dimond plate dash
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From: Oregon
dimond plate dash
I have an 84 150 xlt with the wood trim on the dash and door pannels. I guess the wood trim does it for some guys but i don't really care for it and want to replace dimond plating (well the aluminum fake stuff) where the wood is now. I have the door pannels off and taken compleatly apart because the vinal was corroding so i think im gonna start there. Have any of you tried somthing like this? if so how'ed it come out and do you have any pics of it?
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I am in the process of doing the same thing to my 1986 Bronco XLT - the wood sucks - Diamond Plate is expensive as hell though. What I have found is that it appears that there are two ways of doing this. One, we can take a dremel to the wood stuff, grind it all flat so that all of the bumps are taken out of it entirely. Then simply mount Diamond plate to the existing plastic where the wood was - or we can try to recreate the entire dash face with diamond plate - possibly a lot of bending and some welding here... It comes out pretty easy, but the "wood" face of this crap is actually molded into the entire plastic dash piece. Mine is pretty beat up - the screw guide holes are broken and it might be better for me to just redo the entire dash - I just don't know anything about welding. What are your thoughts, here?
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The hard part is figuring out how to do it in the first place - if it's too bright, I'll paint it black with duraliner or something...
What I would love to find is an actual interior schematic of some kind that has the sizes and dimensions of the panels - would make the build up easier.
What I would love to find is an actual interior schematic of some kind that has the sizes and dimensions of the panels - would make the build up easier.
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New theory on this - I am going to the parts yard this weekend to find replacement panels with the wood on them - then I am going to dremel them completely smooth, make a pattern for the diamond plate and cut it out - if you want, when I am done, I will email you the patterns I come up with.
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No pick yets, but... I went to the parts yard and I bought two extra pieces. I bought one for the part of the dash where the instrument cluster is and I bought another for the spot the radio and the heater controls are. I have totally sanded one of them down with the dremel so that it is ready for me to cut the diamond plate and attach it. I am thinking about going with an ultra light weight diamond plating so that it will be easier to cut and to bend into shape. I currently have 1/8" diamond plate and it's AWFULLY thick. Better used for panel pieces then dash pieces. What are your thoughts on this...?
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i tried cutting out a pannel for my door pannel with that alluminum dimond plateing real thin stuff but it was still hell to cut with my radial arm saw. looking at it though i think im gonna just have a place cut and bend the stuff to what i want because i don't have the tools to do it right, and im not going to spend a couple hundered on metel if my work comes out like crap.
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Well, I haven't attempted to cut it yet. I bought an attachment for my dremel that is a jigsaw - I imagine it's awful fast - and some metal cutting blades for it. I am going to give it a shot this weekend and I will let you know how it comes out. This stuff is pretty thick, though. Hopefully it cuts well. I will keep you posted. I know how you feel, I don't want to waste $300 worth of diamond plate steel if it's no going to look how I want it.
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