The Colony Park is in Michigan!

[1987cp]

LOL - that's actually kind of nifty! I guess you could operate those with servos or a vacuum switch? Kind of beyond the scope of my current project, but it'd be a lot of fun to kick around ideas in the future.

Not a bad thought about the under-dash vents, either. I'll have to look into potentially buying aftermarket vents or something and see how that would work out ......

[Mr. Land Yacht]

oh, wow.
I like that dash/gauge setup Mike!

[1987cp]

Thanks! I just hope it'll turn out nice once it's finished.

One idea I had for the metal inserts was to get some 1/10"-1/8" steel plate and use a flap wheel to round/polish the edges, followed by probably some semigloss black like on yours (that was semigloss, right? Don't suppose you remember what type/brand of paint it was?). Then I'd have a sturdy, removable gauge panel (current mockup with thin-gauge aluminum is uber flimsy) that'd look okay and give some fun texture to the dash. I'm planning to experiment by mounting the heater controls in some bar stock I have and seeing what sort of presentation I can manage. That reminds me, I need to get another flap wheel .....

[packman]

hehe ... not really, but I try.

And here are a couple of sneak-preview pics of the preliminary dash mockup. The metal part I made quite a while back, just messing around with the gauges. and I put it on this piece of OSB a little while later. Trimming the OSB so it comes close to fitting where I need it is a new development. I'm still not sure about the shape underneath the cluster, but I can easily do it differently when I do it for real.

Damn, that is gonna be friggin sweet when that is finished!!! You can open a custom car shop with the quality of work that you do.


Packman

[1987cp]

Nah .... it's actually pretty rough in person. Though working for myself would be different than my old job working on Mustangs for a retired industrial engineer .... boy, was that high-stress, walking around $100,000 cars in a shop only slightly more organized than my garage is now ..... :nonono:

[packman]

Nah .... it's actually pretty rough in person. Though working for myself would be different than my old job working on Mustangs for a retired industrial engineer .... boy, was that high-stress, walking around $100,000 cars in a shop only slightly more organized than my garage is now ..... :nonono:

Yeah that's true. I'd rather just work on cars as a hobby myself.


Packman

[1987cp]

hehe - totally. I actually met a guy in Columbus who used to be a mechanic but then became a concrete contractor because he wanted cars to just be a hobby, rather than feeling like taking his job home with him. I did get a lot of work done on my cars while I worked for the resto shop, though, because it was so stress-relieving to do MY thing on MY cars and not worry myself sick if something got scratched!!!! :p

[Nathan in MI]

I still say your gauge panel needs engine turning...

[1987cp]

I still say your gauge panel needs engine turning...

LOL ..... nah, I'm nearly set on black, now that I see how nice Colin's looks with the same set of gauges. I also have this thing about excessive glare from the dash panel .......

[1987cp]

Another quick update: today I bought some 1-1/4" x 1/16" angled aluminum to use for a bracket to tie the old dashpad to the new dash, and also some 16-gauge steel for what will hopefully be the final new gauge panel. Unfortunately, we're leaving for a week starting tomorrow, so I won't get to actually work on it till we get back. But once we are back, I'm hoping to start ironing out details on mounting, etc.

I'm not sure yet whether the various switches (headlights, heater controls, and for now probably the Start button) will get mounted in small individual steel panels or poked through some higher-quality plywood or veneered surfacing material. Thoughts on that?

[Nathan in MI]

I'd say mount 'em in the wood. The one big aluminum panel with the gauges and such will look good, but a bunch of little individual panels for the other switches and such would look a bit silly in my very humble opinion.

[1987cp]

I'd say mount 'em in the wood. The one big aluminum panel with the gauges and such will look good, but a bunch of little individual panels for the other switches and such would look a bit silly in my very humble opinion.

You have a point there. I saw a picture in Car Craft a few years ago of a Jeep with each gauge mounted in its own thick machined-aluminum mounting thingie. Kind of nifty, but as executed it was just too much.

[1987cp]

Hm... I seem to have located at least one source for vents and louvers and junk. Could be pricey, though - I'll have to try to find a price list.

http://www.vintageair.com/catalog.asp

There's also this one, but they seem to offer a similar but more limited selection:

http://www.nostalgicairparts.com/ac/duct-hose-vents-4.html

[88MercWagon]

Why not just use a stock CP dash and cut it to fit the gauges and whatnot as necessary?

[1987cp]

Why not just use a stock CP dash and cut it to fit the gauges and whatnot as necessary?

Uh.... because this is more sporting?

It'd also be unlikely I could remove a donor dash without mangling it like I did this one's original .....

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.......... and while I'm at it, more sneak preview pics for the salivating fans: