The owner wanted the radio, glove box, and ashtray shaved. I ground through the outer layer of the dash to release the spot welds over the left half of the inner dash brace that was straight. The right side of the inner brace was shaped to fit the glove box opening so it was cut out.

Attachment 281095


The right corner of the dash was bent too far outward past straight/in line with the center of the dash- the aluminum bar is laid flat against the center section of the dash to show the misalignment. I cut far enough over to get rid of the part that was rounded out too far so the new section would be in the correct alignment.

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The top edge of the glove box opening was formed really close to the bend across the face of the dash, so that won't leave much room for welding and grinding.

Attachment 281097

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Profile gauge and tape with matching marks to transfer onto the filler panel blank.

Attachment 281099


After turning the lower flange with a brake, I used the profile gauge to mark the filler panel for the area that needed the most roll and the areas that were mostly flat.

Attachment 281100

Attachment 281101


I picked the english wheel die that most closely matched the profile of the dash. I didn't take pics while I was making the panel, but I stretched an inner tube over the upper wheel so that the english wheel only bent the metal in one direction instead of two since this isn't a compound curve.

Attachment 281102

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Matched the shape of the old panel.

Attachment 281105


Initial test fit. I'll wait to weld it in after the owner comes over so we can finalize the placement of the A/C vents, it'll be easier to weld in the A/C vent mounting cups with the filler panel loose instead of welded in place.

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I turned a couple of mdf blocks in the lathe to make mounting cups for the A/C vents. This will keep the vent mounting flange straight and flat while shaping the edges.

Attachment 280880



First quick trial piece, not really happy with this shape but it's something to start with.

Attachment 281109



C-channel dash brace fabricated and test fit. Not perfectly shaped to match the original but it's just a dash brace that'll never be seen.

Attachment 281110

Attachment 281111



Right side turned 90* with mitered and welded corners, and drilled for a plug weld.

Attachment 281112


Last detail to sort out before the A/C mounting cups can be welded in- there was a recessed round stamping with a raised lower edge in the corner of the dash that will interfere with the edges of the A/C vents. I used a mallet, hammer, and dolly to flatten it and reshape the corner to the correct profile. To finish it I went over it with a 2" 100 grit disc on a 1" grinder; that lets the pad flex to the rounded shape without digging in on the edges. Then finished with a DA sander. You can see by the "light line" reflections that the corner is evenly shaped.

Attachment 281113


Initial hammer/dolly work to really flatten and level the stamping.

Attachment 281114

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After reworking the shape using a small PVC fitting as a donut dolly and mallet.

Attachment 281116



Smoothed up with 100 grit, then 60 grit on a DA.

Attachment 281117

Attachment 281118

This thread has been a masterclass on bodywork and metal fab problem solving. Bravo Sir!!

Thanks!


The dash was originally padded and had a separate trim piece at each end. The owner wants a painted dash with no pad or original trim pieces which leaves ugly dash corners when both are removed, so my next task was to smooth out the transition from the dash to the A-pillar and windshield pinchweld.

Attachment 281025

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Old edge of the dash cut out.

Attachment 281028


The seams in the door jamb were pretty ugly as well so they were welded up and reshaped. I don't like fully shaving seams, I prefer the look of well defined panel edges and evenly shaped seams. Noticed the mismatch between the kick panel's edge and the separate door jamb panel- this was corrected.

Attachment 281029


I ended up doing two rounds of welding/shaping to get a consistent seam, then did a bit more final touch up work after the dash corner was welded in.

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To make a template for the new dash edge I used tape and a sharpie to get a rough idea of the new edge's trim/fold line.

Attachment 281033


The front edge was folded over 180* and the rear edge was bend down 90* for a flange to weld to the A-pillar. The front section that wasn't bent was later trimmed off.

Attachment 281034


Using linear stretch dies in the planishing hammer to lengthen and raise the inside edge to match the contour of the dash hump.

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After a lot more shaping and fine tuning of the outside edge. I had reworked the edge a lot and it was beginning to fatigue, so I cheated and welded the edge of the flange to strengthen it, which also gave me enough material to grind a consistent radius on the edge.

Attachment 281038

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The last issue to straighten out before welding in the new corner- There was a spot weld in the A-pillar that created a low spot and an uneven gap for the new dash edge. I drilled a small hole in the outside of the pillar and used a punch to bump the inner panel level.

Attachment 281042

Attachment 281043

After welding the panel in, initial planishing of weld seam, and grinding the welds flat. Notice that I also lengthened and reshaped the upper edge of the door jam panel so that seam is in line with the upper corner of the dash edge.

Attachment 281011

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And then the process was done on the other side of the dash. This side was much easier since there was no transition into the cluster hump.

Attachment 281015


The removed panel with a bit of tape added was sufficient for a template.

Attachment 281016


Shaped on the english wheel to match the dash profile.

Attachment 281017

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Cut line scribed.

Attachment 281019


Initial fit up.

Attachment 281020


Final fit.

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After welding, leveling the welds, and planishing the weld distortion. Finished in 60 grit on a DA sander to prep for epoxy.

Attachment 281023

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Wonderful execution toward fabrication efforts and to every detail.
This project will be a masterpiece and hopefully it will be shown, driven and enjoyed rather than parked and wrapped up.
Nevertheless, this thread is about the craftsmanship, vision & execution - thank you for sharing your skils!
Love seeing all your updates - Pete

Thanks Pete!!


