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Wed Aug 20, 2008 9:51 pm

ok so whats my best route

heres my dash

heres my donor

Wed Aug 20, 2008 9:58 pm

I don't know how to weld but who the f**k did that to your dash? Good luck, I've seen some guys fix crazy stuff on this site. Should be no problem.

Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:07 pm

some awhole with a mullet and an acdc shirt should see my fender wells thank god he didnt get to the bulkhead

Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:08 pm

I never could get an accurate count of how many extra holes my dash had. 35+ for certain.

Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:14 pm

very sexy but my donor dosent have a factory gas gauge whole but if i can fix this mess that shouldnt be a problem and i dont think the cut on my donor is good enough to do it that way

Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:24 pm

squareback_fiend wrote: very sexy but my donor dosent have a factory gas gauge whole but if i can fix this mess that shouldnt be a problem and i dont think the cut on my donor is good enough to do it that way

The fuel guage wasn't a factory install. I suspect the clock was a dealer install because it was dated the same month as the bus.

I wasn't suggesting you cut your whole dash out, just showing off my hacked up dash as well.

Few more shots;

It's a '58 subhatch too by the way.

Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:29 pm

hmm 58 sub hatch garrrrrr i love them

im not that talented and dont want to f things up

Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:30 pm

thats why i do heroin

jk

Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:32 pm

squareback_fiend wrote: ok so whats my best route
heres my dash

horrible.

Meth is a bad, bad thing.

Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:34 pm

Clara wrote: squareback_fiend wrote: ok so whats my best route
heres my dash

horrible.

Meth is a bad, bad thing.

And yet the radio blockoff remains.... :?: :?:

Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:34 pm

it was worse

i dont get it hack the dash out then pop rivet a piece of aluminum in place then cut it for a factory radio

i hate dumb people

i added the bock off

Thu Aug 21, 2008 12:59 am

[quote="squareback_fiend"]ok so whats my best route

heres my dash

What did they cut that with, a butter knife?

Thu Aug 21, 2008 4:13 am

Hello squareback_fiend,

here`s my first suggestion, if you don`t want or can change the complete dash:

- go and find an expert for butt-welding

- cut both parts along the black line i added to your picture.

- butt weld carefully the donor part of the dash to your prepared dash.

this ist the way for the shortest welding seam.

Wolfgang

Thu Aug 21, 2008 5:22 am

check out the dash on the foose bus.

Thu Aug 21, 2008 7:21 am

campingbox wrote:

Nice!

These two pics together totally remind me of the "How many things can
you find different" games when we were kids. Not only the holes, but the
sticker on the windshield, steering wheel, radio block, parcel tray, kick
panel, speedo, wipers, etc. etc.

Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:19 pm

I totally agree with the advice offered by wolfgang1. The dash on my
15 window was hacked also. Not to the same degree as yours, but pretty bad. After getting a donor piece I drew out my cut lines in the
same manner as the one's he shows. I taped off the area I intended to cut
with masking tape and, with a felt tip pen marked the "cut" lines. I used an electric dremel tool to cut the dash. It does a good job and is easy to handle. I used sandpaper to clean up the edges of the cut areas on the dash and donor "filler" piece. In my case I didn't have a welder so I went to a local auto body repair shop with my donor piece and explained what I needed to the guy at the front desk. I then had a cup of coffee with their welder and went over the job with him and set up an appointment
to get the job done. They butt welded the donor piece in, took a bit less than an hour and they charged me forty bucks. (By the way I masked everything off prior to the welding.) I drove the bus home, broke out the dremel again with a grinding wheel and about an hour or so later I was
"good to go" with a smooth dash. I put a very fine "skim" coat of filler
over the weld areas and after painting, with the Sapphire IV radio
installed, it looks like factory.
Not really that difficult. Take your time, be anal about detail
and your "good to go".
Good luck.

Thu Aug 21, 2008 3:53 pm

Mr Mike wrote: I totally agree with the advice offered by wolfgang1. The dash on my
15 window was hacked also. Not to the same degree as yours, but pretty bad. After getting a donor piece I drew out my cut lines in the
same manner as the one's he shows. I taped off the area I intended to cut
with masking tape and, with a felt tip pen marked the "cut" lines. I used an electric dremel tool to cut the dash. It does a good job and is easy to handle. I used sandpaper to clean up the edges of the cut areas on the dash and donor "filler" piece. In my case I didn't have a welder so I went to a local auto body repair shop with my donor piece and explained what I needed to the guy at the front desk. I then had a cup of coffee with their welder and went over the job with him and set up an appointment
to get the job done. They butt welded the donor piece in, took a bit less than an hour and they charged me forty bucks. (By the way I masked everything off prior to the welding.) I drove the bus home, broke out the dremel again with a grinding wheel and about an hour or so later I was
"good to go" with a smooth dash. I put a very fine "skim" coat of filler
over the weld areas and after painting, with the Sapphire IV radio
installed, it looks like factory.
Not really that difficult. Take your time, be anal about detail
and your "good to go".
Good luck.

Yes, all true.
I'd add the suggestion of running seam sealer along the butt weld on the back side just in case there might be an itty bitty pinhole somewhere in the weld once it's all ground down. That will stop moisture from causing problems on the front side.

Thu Aug 21, 2008 4:18 pm

Clara wrote: squareback_fiend wrote: ok so whats my best route
heres my dash

horrible.

Meth is a bad, bad thing.

:lol: Until I saw your post that you added the block off plate, I was laughing my ass off! I was channeling the PO:

"No no, don't take out the block off plate man, 'cause that would be wrong."

:lol:

For what it's worth, I agree with Wolfgang and others on how to fix it. I would do something very similar.

Fri Aug 22, 2008 5:48 am

campingbox wrote: I never could get an accurate count of how many extra holes my dash had. 35+ for certain.

Greg,
Did you replace the entire dash in that bus? I don't see the dome light switch in the speedo pod.

Looks like the two-tone dash in a sk beige/blue/beige westy, no?

Fri Aug 22, 2008 8:27 am

StockNazi wrote: campingbox wrote: I never could get an accurate count of how many extra holes my dash had. 35+ for certain.

Greg,
Did you replace the entire dash in that bus? I don't see the dome light switch in the speedo pod.

Looks like the two-tone dash in a sk beige/blue/beige westy, no?

Yes, the whole dash got replaced. The outer window ledge also got replaced as one piece left to right. The donor pieces came from two seperate vehicles.

Good eye on the domelight switch hole. That dash came out of an early singlecab and was a mint unmolested unrusted donor with the exception of that keyed hole which I will need to add.

The tan on the dash was original paint but the blue top was added when some paint touch up was done years ago. They also painted the parcel tray blue at this point too.