View single post by jgreen
 Posted: 05-12-2008 11:37 pm
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jgreen

 

Joined: 01-28-2007
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 I spoke to James Hering a few minutes ago. He just sold his car a few weeks ago to a new owner, however he did take time to brief me on how he designed and built the unique dashboard. Here is a Summary:

1) Acquire a used crappy ripped up JH dashboard.

2) Arm yourself with a razor blade, a fiberglass kit, 1- 3/4 inch piece of solid hardwood., ford dash vents, chrome bezels for the instruments, right angle "L" pieces to secure the dash. Do not throw out the bottom of the dash. those pieces are still needed to hook into the bottom of the original dash.

3)  Remove all the old vinyl from the JH dash. Do not worry about the cracks.

4)  Use the razor to carve outt he styrofoam a large recess  leaqving the top and bottom of the original dash intact. The instument pod area is carved out along with the area all along the dash vents to the edge. Do not cut out the edges of the dash, they are to be left intact. When you are finished, the original frame will mount correctly with the original hardware, but the foam will be carved out. Leave an inch or so of foam to attach the new wood dashboard all around.

5) Cut the wood to fit the new dashboard and test fit. Place the instruments and vents and cut the holes. Set the angle and screw the dash in from the rear with all the 'L" brackets  - one piece screws into the foam and the other end screws into the wood on the backside. Install te instuments and fiberglass the inside and the outside of the dash forming the outside like it is shown in the pictures.

James is sending me 4 detailed pictures of the installation with greater detail.

If someone is handy with this type of work, I think it would be fairly easy to design an installation kit and possibly sell it to all the members who do not have the skills. The hard part would be cutting the original dash and installing the wood dash with all the new guage placemnt holes. I was thinking the kit could be made and sold through the JHPS site with the only thing the buyer would have to do is install the gauges, and the dash himself. Well, it's just an idea....

Anybody's thoughts are welcome.....

I will copy picures when they arrive and send them to all who are interested