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Hello All,
About a year ago I picked up a really nice F-350 with three holes drilled in the dash for cheap autozone gauges It bothers me every time I drive the truck and its time to do something about it. I know that the dash is a structural part of the cab and that it is welded in but I'm wondering if any of y'all have ever taken on this feat. Where are the welds located? How likely is it that the cab will tweak? Is it worth considering patching and painting? In need of 2 cents. Thank you
You are talking about a major undertaking. What most people do when the dash has been mangled is to find a glove box door. They match the contour of the dash pretty close and use it to make a patch panel to repair the hole.
This is what most people have been saying. I like the idea of finding a glove box door. The Rangoon red is a pretty common color too. Talked with my fabricator buddy today and he thought the toughest part was going to be removing the replacement without mangling it. I have a couple parts trucks here that would a perfect swap but if I can't keep it straight then it doesn't seem like there is much of a point. Do you think a touch up paint would even look decent or would I just have to live with the bare metal from welding? I know duplicolor makes a matched paint.
That hole might be small and high enough that you could weld in a piece of flat steel. You could also probably get away with painting just the lower section of the dash (is it two-tone?). Maybe throw in a retro-style stereo?
You could also probably get away with painting just the lower section of the dash (is it two-tone?). Maybe throw in a retro-style stereo?
No two tone but I can't believe I didn't think of a radio . I need to take some measurements of the holes and maybe a factory radio would remove the hole sawn area. If i'm remembering correctly, they arent all that big. No interest in making the problem worse with an even bigger radio. Thinking a skin graft is likely the next step. Id prefer an area with bad paint then those god forsaken gauges.
What most people do when the dash has been mangled is to find a glove box door. They match the contour of the dash pretty close and use it to make a patch panel to repair the hole.
Good idea. There are at least a dozen for sale on eBay right now.
I've got a couple of glovebox doors around. I think I'm going to patch and weld this weekend. Will update the thread with some photos. Thanks for the input!
You are talking about a major undertaking. What most people do when the dash has been mangled is to find a glove box door. They match the contour of the dash pretty close and use it to make a patch panel to repair the hole.
Buying a glove box door to do this repair is a waste of $$ !!
The dash in that area is basically flat (in the horizontal), and only has a very low crown top to bottom.
If you are incapable of taking a flat piece of sheetmetal and rolling it over a round object to get the crown into it, you will be supremely screwed when you try to deal with the distortion caused when you weld the patch in..............
Buy some sheetmetal of the correct gage, put some crown into it, trim the hole so it has a nice radius on the corners (ie: Not a 90 deg "Square" corner)
Trim for zero gap, tack it in, grind and planish your tacks (to stretch them from the shrinkage caused by welding), After it's all tacked in, you can either continue with overlapping tacks, or short welds, whichever you're more comfortable doing......but the key is to knock the welds down and planish as you go. If you leave it until it's fully welded to deal with the distortion, it will become much more of a chore..........
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66 F-350 Dash replacement
It bothers me every time I drive the truck and its time to do something about it. I know that the dash is a structural part of the cab and that it is welded in but I'm wondering if any of y'all have ever taken on this feat. Where are the welds located? How likely is it that the cab will tweak? Is it worth considering patching and painting? In need of 2 cents. Thank you
. I need to take some measurements of the holes and maybe a factory radio would remove the hole sawn area. If i'm remembering correctly, they arent all that big. No interest in making the problem worse with an even bigger radio. Thinking a skin graft is likely the next step. Id prefer an area with bad paint then those god forsaken gauges.
