So I had a bright idea to put a 1932 Ford Truck dash in my 1930 Model A Coupe. After purchasing a decent 32 truck dash with the stainless ring around the dash cluster intact, I bought a 32 dash cluster with the tunnel legs removed. Never having seen a 32 dash assembled in person I wrongly assumed the tunnel was there simply to add extra bracing to the dash not what actually held the instrument cluster in place. Since its now obvious the 32 dash cluster does not inset into the dash... Any suggestions on how I can attach the cluster to the dash without the tunnel legs?
The cluster is a little larger than the hole, might be possible to tack weld a couple of screws to the rear of the dash, drill matching holes in the ends of the panel. then just slide the panel in from behind, and a couple of wing nuts -- done. Garpo
Shh, wife’s out of town. Also just realized I’m flipping everyone the bird. Sorry guys. Garpo - that’s a good idea
I’d find a pair of legs and make them fit like stock. The firewall on both cars if fairly flat so it might be fairly easy. Then again, I’m a sucker for original kinda stuff.
I did mine in a similar manner to Garpo's suggestion but with variations! Made threaded standoffs from 1/2 inch round bar. Made tabs to weld at the sides of the dash insert. Assembled face down on bench. Welded standoffs to rear of dash. Welded tabs to insert. This allows for the misalignment between the face of the dash and the insert face as the reveal in the dash (on a 3w coupe) is deeper at the top than the bottom. Chris
'32 car and '32 truck have different length [legs]… memory says about 1" the '30 firewall is convex, extending the length of the legs... maybe take 2 sets and make a longer pair...
'32 clusters with legs are very cheap once the instrument face is rusted ti hell. Get a passenger one, as it will for sure be long enough, and cut length of legs to fit. I think only sane way to fit is to clamp panel to your truck dash and then trim legs until they reach from firewall to panel...bend the leg curvature until it tucks into the panel neatly, then secure. I think I would drill and use pop-rivets! No worries about scorching anything.
The oval instrument panel is not supposed to be attached, or even touch the dash, on a stock `32 it's mounted by the legs to almost touch the dash. trying to mount it to a model"A" firewall would require modifying the legs to make it work. I would start with the pickup style legs ( with the kink in them) since they are cheaper. Slice them midway to fit close, and reattach the pieces with some slotted brackets, so you can adjust and slide it into position.
In my 1932 cabriolet the firewall was set back for a aluminum plate . This was because it was a drag car and moved the studebaker motor back. I put a 241 redram and put a original but flat firewall. So no tunnel was used but have a few studs in the dash and put some tabs to keep the turned gauge panel in place. I was just going to weld them in once I got the bugs out of the car but that’s 25 years ago. That’s a nice dash and had that one for a long time as well.......
Thanks all for the good suggestions. I think I'll end up welding some bolts to the dash and mount the insert on it. Won't be seen and less work than sourcing the legs and fabricating.
Same situation here; I plan to just drill some 1/4" holes in the flange of an elevator bolt and plug weld them to the inside of the dash. Makes nice studs to mount the gauge insert.
I use the stud method on a 29 roadster I’m doing with a 1936 dash. I wanted to keep the original gas tank . I also wanted the dash to be removable to service it and also get at the gauges. So I have studs going into the original dash rail holes and holds it in place great.
Thought I'd close this thread out with the finished approach. Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using The H.A.M.B. mobile app