[Chuck]

Fitting the Dashboard I

Trimming the dash to fit around the roll bar proved to be a time consuming project. Even taking little nips at a time still resulted in a bit more being removed than we wanted. Fiberglass cloth and resin easily addressed those issues. We added a thin piece of plywood, 1/8” thick, three inches wide and seven inches tall on either side where the dash is secured to the chassis to give more support and make sure that flat surface remained flat. This was then glassed in place with two thicknesses of fiberglass cloth, making for a solid, warp free surface to bolt to the chassis later.

Installing the dashboard with a roll cage is cumbersome. The dash is set in place, after which the roll bar is set in the car. They must be installed together, because of the tight fit for which we opted. Gently lifting the dash a couple of inches – as far as it will go with the roll bar in place, the bolts securing the roll bar can then be inserted. The dash then is lowered into position. This process means that the roll bar cannot be permanently installed until the dashboard is completed, including painted, gauges and switches and wiring installed. More fiberglass could have been cut from the corners of the dash to enable one to set in place with the roll bar already installed, but we opted to keep the fit as tight as possible. Hopefully we won’t later regret the extra effort this requires to install the dash and roll bar.

We opted to add the machined aluminum vents from Hot Rod Air, Part 41-0100. These look a bit more original than the plastic vents. A couple of hours of filing both the fiberglass and the aluminum was necessary since the overall diameter of the aluminum vent is a bit larger than the plastic vents, but the hole size is the same.