Hello All,
I'm brand new here. I look forward to exploring this site. It looks great.
I just wanted to share my in-progress project that I'm doing.
I have a 73 LT Coupe that I have had restored/modified for 7 years now.
I never got around to getting a new dash to replace the cracked and broken original. Since my car isn't rare model I have neverbeen scared to modify it or stray from original color, etc. So, I decided to make my own dash from fiberglass using the original shape as a base. The attached photos show it as it is at this time. It is really rough right now, I am in the process of fiberglassing the attachment points and smoothing out the rough areas. After that I will put a couple of thin coats of filler/resin on it and then sand, sand and sand, until it is smooth and i amplanning onpainting it satin black to match the rest of the interior panels.I will also addsome brushed aluminumaccent trim pieces.With thisnew custom dash I have deleted the glove box, ash tray and am relocating the headlight and wiper switches to a console below the dash in front of the shifter along with a new stereo. I alsoam installing a painless wiring kit and sound insulation matting all throughout. I'll keep putting photos up as i get things done.
http://img86.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p3090010kd4.jpg
http://img519.imageshack.us/my.php?i...3090008ip1.jpg

Thanks for looking,

Guitarthug

 

Wow, looks great! Keep us up to date with how it's going. What's your next point of restoration after the dash?

 

Thanks for the reply Fortee.
I am planning on a 5 speed to replace the 4, and a stronger rearend and eventually get a better suspension upgrades.

What kind of camaro do you have?

Guitarthug

[IMG]local://upfiles/12419/BE13F700F913461B8353A2FD0FB0CD92.jpg[/IMG]

 

The finished dash in my 73.

[IMG]local://upfiles/12419/17F9F87355EC45FC98DE9FDBE920B186.jpg[/IMG]

 

wow it was deffinently worth your effort an the whole car's beautiful! nice job

 

Thanks Ttops,

It came out better than I had hoped. Since I was a newbie at fiberglass I just had to try as best I could. I learned alot and would do some things a bit differently if doing it again, although I don't want to see any resin and fiberglass for some time right now....or a wiring diagram and harness for that matter.

Thanks for checking out my post and pics.

Guitarthug

 

Wow, nice finished project. Totally impressed.

 

Thanks Kyphur, thats a pretty nice car you got yourself.
I sometimes wish I had a numbers matching car.
(Very nice 3D art by the way!)

 

wow nice dash man and car looks very good,wouldnt mind having a dash like that in my 73 camaro.

 

guitarthug> Thanks man, it's been a trip getting that car up and running. We blew the radiator in it today turning about 6500 - 7k rpm. Luckily we got it home before it gave out with a pin hole leak about 3/4's of the way down on the passenger's side. Now it's sitting in the driveway just giving me a reason to save up and get a radiator that can actually handle it besides the old thing that was in it and older than me. Each time we took it high we would see the temp just climb into 220 - 230 range. It would level out at about 195 - 200 when we were cruising even in the heat but pushing it drove it up into the vapor range. Still, it was fun to hear it turn that high and just boom down the backroads out here.

As far as the matching numbers go I kind of wish it wasn't. That way I could've gone cheaper with the engine and just bought a crate engine and dropped it in rather than spend what I did monetarily and timewise to rebuild it. Those numbers caught me up though and had me rebuild it. I still want to, in about three to five years, buy an LSX bare block, bore it to 454 and get a decent tranny with overdrive and drop that in. Then box and store the matching numbers tranny and motor and save it for when I want to sell it (if that happens).

After seeing your deal with the fiberglass dash you've kind of inspired me to go that way. My neighbor owns a shop and I occasionally help him out when he needs it. He does custom fiberglass work also so I might be hitting him up on some training on how to do that now.

Oh, and thanks for the comment on the art. A lot of that is old and as soon as I get to a point on the car where I'm not outside working on it every chance I get I'll be back inside working on my portfolio and updating it.

Again, great work on the dash, man.