Dash Panels

[Kris Anderson]

Curious what people are doing for dash panels and what they are made of......

[Jim1855]

If you mean the actual dash/instrument panel, I'll use aluminum covered with some form of leather type material. My design and build.
Jim

[CaptB]

158225

[Kris Anderson]

Anyone have an accurate template or drawing for these?

[mburger]

Template for what? S/C dash or the street dash or the "289" dash?

[CDXXVII]

Below is a pdf. template with dimensions for a competition dash I designed for my application.


My friend still has one extra mk4 competition dash that he cut based on my design if someone is interested.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=158295&d=1620917809

[phileas_fogg]

The template may or may not get you close, depending on if you & the template maker are of the same stature. Start with the template, and then tweak the locations to fit you, sitting in your seat. One other tip: MEASURE the diameter of every switch & indicator light. I found out the old-school green turn signal indicators are slightly smaller than the old-school blue high beam indicator...after I'd drilled all three holes the larger diameter. The process I used is described below.


John

Post #292 of my build log:

This past week I finalized the dash layout and cut the holes.

I spent at least a couple of hours just sitting behind the wheel and moving the seat to various positions (forward, back, angled out, angled straight, raised an inch, on the floor) to make sure that no matter where the seat ended up I could see what I wanted to see.

To figure out where everything went, I started with the dimensions edwardb posted in his build log (I really need to send him a bottle of something special for all the copying I’ve done). I quickly found out that he and I must be of different stature, because only a couple of gauge locations worked for me. I ended up moving the bottom switches up 1/4” (so that they were 1 1/4” from the bottom of the dash). Also, I moved the three gauge set above the speedometer, the speedo itself, and the associated switches towards the passenger side of the car about 3/4-1”. I made sure the horn was directly under my right fingers with my hand on the wheel and that the turn signal toggle was directly under my left fingers. I put my start button under the oil pressure gauge.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4305/35455976474_e44a9e377b_k.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/W289xd)IMG_3514 (https://flic.kr/p/W289xd) by jhsitton (https://www.flickr.com/photos/91016165@N07/), on Flickr

Once happy, with where the green dots were, I cut the holes.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4293/35455975104_be5e8dea81_k.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/W2898A)IMG_3522 (https://flic.kr/p/W2898A) by jhsitton (https://www.flickr.com/photos/91016165@N07/), on Flickr

I found that a "snug" diameter for the tach & speedo is 3.900 inches. 4" is definitely too big. The smaller gauges will work with a 2" hole, but if you go a skosh smaller they fit better. NOTE: These dimensions do NOT account for dash padding or cover material.

To get just the right diameter, I used one of these (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and a drill press. Nerve wracking, but it got the job done. I cut the smaller holes with a step drill.

I’ll definitely have to “massage” the gauge holes to make everything line up perfectly. But that’s easily accomplished with a drum sander in the cordless drill.


John

EDIT: Steve on the other forum suggested using sheet metal screws between the pilot bit and cutter to secure the dash to a backing piece when cutting the gauge holes. This is sound advice; I wish I’d known because doing so would have eliminated a lot of “chatter” from the aluminum.