custom dash
 

Hey I have a 77 camaro,and I was wanting to make a dash out of sheet metal,what I was wondering is should I by a pre-bent dash from Jegs or some where like that,or should I make a card-board template,and have some one bend it for me.How thick should the metal be?Any help on this would be very appreciated.Here is a pic when I first bought the car,looks a little different now.

I just sold a 72 Camaro that I made a custom dash using the stock piece as my template. It's much cheaper to do it yourself even if you have to get a sheetmetal shop to put the bends in it for you.

Thanks you dont happen to have any pics?What size sheet metal did you use?I was wondering if some-one on here has made a dash for these cars.I know it can be done thanks for posting

I used 1/8" sorry I don't have the car anymore so I can't provide pics. I just brought my trim piece to a local sheet metal shop and asked them to bend me a piece in that shape. I then cut it and put the gauges in it and polished it up.

Thanks I will start on it soon I hope

1/8" seems a bit thick (.125") to work with if you bend it yourself. You could use something like .060" (about 1/16" thick) aluminum if you are doing inserts. You could use it for everything if you brace it properly. Steel is nice but harder to work with. There you could use .040-.060" steel for the whole structure and it would be perfectly sound. The only problem with the steel is it rusts. Rust proof it real well on the backside so it will last. If you had a factory dash to cut up it would save a lot of effort in making the mounts fit right.

0.060 works fine and since you had no dash to begin with the sky is the limit..build what you like..

Sam

Thanks for all the replys. :D

check this out
http://www.fullsizechevy.com/forums/...ghlight=jimmyp

bending sheet metal
 

For bending sheetmetal you can use anything round and press it around. For making tighter forms maybe make something like this out of a pillowcase and some sand. http://www.eastwoodco.com/shopping/p...&keyword=28045

dash
 

I made a custom stainless steel insert for my six six Impala

http://www.airriderz.com/West Coast ...dashinsert.png

http://www.airriderz.com/West Coast ...ashinsert2.png

http://www.airriderz.com/West Coast Impalas/dash.png

Dave

oh yeah
 

Dave that is the kind of thing I am talking about. Please give a blow by blow because I can't follow what you did just fromn the pics. But even so. it is a nice result.