Mike:

I would suggest that you post a picture.

Rick

 

Yeah, I'd also like to know where the dash install in general, as I need to buy one and I'm not sure where/how it mounts.

 

I will try and post some pictures tomarrow. If you have the top of the dash follow the countour of the arch then the sides stick above the arch support.

Mike O.

 

When you say it does not follow the arc portion of the car do you mean the frame or the body?

I haven't got there on my MkIII yet, but on the MkI you had to push down the body to meet the dash. I held it down with some long screws that went through the rear view mirror as well.

 

Yea It does not follow the contour of the frame. I have not installed the body as of yet.

Mike O.

 

The rearview mirror screwss pulls the body down to conform to the steel subframe.
mike

 

It won't follow the contour of the frame. Don't worry about it for now; just keep it clamped in place, and once the body is on and the windshield is mounted, it'll shove up and between the body lip and 3/4" dash hoop. Then, you can attach it to the hood hoop.

 

Also, Take a couple pieces of flat metal or wood and place it between the clamps and the vinyl otherwise you will leave a mark on the vinyl padding. K

 

Yes, gbranham has it right. Resist the tempation to mount it before the body is on. I would also suggest leaving about an inch or so of dash cover material extra at the top of the dash just hanging and ungluded. After the body is on and you are installing the dash you can flop the extra material over the dash hoop. In my case the dash didn't go up far enough to cover the entire hoop in the center so the extra material covers it and it is not noticable.

 

Here you can see how with the sides of the dash flush to the top of the tube, the centre is quite a bit lower than the top of the tube. In my case I have had to do this because the far right hand warning lights wouldn't go in as I have drilled the hole too close to the top of the dash! I have the left the padded cover off until the last minute to avoid damage. Hopefully body on over Xmas.

Ian

 

Best you can do is temporary clamp the dash in place if body is not on. Body has to be mounted along with the mirror and windsheild before dash can be put in it's final position. Dash follows contour of body which is not the same as the contour of the hoop.May also find triming the ends might be needed once dash is fitted. Make sure the dash is covered first since that too will make a difference on how far it fits under body lip.

 

Industrial Velcro is a good solution here. It holds the dash during the build and allows easy removal when necessary. Final placement can be done after the body is mounted for a perfect fit.

 

Mine was much closer to the top of the frame then Ianhunter's. It followed the frame and I cut the dash to do so.

As long as the bottom is parallel to the floor of the vehicle and the top follows the frame, I would not think there is a problem.

I installed my dash before the body went on and I had no troubles at all. In fact after the body was installed we drove the car 2000 miles in primer, removed the body paint, installed a Finishline dash and again followed the curve of the frame and again had no fitment issues.

Rick

 

I mounted my dash prior to the body going on. Placed it flush with the tube on the ends, and it was a little low in the middle, but it doesn't show. I also moved the dash hoop 1" forward to inset the dash a little. I'm also getting rolled body edges, so when the bodys' finished, it will be inset a little more than the photo shows. John

 

A Good Benchmark;
If your using the deck mount rear view mirror - set the plastic spacers, that come in the bag, on top of the hoop near the center. Clamp or cleco the dash in place. This will give you a good staring point for trimming and what not.

Depending on your gauge selection and layout, you may find that your speedo/tach will interfere with the underside of the hoop. JPersons' gauges are large and he may have experienced this issue.

Also fab up some sorta' wedges at the outboard edges of the dash . . . I'll try to find some photos to explain. . . it'll kick the dash out at the ends and fit more flush with the body roll

 

Depending on your gauge selection and layout, you may find that your speedo/tach will interfere with the underside of the hoop. JPersons' gauges are large and he may have experienced this issue.

I'm using the large Classic Instruments gauges, and have about 1/4" between the top of the tach and the dash hoop. I must have measured it 10 times before I cut the dash hole! But everything fits.

 

Oooh, a driver's ed Cobra!

 

yes it is normal

 

Does the velco adhesive become weaker in the heat and the Sun? That would be my only concern.

 

This is the actual ride height that we achieved after numerous body fits. After fitting the windshield a few times we realized we needed this much to 'squash' the lower windshield seal flat and evenly along it's contour. The dash becomes a very integral part of the body fit, finish and structural integrity. It will affect your windshield, your upper door edge alignment and your firewall seal. It's important to test fit this item a few times before you drill holes in the covering.

As far as the 'wedge' is concerned - we noticed that the dash rolled away from the body too soon in the corners. This photo is of me making a template of the actual body line at the dash.

It's acually a 'half' template from center.

You can see the difference between the hoop and the body line here. We wanted the dash to follow the body line tight until it turns toward the mounting points(at the ends). You could 'force' the dash out at this point by simply modifying your mounting strategies in the corners, however this way, some of the monkeyin' around was eliminated. If your early on in the build, you could simply weld some bar stock to the hoop to achieve the same result.

This is our wedge fabricated and installed based on the cardboard template. My next post will show how we fabricated the piece. It mounts with rivets from the bottom. Notice the radiused ends !

The finished installation is tight to the body before it buggers off towards the upper door hinge

 

the aluminum square tube we bought at Home Depot. You could use anything(wood, steel). We needed a mounting flange and a wedge effect so we made a channel outa' the square tubing. I started by buzzing down two edges.

You could saw cut this out but when your close to being through you simply tug on the end and it breaks free.

Here it is as a channel. The next step was to cut it off at the desired length.

Here's the two pieces ready to be installed

And here it is installed on the hoop. Be sure to radius the edge towards the 'cowl'

And here the dash is installed

Every Build will have it's own specific application based on the end users preferences and dash layouts etc. but the height of the aluminum, above the rail is important.

IanHunter - besides the steering wheel being on the wrong side - you might want to move that indicator down a notch to allow the aluminum dash to ride above the hoop.

Merry Christmas

 

Hey Tim
I think Scott L is only using the felcro during the build. He'll finish mount it when he's happy with the fit and finish - no more felcro

 

The Velcro is only temporary. I will pop a couple of button heads in when the dash is installed after paint. That said I am impressed by how well it holds. It makes life a lot easier to be able to pull the dash on and off during the build, especially when debugging the electrical.

The wedge looks like a great tip. I think I will try this...