Been saving this as a little side project for a tech. I really need to be focusing on the coupe in which I'm using a 49 ford dash, but I thought I'd do this for fun. Started out with this cheap $1.00 dash from a swap meet, it was really solid with no rust out but some one hacked a huge hole in the middle where the gauges were and another where the column hole was?? Who knows? Anyway for a $1 I couldn't pass it up. The Model T coupe dash is kinda goofy looking, they're not symmetrical. There's a nice swoopy curve on the drivers side the the passenger side is just kinda there, with that weird part that sticks down under the choke knob? So I wanted the dash to look attractive kinda like a 32 dash, and I'm going to save this one and it needs some patching so I figured I'd make it symmetrical. I first make a template of the driver side, connecting the missing section where the column goes. Then I transfer that to the passenger side, marking where I'd need to cut it. Before I started on this, I went down to the local sheetmetal shop and had the owner bend a nice small piece that I would use to replace the bottom of the dash. .5" on the top, 90º brake, then 1.0625" on the bottom. Nearly the same as stock. Next I start Shinking/Stretching it with my.... yep you guessed it! Shrinker/Stretcher!!!! I use the template and the driver side to check how close I am. In about 3 minutes I had it perfect! Next I trim the passenger side to match the new piece. Start clamping it down and getting ready for some tacks. CAUTION: When starting to tackle a project like this, and you're gonna be doing a lot of tacks, go in the house and cover your face, arms, and neck with at least a 30 SPF sunscreen. I tack without a hood so the sunscreen kept me from being burnt! While I'm letting it cool down on the right, I make a filler piece for the "column" hole. That took about 1 minute on the S/S. WOW! Now it's looking like a dash that's worth more than a $1. Next I cut some pieces to fill in the wholes and start to tack them into place. And when you're done, grinding the tacks down I use my little right angle air grinder with a 36 grit pad on it to smooth it out, then go over it with a roloc disc to smooth that out. Ends up looking like this! Now it's ready for a little sand blasting and some primer!
I like it. Soon as I get everything caught up around here, we'll have to do something like that for my RPU!
Hey Chad nice work and very timely for me as I am just about to start on my T dash which has had the center hacked out and I also wanted to make it symmetrical. I am sure you have reduce my time on this job by your demo.
Thats cool, I just finished doing about the same on my t roadster with almost the same shape. Nice job!
Yep.... everything has been done before, it's just a matter of time before some of us see it! This dash will be for sale when I finish it....
Good tech...did you have any trouble with burning thru while tacking? Sometimes on the old thin tin I go crazy trying to keep it from burning thru...did you use a piece of copper or something? Thanks, Aman
The only spot I used a thin piece of brass on was the two holes on each side of the map light. Other than that this old dash was near perfect metal wise, it didn't even have any surface rust! It was all very solid 18 ga! I turned my welder down low enough to just tack it and it held up perfect, not one burn thru!
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