, cracked and one piece was missing. I had replaced a few gauges since they weren’t working when I bought the car and the new ones had whiter letters and were brighter at night as well. So I decided to replace the remaining gauges, replace the wood and replace all the dash and console lights with modern symbol marked / colored LED lights from “Alpinetech”. Their LED lights are available on Amazon, in chrome or black in 5/6” or 1/2” diameter. I used mostly 5/6” except for the 1/2” emergency brake light and the check engine light in the dash and console. I removed and deleted the old console broken “seat belt light” as well. After several weeks of looking, I could not find Italian Ash 1/8” thick wood, so I went with a multilayer synthetic/ABS sheet. Next was to remove all the gauges, the dash panel, and do the same with the console. Then (and with care) I slowly removed the glued down Ash wood so that I would have a pattern to cut the ABS sheet. ( I taped up all the damaged areas as I removed the old wood to keep the pattern accurate). Once all the wood was off, then I used it as patterns to mark the ABS sheet so I could cut each piece out. At this stage, I took a break to refinish the dash and dash end caps since they needed it. Next was to invest in a Harbor Freight 16 in. Variable-Speed Scroll Saw to cut the ABS and it worked like a champ. Once each piece was cut out and trimmed as needed, I then glued each panel on using Gorilla Clear Glue and let them sit overnight. The next day, I cut out all the small light holes for the new LED lights, gauge holes and then installed all the panels and gauges back in. I really like the new look and went one step further by purchasing a Lecarra leather covered, 2 spoke vintage steering wheel which exposes the dash more and looks better to me than the old Momo 3 spoke wood wheel. I am very satisfied with this upgrade and have enough ABS sheet left to do one more car completely that I can offer for sale to anyone interested.