Metal dash v/s padded

[caddalis]

I love the look of a full metal dash in older trucks. Any suggestions or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Such as, how difficult it is to fill the holes. Do you or how would you weld patches? Primer? Paint? JB Weld? If I decided to keep the padded dash, any suggestions on type of material to cover? and how to? I want to do all the work myself. Really want this to be a hands on deal. My hands that is.

[crazy larry]

I cut a boat load of little 'O'S and mig welded and ground them in. I thought about cutting the speaker section out and welding in a bigger piece of metal, but i didn't think i'd be able to keep the contour right. the dash pad holes are easier. ground off the proud weld and then throw a little plastic on it. smooth.
there are some pics in my sig.

[caddalis]

Thanks Larry. Your dash looks great! I'll try welding in "plugs" as you did. With a little luck and alot of trial and error, I hope mine can look that good. Please forgive my ignorance, but you mentioned "throwing on a little plastic" to make it smooth. Were you referring to paint, or some type of filler?

[crazy larry]

thanks. after grinding it as smooth as i dared, (fear of taking too much metal off and grinding through.) I used 'evercoat Rage gold' filler on it. all told, i can guarantee i welded and grinded three times, and the same for the filler. you said trial and error, i guess thats another name for it. fill and sand, fill and sand til i got what i wanted. just take your time.
lesson i learned that i'd share, don't mix up more than a little bit of filler, you can't work it fast enough in large quanities, and it seemed that the bigger a batch i'd make, the more i ended up sanding off.

i started to weld in the end gaps of the dash, but i think one day, i'll take this one out and fab up something out of aluminum. one day.

[dotcentral]

Larry, that's looking real good. Are you leaving your inner fenders white?

[crazy larry]

Until i pull the motor and paint again, they will be.

[Ford390pwr]

WOW! I really like the look of that dash. Just another thing to add to my growing list of dream mods!

At this rate, I will never get finished!

[F-100Ranger]

I concur. Beautiful truck. I really like the flames. Can you show us the wheels you're going to use.

[Ford390pwr]

Hey Larry, what did you use for the defroster grilles? Also, did you cut out the speaker grille and weld in a complete patch?

[crazy larry]

The defroster grill were the inserts from the original dash. the defroster hoses from the heater box mate up just like normal. the grills attach to the dash with 2 screws, then i welded and ground them in, then did the filler and sand thing on them. the speaker holes were individually cut plugs of left over floor pan material, welded and ground in. they went in low, so there really is more filler there than i'd like.

the wheels i'm running are plain old 16" chrome mods. I'd really like a set of cragar 390's.

[binder56jd]

That's a good looking job larry- thanks for the how you did its. jd

[crazy larry]

My bro in law has a 75 he is going to chop the top on. oh, btw, i get to help. we'll be sure to take pics.

[68F250]

That would be very cool! Love to see the pics!

Always thought a chopped SuperCab would be cool too.

[willowbilly3]

I saw an upolstered dash last week in a 71. They had done a real nice job with a triple stich along the front. I didn't open the door and look in, it was parked in the yard where I was cutting some trees.

I saw a chopped 72 cab and doors for $600 in the Washington truck trader a few years ago. It looked real nice and I wanted it sooo bad but was just down from Alsaka visiting.
For you guys who are not from the Northwest, you wouldn't believe the amount of old Fords in the Truck Trader up there. Usually there is several pages of just 67-72 models. When I bought that 68 I drove here, I was wanting another F-250 with a 300-6 and there were 4 of them in there at one time, altough the one I bought ended up being a 240 when I got it home from Seattle.

[mrsnicks]

Great Job Larry,

I too am going with the smoothed dash option. I have yet to weld in the holes, just sanded down and painted right now. I also want to shave my drips rails, and fill in the hood seams like you did. Couple questions:

1. You didnt fill in the bed seam, why?

2. Can you give me some tips on shaving the drip rails. I started grinding mind off, and found that they are 2 pieces of metal.. how you keep them from seperating once you ground them down?

forgive me if there is a "how to" on the drip rails.

Thanks,
Patrick