Has anyone done a custom Pinto Dash with aftermarket guages-speedeo-etc---anyone have any ideas on how to make a custom ???
Mike
ok, here goes check out the finished product 1st,
http://www.fordpinto.com/yabbse/attachments/aft_int2.jpg
what I did was, I cut my badly cracked original dash pad where i added the new portion. the new is very thin gauge mild steel (gotta think about hitting it in a crash) covered by hard setting "Great Stuff" you can get at your local home improvement center. i then made the gauge panel from the same thin mild steel bent, and self tapping screws to hold it to the new upper. the pad was then refurbished with more great stuff in the cracks, and covered with a layer of quilt batting, and fabric. Make sure your fabric has some stretch to it or you'll have wrinkles galore.
hope this gets you to thinking.
Crazyhorse
I really like the way that looks. Unfortunately the interior will probably stay very stock and bare in the wagon. Im thinking rubber mat. But that wont be for a long time. I dont even have the interior on my list of things to get done. At least not yet. You absolutely have to paint the brake pedal or get a pad for it , cause it looks like the Chebby bow tie. :-\ ;D ;)
Drilled aluminum is in the works for the pedals (ya know aluminium is as hard to type as it is to say?!?!)
I'm not done with the INT yet i'm still working on the headliner, and the back sides. The sides are going to be covered in the same manner as the dash, and the door panels.
I'm working on a dash for my '79 Panel. I'm using a dash panel out of a car that had the sport package and factory A/C. Autometer has some 1 1/2" gauges (mechanical or electric) that will fit in the factory three gauge panel from the sport package. I mounted mine with the angle spacers so that the gauges are angled slightly towards the driver. For the tach, speedo, and gas gauge, I'm fabricating a piece of sheet metal that the gauges will mount to that will the be mounted to the factory speedo/gas gauge surround using the factory mounting holes. I'm working on a cardboard mockup for this at this time until I get it exactly as I want it. When this is finished, it will still give me three factory outlets for the A/C as well as give me full instrumentation. I have pictures of how the 1 1/2" gauges fit the factory panel, if you would like me to post them. Let me know.
Are there anyother guage packages out of other cars that will fit or function in the pinto dash...Will guages say out of a rice burner function in a Pinto??? LIke a tach or speedo?
How about using Plexiglass to make a instrument housing -and backlite it...Plexiglass can be bent by heating it up and bending it over a template..
Just some ideas
Plexi can be bent in a sheetmetal bender as well , you've got to be really careful heating plexi, it will curl in strange ways. we use 1/4" plexi to make safety guards at work. some of those are bent over mandrels using 220v heat guns.