Well, I've been working on my dash & windshield stanchions lately (when I can squeeze shop time in between work times).
I decided to dump the plywood dash in favor of an aluminum one. As most of the switch gear is designed to only go through sheet metal, trying to fit them into a 3/8" thick plywood required cutting a big hole & fabricating a thin metal insert, for each and every switch. It was getting to be a ridiculous amount of work, and I wasn't happy with the look. I found a 1/2 sheet of 14 gauge aluminum for $50 all-in (no, I didn't have a gun in my hand at the time!), so I have enough to also do the vertical & horizontal sections of the front of the scuttle. Nice!
In order to simplify layout of the gauges, etc., before I started cutting the alloy, I laid out a grid pattern on it with a Sharpie. That was a seriously good epiphany - it makes sure everything is accurate, square, plumb, etc. before actually cutting any holes. The aluminum will still have 1/8" foam padding, covered by black automotive vinyl, as I like the "traditional" look.
The glove box itself is the same one from my wood dash, although the latch is now from a late '80's Datsun 300ZX...because it would fit.
Here's a pic of the proposed layout - this is what might be termed an "artist's conception", as the gauges haven't been fitted (other than test-fitting, which went perfectly), and I "painted in" the switch gear using an ancient version of Paint Shop Pro. It's crude, but you get the idea. The row of switches & control cables will be mounted through a metal panel, inset into the vinyl & surrounded by a chrome trim (the panel & trim sourced from an Austin Mini Cooper Mk. II), but this doesn't show in the pic, as there's no vinyl covering yet to set it off, so it wouldn't be visible. For some reason, the pic is a little "soft"...don't know why, it's sharp & clear on my computer. Oh well, you get the idea.
Attachment:
dash alloy draft layout 8 B.jpg
Stanchions-wise, it's been..."fun". I made them out of aluminum, the same 1/8" anodized stuff I used for the car's floor. I don't know what alloy it is, but it's hard as nails, and the anodizing is way harder than that. Bending the stuff is like trying to bend a metal file.
The difficult part is that my frame is 42" wide, but tapers to a "book" nose. So, the taper angle is steeper than other frames, necessitating a fairly obvious twist in the stanchions to make them match the sides of the windshield frame which will, of course, be parallel to the center line of the car, rather than the sides of the car. That, coupled with the curve in to the top of the scuttle, plus the decreasing radius of the scuttle's curve from rear to front, means the windshield frame will have to fit a gentle curve in the middle, changing to a tighter curve at the sides, where the curve is actually a cross section of a cone. I tried "doing the math" on it...there's simply too many variables all at once, and I got a headache. So, I went with the tried-and-true "bend it, over and over, until it fits" technique.
It worked, although it's not as pretty as I'd like. The far more gentle scuttle curve & taper on a Ca*****ham means the bends & twists of their stanchions are almost invisible. Mine are, unfortunately, very visible indeed.
To try to make up for that, I decided to polish the stanchions. This decision was simplified by the fact that one of my stanchions had scratches in the anodizing from the jigsaw I used to cut it out, and I don't have enough material left to make a replacement. Of course, the anodizing is harder than anything known to man (except the aforementioned jigsaw base which must be made out of either industrial diamond, or carbonized, rediculated, case-hardened unobtanium), so sanding through it was entertaining.
I finally discovered that 3M pads, on my die grinder, would get through it. It's slow, but it works. Unfortunately, the instant it gets through the anodizing, in the next femtosecond it makes deep scratches in the now-exposed aluminum. Another trip to the store for wet/dry paper (down to 1500 grit), polishing compound (I like Autosol, personally), 0000 steel wool, a stick of white rouge for the buffing wheel, and off I go! Six hours of polishing later, I got to this:
Attachment:
stanchion 4 small.jpg
Attachment:
stanchion 5 small.jpg
Perfect, they ain't, but I've had it up to here (picture me with my fingers stretched to the ceiling, at this point) with sanding, buffing, and polishing. My shoulders ache, my neck's sore, and my fingers are permanently stained grayish-black.
Next, I'm going to try to build a buck for my windshield frame. That will be fun - I bought a half sheet of 1/2" MDF at the lumber store (as the frame material snugs down onto this material) but, as it was curved when I bought it, I attempted to take the curve out by stressing it the other way. That worked. Too well. I now have a 4-cornered bowl. I doubt I can ever get it truly flat, so...it's off to a different lumber store, to see if I can get a flat piece.
***By the way, the aluminum cladding on the scuttle in the picture is just aluminum flashing - I'm using it to get a general shape for the curve of the lower windshield frame***
The madness continues...