More metalwork on the cab. The firewall had a lot of extra holes to fill in. It'll have a hydraulic clutch and an aftermarket wiring harness so none of those holes were needed anymore. I made a bigger panel to fill in a bunch the smaller holes instead of filling them individually.

Attachment 280937

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A notch had been made in the firewall seam for clearance around the new engine. I tacked the two layers together to keep them from flexing or separating so the seam sealer won't be upset later on.

Attachment 280943


Determining a radius.

Attachment 280944


Radius and allowance for the flange scribed into a sheet of metal.

Attachment 280945


Flanged formed using a steel block and mallet initially.

Attachment 280946


Turning a curved flange causes the panel to distort, so I used a section of round bar in the vise and a hammer to stretch the flange out to take out the distortion.

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Trimmed and welded in place.

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The filler neck hole needed to be shaved. The shape around it was flattened and a bit more square compared to the right side of the cab. I made a quick flexible shape pattern to compare both sides, and it also maps out exactly how much to stretch the new filler panel.

Attachment 280922


First step was to roughly knock out a dent in the opposite side so the pattern would be accurate.

Attachment 280923

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Two layers of tape. The blue tape is low adhesion so it peels off easily with no risk of stretching the pattern as it comes off. The second layer is reinforced with fiberglass strands so once it's pressed down firmly it'll hold the same length- this is important as it allows the template to retain the same surface area over every square inch after it's removed. That surface area is what shows how much stretch is needed to replicate the panel.

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With the pattern removed you sprinkle it with baby powder to kill the adhesive. You can see how much surface area the pattern has, and how the details of the body lines carry over.

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I also made marks on the template to locate the filler neck on the pattern. The patterns can be flipped inside out while retaining their surface area.

Attachment 280929


Vertical and horizontal lines marked through the center of the filler panel area. The pattern on shows the amount of stretch needed, not the exact shape, so a profile gauge shows how the added surface area from stretching needs to be shaped and arranged.

Attachment 280930


Low spot in the middle- more stretching needed.

Attachment 280931


Overall shape is now correct.

Attachment 280932


After rough trimming. Notice how the bottom corner doesn't match up, that's from the flat stamping around the filler neck opening. Using this method of making a filler panel and having the flexible shape pattern ensures that any variance between the two sides is made noticeable so it can be corrected.

Attachment 280933


Welded in and welds ground down, still needs final planishing.

Attachment 280934



The owner brought the gauge bezel so I could fit it and lay out the location of all of the switch holes. I used washers with butyl that are roughly the size of the A/C controls, and cut out a few pieces from a worn DA disc in the diameter of the ignition switch and headlight/wiper bezels. This lets me stick them to the dash and move them around where they look best.

Attachment 280935

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Awesome work and craftsmanship!

Thanks!!


I finished up the dash layout today. The second pic shows how welding close to the edges makes the distortion more prevalant, third pic is after planishing to stretch out the weld zone.

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Old vs new layout. The ignition switch was moved from beside the cluster to under it, and the headlight and wiper switches were moved over to make room for it. One original hole on the left side was deleted. The right side was shaved and three 9/32 holes were added for the A/C controls. The spacing was modified from stock to more evenly fill out the panel and better match side to side.

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That is amazing work! Love seeing the progress.
Doug

Thanks Doug!!


Next step on the dash was to figure out a way to blend in a flat spot to mount the A/C vent right in the middle of the very curved location where the ignition switch was. To keep the flat spot flat I bolted two pieced of MDF together and turned them down just larger than the OD of the A/C vent.

Attachment 280878

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After a lot of hammering, shrinking, stretching, and shaping to fit the contours of the dash... a shape started to form around the flat spot. I got started and kept going and didn't take pics of this process like I should've. This is a shape that I wasn't 100% sure how to make since it curves in two directions with a raised center, but I basically started by remembering that the only things you can do to shape metal are to shrink, stretch, and bend... so I tried to use logic and think what would happen to the metal if I stretched this spot, or shrunk that spot and it pretty much worked out into the mostly correct shape.

Attachment 280881

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After most of the rough shaping was done.

Attachment 280884


Sharpening the edge of the raised area using a corner of the steel block.

Attachment 280885


Trimmed and tacked into place... noticed the hammer marks, I'll explain these later, but after tacking there was still a bit of shaping to get this to fit the contours of the dash.

Attachment 280886


This angle shows that I wasn't able to get the shape of the filler piece to match the dash contour 100%, and I kind of gave up after not being able to add more shape to the mostly finished piece. My reasoning for going ahead and tacking it in place anyway was that I could use a dolly that matched the shape of the dash and finish shaping that area of the filler piece once it was held in place... and it worked. After planishing the two panels into a blended shape I finished welding the panel in and smoothed the welds.

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Half and half, this shows how far apart the initial tacks were.

Attachment 280889


Bolt head stuck in the lathe and dimpled in the center so I could scribe a circle to trim out.

Attachment 280890


And finished.

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Incredible work! And the never give up attitude. That looks really cool. Cooler than the factory could have done. Keep the photos coming.
Doug

Am I seeing things or is that gauge cluster actually metal?

It certainly looks like it and based off the other great metal work, you're assumption is probably correct. That is cool.

Thanks Doug!


It's ABS plastic made by Classic Dash, I think its hydrodipped to look like brushed metal.