74 Chief Restore

[SJTD]

I was going to put a tray in mine but the pre-73 dash I used didn't have a hole.

[rang-a-stang]

That setup looks amazing! What's your plan for paint/finish on the bezel?

I say leave the speaker hole and mount a CB speaker under it....

[bkilby]

I think I'm going to paint the main frame green like current and the gauge bezel and other parts I made in black. Paint can be touched up a lot easier than powder coating.


The speaker hole is a bit ugly under that dash pad. There's no grill and an aftermarket grill would look ugly (my opinion) and the dash has a curve to it anyhow. I suppose I can make a grill though...

[rang-a-stang]

Maybe something like this?
Early mustang rear dash speaker grill

This guy used one on his Hornet (see third post from the top)

http://theamcforum.com/forum/73-hornet-winter-project_topic36236_page3.html

[toddthewelder]

If you're going to take the time to make something for the speaker hole to make it look better, go ahead and make a patch panel and cover it up

[bkilby]

You don't like the idea of a storage tray in place of the speaker? Something about 2" deep?

[babywag]

Coming along very nicely.

[toddthewelder]

You don't like the idea of a storage tray in place of the speaker? Something about 2" deep?

I love the idea of it, but being a TJ owner I know that having a storage tray on the dash is a good way to get your stuff in the passenger floorboard, or even out the window. Just my thoughts on the subject, whatever you do is going to be cool though.

[bkilby]

Thanks babywag!


Todd, I know what you mean about the TJ tray. It was pretty useless most of the time. Too shallow really. I'm thinking a deeper box would keep stuff from flying around. I dunno. I hate to go through the work of fililng in that speaker hole without putting something useful there.

[babywag]

Thanks babywag!


Todd, I know what you mean about the TJ tray. It was pretty useless most of the time. Too shallow really. I'm thinking a deeper box would keep stuff from flying around. I dunno. I hate to go through the work of fililng in that speaker hole without putting something useful there.

Maybe make a simple lid, wouldn't be hard...

[bkilby]

True. I'd like to find a pre-made steel box and just weld it in. Lol. I wonder if Tuffy has something...

[rang-a-stang]

Your dash work already looks so awesome with the stereo panels and that bezel so regardless of what you choose to do with the speaker hole, its gonna look good.

I don't like putting things on my dash because I have had too many pieces end up in the defrost vents over the years. Or baked/melted in the hot sun. They also bounce around and reflect off the inside of the windshield sometimes and that can get annoying, too. I only had one car that ever had a dash where I could put stuff on it (my Geo) so maybe its just my knuckleheadedness but that's my 2 cents. Like I said, I think whatever you do, its going to look awesome.

[bkilby]

Finally getting back on the dash again. Had to take a break to get the purple car ready for a car show and road trip. It was a success.


I ended up taking the instrument bezel to a guy to have him TIG weld the face to help hide my welding imperfections. Lol. It looks brutal in this pic but it looks a lot nicer after bead blasting it. It shows a lot of heat but it didn't warp. I forgot to take an after pic.

[bkilby]

So getting back to that ugly speaker hole..... I've decided to cut out the speaker hole and replace it with.....another speaker hole. I couldn't find another speaker with the same bolt pattern otherwise I would have just cut out the two sunken areas and replaced them. But since that didn't happen, that left door open to put in whatever I wanted. I ended up buying a 5x7 dual voice coil speaker. This one is "ultra thin" as I needed clearance to the top of the head unit. This is a Retrosound R-57N.












The plan was to cut a custom speaker grill and graft it into the dash. After a few different designs and test samples, I ended up with this.









I had to keep the metal bars a bit thicker than I wanted as my Plasma cutter isn't built to cut thin material. All it does is burn and melt smaller, more detailed cuts. I had the machine using the smallest (20 amp) tip and turned as low as it would go (20 amps) and it still burned stuff. But it can cut 1.5" if I ever need it too.


Before.....









After....













I still have some clean up to do, but it's not a big deal. Also, I should have marked the screw holes on the back of the grill before welding on. I didn't, thinking the curve of the dash would throw the holes off, but I wish I would have done it anyhow. The plan is to try and weld screw "studs" in place instead of drilling holes. I want to keep the dash smooth on top. That'll be next week.

[bkilby]

As usual, life gets busy, work itself and other cars (and Jeeps) to work on. I'm gonna get back on this dash this upcoming week I hope.



Someone had mentioned on the FB page that the 74-77 and 78-85 AC units are different from each other. Mine (74) is still under the dash and in the vehicle, but I do have this "later" dash and AC unit I've been playing with. The intention was to use the later AC unit with the dash since it's out of the vehicle and I can work on the dash and AC on the work bench. So my question is, is there a major difference on the two AC units? Like, will I be wasting time to modify the 78-85 AC unit to use in my '74? As long as it all bolts up, I don't really care about switches, AC vents being different etc. I'm going all custom anyhow. I'm just more concerned with shape and size, but I can't imagine they're not the same shape and size....