New dashbord.

[Gilles]

I recently made this new dashbord for the 32. I bought a speedometer (Fomoco), water gauge and tank gauge (Smith) in a local swap-meet, without to know from wich car they come from. Surprisingly they are accurate. For oil pressure, alternator and low tank warning I use idiot lights, and I really don't need a tachometer with the low power 350.

The panel is home-made with a 3mm thick stainless plate (not aluminium because I had to weld bolts on the back)  cut and drilled with électric hackshaw  and drill-press. I turned it with a wine bottle cork on the drill-press and valve grind compound.
I'm very happy with the result . On the photo you can see also the newly installed Gennie-shifter, and the boot I made for it.

http://youks.free.fr/rockfuel04/DSCN0291.JPG

http://youks.free.fr/rockfuel04/DSCN0292.JPG

Now I don't have anything to do on this car except drive it and enjoy it.  But I'm thinking on new small improvements.


Gilles

[flt-blk]

That looks nice.

I want to try my hand at engine turning one day, it looks really good on
your dash.

How many blades did you go through trying to cut the SS, that's some
hard stuff.

TZ

[Gilles]

I broke at least 3 or 4 blades. But it's 100 times less expensive than to order a dash panel from a hot-rod parts supplier.

Gilles

[C9]

That looks nice.

I want to try my hand at engine turning one day, it looks really good on
your dash.

How many blades did you go through trying to cut the SS, that's some
hard stuff.

TZ

Very nice Gilles.
Using a wine bottle cork strikes me as a good idea.
I would guess that it gets you away from burning the metal like a wooden or aluminum dowel does.
I'm sure you could burn the metal with a bottle cork, but it probably wouldn't happen as quickly as it does with a hardwood or aluminum dowel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Far as cutting out the dash goes, I made one out of .063 stainless.
It's about the right stiffness and it works well.  (A little thinner than Gilles 3mm stuff if I figured right.)
An elongated diamond pattern with round ends and rounded top and bottom where the diamond changes direction in the middle.

What worked for me in the cutting department was to lay the dash pattern out and take it to a big sheet metal shop that had a computerized shear - computer bit not needed, but was interesting - and they sheared four cuts right on the lines as well as some rounding off cuts on the ends for $5.  Money well spent.
After that, the rounded ends were easily trimmed to shape with a bench mounted disc grinder.

Incidentally, the instrument holes were cut out with Starratt bi-metal hole saws - which I believe are made by Milwaukee and available at most home supply centers as Milwaukee's.
(I've cut 1" holes in .120 steel 32 frames and boxing plates using Black & Deckers made for wood hole saws and they did ok.  One of them cut eight 1" holes.)
I went to the Starrat/Milwaukee's because they run truer than do the B&D's.

Getting back to the cutting out bit of the stainless dashes, cutting them out on one of the little Harbor Freight bandsaws set vertical - and with a home-made larger table than it comes with - worked very well.
Even so, the disc sander is great for bringing it to a smooth and finished size.

Didn't mean to highjack Gille's post, but he did a nice job.
As noted it's easy to burn the stainless when using valve grinding compound.
Nice simple gauge layout as well.

[47wood]

Nice panel Gilles ...it must feel great to get a project to the point you are only fine tuning!  That's something I hope to experience next year.  In the mean time guys like you encourage me get back out in that garage.  Thanks for sharing.  

[58 Yeoman]

Great looking dash. How do you keep the engine turnings in straight lines?

[Kctom]

I recently made this new dashbord for the 32. I bought a speedometer (Fomoco), water gauge and tank gauge (Smith) in a local swap-meet, without to know from wich car they come from. Surprisingly they are accurate. For oil pressure, alternator and low tank warning I use idiot lights, and I really don't need a tachometer with the low power 350.

The panel is home-made with a 3mm thick stainless plate (not aluminium because I had to weld bolts on the back)  cut and drilled with électric hackshaw  and drill-press. I turned it with a wine bottle cork on the drill-press and valve grind compound.
I'm very happy with the result . On the photo you can see also the newly installed Gennie-shifter, and the boot I made for it.

http://youks.free.fr/rockfuel04/DSCN0291.JPG

http://youks.free.fr/rockfuel04/DSCN0292.JPG

Now I don't have anything to do on this car except drive it and enjoy it.  But I'm thinking on new small improvements.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that looks great. Now about that wine?
Gilles

[Pope Downunder]

I recently made this new dashbord for the 32. >>> snip
Gilles

Very nice job.  I made a similar panel for the pickup when I built it; it takes some effort!

[HotRodLadyCrusr]

WOW!  Looks very professional, just like if you did order it from a hot rod supplier.  I'm vvery impressed.  Thanks for sharing how you accomplished the task.

[Gilles]

Great looking dash. How do you keep the engine turnings in straight lines?
_________________

I fixed a wood plate on the drill press and draw strait lines on it every 8 mm, in one direction and accross to make squares. I fixed the dashboard on a smaller  wood plate. Then I positionned the dashbord under the cork, made the first turn, moove to the next 8 mm square etc..

Gilles

[btrc]

The dash really looks great Gilles.  And so does the shifter and boot.  One thing about the stainless over the aluminum, it will probably stay looking this good instead of getting dull and scratched.

Bob