sheet metal dash

[Niva]

Dodgeball fans,


Just ripped the interior out of my niva in a complete rage quit trying to put the dash back together. Its cheap, nasty and never lined up from factory.

car has been summoned for pure offroad use and I really like the idea of a simple, plane sheet metal dash with the basic gauges.

of course the idea looks easy and im trying to spend fuck all money on getting it back off the road and this is pretty much the last thing left.




so my question is, anyone done this themselves or have any hints and tips? would it really cost that much to get a workshop to cut and bend a piece of sheet metal and I'll just mount it myself?


http://www.joebucci.com/images/NewDashAndGauges.JPG

[Tocchi]

cover it up with some form of material or something to stop the sun reflections.

to put it bluntly, Brockas and i boiled in my tin can (ally sheeting dash, door trims) at motorvation.

[Niva]

shit, didnt even think about the sun reflecting off it haha

cheers dude :)

[Tocchi]

no problems. :)

[schnoods]

Should be able to get a workshop to bend up the sheet for reasonably cheap.

Would be easy to fabricate to fit, a few cardboard templates to get curves and profiles for the edges of windscreen and sides, but seeing as it is offroad it wouldnt matter to mount it to neatly and flush with edges and surrounds (plus being a nive it would be pretty squarish). Just be prepared to put a few gussets (baffles) to keep vibration and flex to a minimum and also incorparate a safety edge and return for the bottom, Worst case scenario if you roll it or crash it it wont cut you off at the knees.

Also keep it a bolt in design for ease of work, I would maybe use a a bit of 30x30mm SHS (or similar, maybe 3mm wal) going across the base of dash with mounting brackets to bolt in to the sides of the upper kickplate/lower pillars. Then can secure dash to it, possibly the steering shaft too.

[180SXTCY]

josh @ metal craft could fab one mate