Dash Support Tubes

[SCFFR]

In finishing up my the interior carpet, I needed to go ahead and install the dash support tubes I fabricated so I thought I would post some details and a few pics.

I started with some 1" tubing and cut the ends so the angle of the tube sitting on top of the trans panel would match the angle of the trans tunnel sides. I then welded two nuts and bolts to some washers and weld the washers to the tube ends. This gave me a bolt on one end and a threaded insert on the other. I then welded two tabs to the top of the trans tunnel frame and drilled corresponding holes in the trans top panel. To support the top of the tube, I cut a bracket out of some 1/8" plate, bent it to fit and bolted it to the 2" cross tube at the firewall. I'm using the full under dash support panel from Michael at Replicaparts so I had to cut a couple of holes in that also. With the bolt on one end, I can just punch a small hole in the carpet and install the tube without having to cut a larger hole/opening to go around the tube.

As you can see from the pics, the tubes are well supported on both ends since I wanted them to be strong enough just in case a passenger happened to grab one when going around a curve just a little too fast.

Will post a final pic when I finish up the interior carpet.

Thanks,
Ron

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[CapeCoralCobra]

Looks good, thanks for posting. I'm saving threads on originality mods for my next build, so this one's going into my favorites. Looking forward to seeing finished pics.

[cob427sc]

Looks good - my only question is why do you think these are needed?

[Gumball]

On a FFR, it's purely for looks - something to evoke the original car's interior features as those had a pair of tubes that ran from the top support for the cowl down to the main chassis tubes and were exposed between the dash and the transmission tunnel. Here's a picture of CSX3049:

http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab15/CCRsAC/CSX3049/img_4279.jpg


If you're going for a more authentic look, adding these tubes is a nice touch for not a lot of work. I did something similar, but made mine hollow so that they are functional runs for the speedometer cable and the rear wiring harness. Here's a link to my version of under-dash tubes from ffcars.com:

http://www.ffcars.com/forums/160-modifications-originality/289065-dash-tubes-how.html

[SCFFR]

It's definitely an "optional" thing but as Chris pointed out, they were used on the original 427 car. I just like the look.

[skullandbones]

I couldn't figure out exactly why I like that feature over other "original" details that can remind one of the actual Cobra. But it could be that it adds to the unfinished race car interior look similar to the foot box tubes when you leave them exposed. I bet they added a little strength to that area of the frame in the real application. However, welding them in on this frame is not necessary (already stiff). Looks great! Thanks for the details. WEK.