Low Slung T

dwsatt21

Active Member

• Jul 29, 2020

• #541

T-Test - that’s a neat piece. I have an electronic speedo though.
Gerry - your dash is amazing. I’m certain I don’t have the skills, or tools, to do that with metal. I could do it with fiberglass and bondo probably.
Spanky- the rings would need to be on the front of what I have now. Kind of like what Henry-T suggested. I do like the idea of trim rings. They would give the dash a bit more of a 3 dimensional look. I’m going to look into them but will probably have to bring the main panel out a bit. Currently I’m thinking about curving the face and giving the dash a bit of an upper panel. I don’t imagine I can curve it too much though without running into the fishies not sitting “flat” in there holes. Might leave the center of it flat and curve the just the ends. Hmm.

 

dwsatt21

Active Member

• Jul 29, 2020

• #542

Henry-T something like this will help. Not sure I’ll get the full inch I need but some phone calls should clear that up.

 

Gerry

Well-Known Member

• Jul 29, 2020

• #543

dwsatt21 said:

I’m certain I don’t have the skills, or tools, to do that with metal. I could do it with fiberglass and bondo probably.

Click to expand...

Yeh you do. Just bend the sheet over your knee so it sits proud of the body by 1 1/4" in the middle. If push comes to shove you could JB weld to glue a filler part on the top of it to close it off.

If you want to get real 'jiggy' you could glass up a mold from that and make your dash from there. This would also give you the opportunity to produce a couple or three and play with them for different combinations of instruments and switches.

Its not that difficult to do, after all most guys on here are happy to glass up stuff, but not a pattern, that can be used a few time to try stuff out.

You have a lot of conceivable skills, dont sell yourself short for a few days extra effort.

Pic of the buck I made for the mold. Its really not that hard and my 'workshop/garage is around 10' x 30' and it has the T in it as well.

 

old round fart

Well-Known Member

• Jul 29, 2020

• #544

Can you drop the speedo down to get clearance

 

dwsatt21

Active Member

• Jul 29, 2020

• #545

ORF - not far enough far it to still be on the panel.

 

dwsatt21

Active Member

• Jul 29, 2020

• #546

Broke out the old template and started some reworking. I spaced out the dash 1/2” by the windshield posts and 1 1/2” at the center. Then curved the face panel around it. Beings that I’m concerned about mounting my gauges on a curved surface adjust the radius of the curve a bit. From the center(1 1/2”) I curved it 1/4” for the first 10”. Then the rest of the the curve, 3/4” from that point to windshield post. This should keep the gauges on an almost flat surface. I’d imagine that won’t even be noticeable.
I think it looks good but I’m definitely going to sit on it a bit before I start making any cuts. No problems getting that speedo in there like this and I like the curved look WAY better than the flat dash.

 

Gerry

Well-Known Member

• Jul 29, 2020

• #547

I did a bit of playing at each end to make a feature of the 'joint' between the dash and the screen brackets. Any little detail will help the transition.

 

dwsatt21

Active Member

• Jul 29, 2020

• #548

Working on that right now Gerry.

 

H

HenrysT

Active Member

• Jul 29, 2020

• #549

You can keep your curved dash and add rings like what Gerry has to give yourself a flat spot for the gauges. You can even angle the rings a little bit to face the driver. you can curve it more and french the gauges in to get the gauges to sit flat.

I'm planning on grafting a 60' chevy instrument panel onto my dash.

 

dwsatt21

Active Member

• Jul 30, 2020

• #550

Henry T - I think it should be "flat" enough to not noticeable effect the guages. It should on be about 0.1" of change over the width of the gauge. If it doesn't I found some rings and panels to choose from that will solve it.
Thanks everyone for you input. I'll have some pictures after this weekend hopefully.

 

dwsatt21

Active Member

• Aug 2, 2020

• #551

New dash is fabbed you. Just needs the layout finalized and some holes. There is definitely plenty of room for the speedo now. I had to rework the column support a bit but I think it turned out nicely.

 

Gerry

Well-Known Member

• Aug 3, 2020

• #552

.
A little bit of curve adds a lot to the look, I think.

 

DonnyRay

Well-Known Member

• Aug 3, 2020

• #553

Is the instrument cluster from a 1960 chevy impala ?

 

Spanky

Moderator

Staff member

• Aug 3, 2020

• #554

dwsatt21 said:

I think it turned out nicely.

Click to expand...

So do I! Nice problem-solving solution. That's hotrodding at its best!

 

dwsatt21

Active Member

• Aug 3, 2020

• #555

Donny Ray - I made it from sheet metal.

 

choppinczech

Well-Known Member

• Aug 3, 2020

• #556

Nice work.

 

H

HenrysT

Active Member

• Aug 3, 2020

• #557

DonnyRay said:

Is the instrument cluster from a 1960 chevy impala ?

Click to expand...

59'-60' Impala, Bel Air. Gone to make a mold of it and cut it in to the dash. I'm extending the body 6" so adding this instrument cluster will move the drivers side dash back about 6" too.

 

dwsatt21

Active Member

• Aug 3, 2020

• #558

Current status. Gauges, pencils, graph paper, calipers and a compass. Getting this placed as perfect as I can so they don’t look all weird. Oh yeah, also waiting for my wife to find out what I’m up too and run me out of the dining room.

 

A

AusBucket

Active Member

• Aug 4, 2020

• #559

Don't forget the parts in the dish washer!

 

dwsatt21

Active Member

• Aug 5, 2020

• #560

A little bit of wiring today.