Cutting the dashboard for roll bar

My builder mentioned that there was a post about how to go about cutting the dash in around the front roll hoop but I cannot find it using search. MAY have been by Andy Green.

Does anyone have any experience doing this? My kit needs to have the dash cut around the front roll bar and I'd like some thoughts on how best to do it.

Thanks!
 
I did mine like this, it leaves a section in front of the roll bar open but when the dash and screen are in you dont really see it at all and it makes for easy removal of the dash, and trust me you will need to take the dash in and out a few times.
 

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Here is how I cut mine into the car.

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Mine is a DRB and I chose to extend the front cage bars beyond the front door opening. If you want to be able to remove the dash for repairs or adding features after completion, then you have two options. 1. You can build a support from the frame members to support the cutout piece. You will have to be careful with this approach as the dash may droop down from shear weight and it will appear uneven. There will of course be a line where they meet. 2. You can build a support from the dash itself by adding a support brace, as in mine. The bolt that holds the brace has its head shaved down and countersunk just a bit into the dash to hide it and hold the head so it doesn't spin. There is a layer of padding under the leather so it is hidden. The same goes for the cut off piece. It can have a nut shaved and countersunk(glued in place). Then the support bracket swings out of the way and the dash is removed. I also had the advantage of having a right hand dash in place when I bought the car and then had to order the LHD dash. So I cut the ends of the old dash off and then cut an approximate amount of the dash out to slide around the bar. As usual the cut is too big. I used paper to figure out where and how the cutouts should look. This was transferred to the new dash and the proper cuts were made. Depending where you mount your cage will determine what kind of cuts and how things go together.The slant of the bars in my setup were the hardest part to figure out. If you start the down leg of the cage up higher, then the cutout is much simpler. With that, your bars will be in the door opening and it will decrease the room for entry and exit(its hard enough to get in and out as it is). The slanted bars go down the full length of the pillar and past the door front and gives you plenty of leg room for entry. If your dash goes down to the cover to the tanks it will hide the bars. Try to keep the bars away from any door mounting hardware, as readjusting the doors then becomes a lot of work.

Bill
 
I did mine like this, it leaves a section in front of the roll bar open but when the dash and screen are in you dont really see it at all and it makes for easy removal of the dash, and trust me you will need to take the dash in and out a few times.

What is your dash covered in? Doesn't look like leather, or vinyl. Looks nice whatever it is.
 
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