Guest 240zJake Posted February 13, 2005 Share Posted February 13, 2005 Looks good! Two thumbs up! Im not getting the pics to load, but I did goto the page source and copy the urls... http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid157/pb0c2034c40c0bad22e4697be3a49a72e/f52722a9.jpg http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid157/pb1ccc5bfaf6f860ba1d41f47fb49f5e9/f52722aa.jpg http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid157/pbd502d56d8cc78a305dd15eccea9f35b/f52722ad.jpg just in case they don't work for some one else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
280Zone Posted February 13, 2005 Share Posted February 13, 2005 The dash is looking good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolane Posted February 13, 2005 Share Posted February 13, 2005 Z-Tard, Nice work. It is looking nice. I do have a few questions for you about your dash, as I am really considering making a composite one for my car as well. 1. How are you going to support the dash once it is complete? 2. Are you using the stock metal framework and ripping the foam off? 3. What gauges are you using, and will they recessed, similar to stock? 4. Did you design this to also work with the metal trim plate that is stock in front of the dash, right next to the windshield, or does your dash run all the way up to the firewall? 5. Do you plan to cover the fiberglass with any material when complete, or just paint? 6. What about the vents, defroster, and heater control panel? Do you have a heater? I am thinking about making mine look almost identical to the stoch dash, except for using aftermarket gauges. As for the heater controls, maybe I will get some different ones out of another car, haven't really looked very hard yet though. I am thinking that covering a fiberglass dash with leather, or another material, would make it look nice. Maybe a texture on the fiberglass surface would fine also? Thanks for any and all input. Joshua Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted February 13, 2005 Author Share Posted February 13, 2005 I'm going to be using Autometer Ultralight gauges in mine, so the weight will not be that heavy. The Carbon fiber should be strong enough to support them. I designed it to run all the way up to the firewall, so the metal strip won't be used. I'll cut out the defroster vents out of the new dash. I had intended to recess the gauges into the dash, but it would have been difficult to mold a single sheet of CF into the recessed areas, so the gauges ended up being flush mounted. I will probably end up making a kind of visor or cover to extend out over the tops of the gauges to reduce glare, not sure how thats going to work out yet..... My current plan is to use the stock heater assembly and controls, but I will most likely change out the vents with something a little more modern looking. Hope this helps you out a little, Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolane Posted February 13, 2005 Share Posted February 13, 2005 Thanks Z-Tard! That was informative. How do you plan to mount the dash, since it sounds like you are not going to use the metal framework from the old dash? Also, are you going to make the dash look like carbon fiber also, so basically you want to see the grain after it is done? That would make sense then why you did not recess the gauges. Thanks Again, Joshua Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted February 13, 2005 Author Share Posted February 13, 2005 I'm going to make some L shaped brackets that will bolt up to the original mounting points on the firewall, the new dash will bolt down onto those. I may end up having to make some custom brackets for mounting the lower half of the dash, but that should be pretty easy to do. My original plan was to have the dash made from fiberglass, with only the center panel done in carbon fiber, but I changed my mind and decided to go entirely with carbon fiber. This has added quite a bit of time to the project, since the mold will now have to be nearly flawless since the final product will not be painted. I almost decided to give up on this last week, found a Mitsubishi 3000GT in the junkyard out here. The dashboard in it looks a lot like the 240Z dash, just an updated version of it. The width looked about right too...... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted March 27, 2005 Author Share Posted March 27, 2005 Well, I finally managed to work up the motivation to go throw some more paint on the dash today. Final coat of primer (Red) followed by a coat of black appliance enamel. The finish is pretty smooth, but there are areas that looked good when primered that now look wavy under a coat of gloss black. I've also learned that my garage is not a dust free environment, I left my garage door open and tons of nearly microscopic crap blew in. I think ALL of it ended up in the paint. Looks like I'll be doing some more wet sanding, followed by another coat of black paint under less windy conditions. Due to the surface imperfections, and my unwillingness to go back and fix them, I'm going to go with my earlier plan of using fiberglass covered in bedliner paint for the final product. Seeing Terry's dash finished this way also was swaying me back towards using bedliner as well. Anyway, pics: Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chucky Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 what kind of foam did you use for the major part of the structure? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted March 31, 2005 Author Share Posted March 31, 2005 I got the foam at Michael's. It comes in large 36X12 sheets in 1/2, 1, and 2 inch thickness. It's really easy to work with as far a shaping, but is a pain to glue together with contact cement. I ended up using the contact cement to hold it together long enough to run a bead of spray foam insulation along the back edge of all the joints, which seems to work pretty well for making a rigid structure. Spray paint and polyester resin will attack this foam very aggressively, which neccesitated the use of water based DAP drywall spackle compound for the final surface prior to painting and molding. After wet sanding and repainting, there is less crap imbedded in the paint than before, but some new stuff managed to settle on it during and after painting, including what appears to be a small spider that now looks like Han Solo encased in carbonite. I'm going to do some spot touch ups on it and call it good I think, I'll be at it all month if I try for a flawless finish. It should be ready to take a mold off of it within the next week or so, but the way things have been going lately dont be surprised if it ends up being more like a month or more. I'll post more pics as soon as I have some worth posting. It seems like a lot of people are having a difficult time viewing the pics I post from image station. Can anyone recomend a free photo server that actually works? Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruxGNZ Posted March 31, 2005 Share Posted March 31, 2005 Can anyone recomend a free photo server that actually works? http://digistash.com/ !M! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 305240 Posted March 31, 2005 Share Posted March 31, 2005 I like the way your Dash is turning out. It makes me want to build a custom one also. But...... I've seen an 240 console that was pretty badly busted up and was repaired like new using POR 15. You cannot tell where it was broken. The owner tells me he is going to do his 240 dash with POR 15 also. He'll use a body file to get the cracks leveled out and POR 15 putty to fill the large cracks, then keep coating the whole thing. It's worth a shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted March 31, 2005 Share Posted March 31, 2005 I need to go to San Diego...no DAP at our Walmart and no big *** sheets of foam at our Michael's! Those two inch thick sheets would have saved me a lot of hassle, I hate hot gluing foam together! The dash looks good, I hope the car will be at MSA? If your L-brackets aren't enuff, get some square aluminum tubing and run it across the width of the firewall area and sit the new dash on it. That's how my dash cap is mounted, the original dash is gone. excuse the mess, ECU relocation I have extra tubing in there to support the gauges, etc. They line up with the holes in the cap as seen in the prev. page. BTW, I use photobucket.com. Owen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted March 31, 2005 Share Posted March 31, 2005 I did it this way to make everything removable. The cap is only two philips screws, and the tubing mounts to the stock 10mm holes in the firewall. The two large gauges are on a separate tube and mount to the steering column. The radio area is also separate. I take things apart a lot... The extra tubing also supports AC parts that I will be putting in, maybe. All of this was a snowball-while-I'm-at-it job. My seats were too close to the steering wheel, the easiest option (believe me) was to cut the steering column shaft and re-weld it shorter. The new dash also sits about an inch and a half lower than the original, it was just easier that way with the tubing. Owen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nope Posted March 31, 2005 Share Posted March 31, 2005 hey guys, for materials for this kind of job in the san diego area check out a a place called DMC (diversified materials company) http://www.dmc-ca.com They have this 2 part foam you can buy there in like 1 gallon each cans. This stuff is crazy. You mix it in a paper cup 1:1 ratio and wait till it starts kicking and pour where u need it. Save money by stuffing crap in spaces you know you wont shape into. It expands like 10+ times in volume and its shapes better than any other foam ive used and its pretty damn rigid. Becuase its a small cell foam, u can just sand it with regular sand paper to knock it down and shape pretty smooth. Then u can do a bondo skim coat with a rubbery-plastic applicator, sand, prime, sand, prime, make plug and so on. its cool to see that there are other people doing this becuase im just starting on my own hybrid z and plan on doing somehting similar for the interior. If my plugs turn out really nice and sturdy ill try to pull some extra parts off of them and sell them or soemthign. Theyd all be made to fit autometer guages, general new stereos, and like 6.5" speakers for the doors. Dont know how soon ill make them but when i do ill post progress. the address for DMC: 8250 Commercial Street La Mesa, California 91942 Telephone: 619•464•4111 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueovalz Posted March 31, 2005 Share Posted March 31, 2005 Neat stuff here. Enjoying all the photos and information, so keep them coming! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted April 1, 2005 Author Share Posted April 1, 2005 Owen, all I can say is "Holy $hit!" I had no idea you had all that stuff under that dash cap. This whole time I thought it was just covering a standard dash! I like the modular design of yours, a lot like Terry's dash except not quite so radical in appearance. The gears in my head are turning again, thinking of ways to replan my dash without having to modify the mold at all. I'd love to be able to take my car to MSA this year, but I'm still too far away from completion to try showing it off. My engine block is still sitting at the machine shop, where the worlds slowest cylinder hone is scraping away metal at near glacial speeds. Still have to fab and weld in new floorboards, etc. Probably will be able to make the 2006 MSA show with it I hope. I'll be there this year as a spectator yet again though. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 Yeah the whole idea was to add AC, without going aftermarket, but theres no way I could fit it under the stock dash without removing it so I figured, what the hell? Glacial speeds, haha, I like that one! Owen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Z-TARD Posted January 4, 2006 Author Share Posted January 4, 2006 Had the day off today, so I finally decided to glass up my dash mold. In the interest of keeping time and material cost at a minimum, I decided to use it as a male mold, rather than create a female mold out of fiberglass from it. The part that pops off (hopefully) will be the final dash, minus a little touch up work. After spraying with mold release agent, I added two layers of woven glass cloth, followed by the final layer of carbon fiber. Before curing I also slapped on a layer of clear poly drop cloth. I wanted to bag the whole thing and vacuum all the air out, but got lazy and instead just smoothed the plastic drop cloth over the resin and cloth by hand. The idea here is that it will leave a smoother surface than letting it cure without the plastic cover. Hopefully this will save me some work later on when I'm prepping the dash for clear coat. Anyway, here's a crappy cell phone pic of the latest progress: The resin takes 24 hours to fully cure, more pics to follw once I peel the plastic off. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 Awesome, that plastic should work great. I wonder if you should leave it on or take it off once the resin has hardened enough to let it cure? My guess is that you need to let chemicals escape so the resin can "dry". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Here comes trouble Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 My money was not on the DAP as a useful product for fiberglass work since I inexpensively used a lot for house painting as "houseomotive" bondo..I should have gave this stuff more credit ....Now, I want to try mixing a little polyester resin with the DAP !!! Exciting project.. as Terry suggested keep the pics coming....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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