Its been a while since I have felt the rush of air swirling around the cockpit of my car,
but not all the magic comes from the drive. The behind the scenes build has just as much value to me and I take great pride in the fact that I have hand built a car from “scratch” and that car has travelled at least 20,000 kilometres. Not only am I completing an engine and transmission upgrade but I have also embarked on a mission to make the car more comfortable for its two occupants thus I have completely gutted the interior. The dead of winter really brings down the build pace but I have a team of supporters egging me on and maybe just maybe it will be on all four wheels again the summer 2013. (fingers crossed) Part of the problem is that I keep adding little “extra” projects.. something like this..
New Carbon Fibre dash and Aluminum Gauge Cluster
The car was originally built during a time when my skills were young and impatience high leading to many short cuts. But maturity has been a mixed bag, bringing me patience but taking my hair. Oh well thats what baseball caps and sunblock are for I guess.
Read on for build details.
It all starts with a 1/4″ piece of aluminum sheet with green painters tape stuck to it. After I located all the structural pieces under neath the dash I grabbed my trusty compass and started drawing circles until I had the layout and feel that I was looking for.
Trying to get a feel for which gauge is going to go where.
I’m sorry but I missed a couple of progress photos. This swiss cheese shot shows all the holes that have been cut. Gauge holes were cut using my mill and a boring head, the perimeter holes are there to aid with the bandsaw cut. A metal cutting bandsaw has a large blade and cutting in a concave fashion traps the blade. These wholes are only there for blade relief.
First cut with the bandsaw. You can see how the relief holes really help.
All rough cuts done, now the real work starts detailing the piece.
Flush mounted LED warning indicator lights.
LED turn signal lights.