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made my first dash on the cheap

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by guy with a wrench, Aug 9, 2004.

  1. Ok, I have mentioned this in other posts but thought I would show a couple of pics. If I can do it anyone can and most may do it better but I'm satisfied for now.Sorry I dont have alot of pics of the progress I never thought about it until I was nearly done, just use your imagination.
    Here's what I did ;
    1.went to the local collision shop and got a free door from a late 80s truck got laughed at and some strange looks when I told what I was doing.
    2. measured and cut the skin off to the size I needed, then took about 2 hours bending it checking it and bending it again to the shape I wanted by hand( I dont have many tools at home)
    3. cut side pieces and tacked em into place a lil grinding and glazing compound then sanding til they looked decent.
    4. mocked it into place and dropped it a few dozen times until I screwed it into place
    5. got bored one night and sprayed it rattle can black
    6. ground the metal rough and the fibergl*** down under the gelcoat, also ground the heads off the screws leaving enough to hold it into place
    7. cussed for about 30 minutes when the resin kicked before I was half way through (never should have read the directions)
    8. remixed and finished the gl***ing with the 7 cc to a lb mix and the mat,mat,roven,mat layering I was taught years ago but had forgotten until that moment.
    9. sanded rough again and shaped it for 2-3 hours by hand(neat trick is wrapping sand paper around a deep well socket for the radiused areas.
    10. more glazing compound and sanded down one more time.
    Now I'm not done with it yet still needs a lil more shaping and some spots I didnt notice at 3am need to be redone but overall not bad for my first attempt.
     

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  2. another earlier pic
     

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  3. pic I took tonight.
     

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  4. one more
     

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  5. one with the steering wheel mocked in place.
     

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  6. JR66Ford
    Joined: Aug 7, 2004
    Posts: 22

    JR66Ford
    Member

    Looks good to me, even if it's your first and done on the cheap. Keep it up and let us know how it comes out.
     
  7. really the last one, these are some pieces I made from a sheet of copper I found in the garbage, made one into a dash insert for my guages, the other is a suround for the steering column both still rough. And the duck is my grease monkey friend he follows me around the shop no matter how loud I am and inspects everything I do. Also a shift knob from an old cast iorn bed knob I found in the trash also.
     

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  8. haring
    Joined: Aug 20, 2001
    Posts: 2,335

    haring
    Member

    I wish I had a duck that followed me around.
     
  9. this chicken doesnt follow me like the duck but she sits on my shelf and plays stupidvisor.
     

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  10. AFLAC!!!! [​IMG] ....sorry..couldn't resist! Looks great to me.
     
  11. AHotRod
    Joined: Jul 27, 2001
    Posts: 12,338

    AHotRod
    Member

    Mega-kuddo's for just-doing-it.

    Keep us posted.

    AHotRod
     

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