CV2065 MKIV Roadster Build Thread #2 - Visors - Heat Shields - Saggy Pipe

[cv2065]

Ah, one of my favorite parts, the carbon fiber dash. Another one mistake and shell out the $$$ activity! The drill press really earned its purchase price with the one. I was able to get every bit of the dash underneath when cutting with the 6 different sizes of hole saws. As others have said, the fine CF dust can get everywhere, including your lungs, so I did use a respirator and also cleaned up with my shop vac after each cut. Bought my drill press off Facebook marketplace for $150 new. What a deal!

I bought custom gauges from Speedhut. I worked directly with one of their designers. The service is free and they are very patient to give you exactly what you want. After about 4 proofs, we were good to go. I'm going for a red/black Roush theme for the car, and Speedhut did not disappoint. I also went with oversized gauges instead of the standard FFR. That would be 4.5" gauges for the Speedo and Tach, as well as 2 5/8" gauges for the others. Shout out to Michael Craven (aka Hacksaw) for that idea.

In order to get my holes right, I ordered some metal discs off of Etsy in the exact sizes of the gauges faces and had a 1/8" hole put into the middle of each disk. Covered the dash in blue tape, aligned the discs the way that I wanted them and dotted the mid-point. Used that as my starting point with the hole saws and came out great. I buffered out 3/4" from the top of the dash to give me plenty of room after the initial fitting to the hoop. The larger gauges need some planning.

Not a lot of info out there yet for the CF dash, so winging it a little based on what I could find. When level, the dash is a little uneven to the hoop, especially on the far sides. I started by aligning the middle of the dash with the middle top of the hoop. The right side aligned about 3/16" under the tube, but the driver side was higher when the dash was level. I drew a line on the back of the dash where it exceeded the top of the hoop and measured 3/4" from that line which is where my gauges on that side started. Then I trimmed a little off the top right to level it out a bit. Came out nicely. Bottom of the dash was ~38.5" from the floor, side to side and the glove box butts up against the support, so can't go any further to the driver's side. That makes it really close to a vertical alignment with the trans tunnel. I think with every carbon fiber dash, there is a spot mid drivers side that doesn't align with the hoop like the rest of the dash. Seems to be the same for most everyone.

Measuring:


Drilling:


Hoop Fitting:






I also notched out a small area on the passenger side as it conflicted with the door hinge:



Test fit the gauges and am loving the look! Still need to powder coat the key bezels and add the turn signal mod, which I decided to get from Frank at i.e.427. I will have to say that the ignition key bezel that I received from FFR was a bit disappointing. I upgraded with one from Ron Francis. Once the bezel is powder coated black, RF includes a colored trim ring, which in this case will be red. All in the details!

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