Early dash board repair.

[1cdccop]

Any tips on repairing or finding a pre 73 dash board. The one in my 72 looks like a prune from all the sun damage, so I pulled it off the other day. The bare steel dash doesn't look all that bad, except for the speaker hole in the middle.

[krek]

This is a photo of a dash that user Towtruck posted last year (can't find the tread). He combined two dashes to eliminate the speaker hole.

On a related note, does anyone know what gauge steel the dashes are stamped from?

http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r55/bittersc/DSCN2922.jpg

[krek]

Can I weld "aluminized steel tubing" (exhaust tubing) to the dash sheet metal?

[Gambler68]

Can I weld "aluminized steel tubing" (exhaust tubing) to the dash sheet metal?

As far as I know, only TIG welding allows dissimilar metals to be joined.

[Long&Low]

Can I weld "aluminized steel tubing" (exhaust tubing) to the dash sheet metal?

Yes, it's my understanding that "aluminized is a coating. You can use a wire wheel to clean off the coating and then you should be able to weld the two together. I've welded exhuast tubing to mild steel without much fuss. (ie: think exhuast hangers, clamps, and such).

The dash on my '84 was REALLY thin. Burning through it with a wire feed was way too easy. If you drag the puddle from the thicker metal into the thin, that seemed to work OK, but still was a pain. In smoothing out mine and covering all the holes with respect to getting rid of the dash pad still required a decent amount of body filler.