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With the body of the dash complete, John used a series of Dzus fasteners to strategically hold the dash in place. Dzus fasteners are designed to release quickly through a simple 90 degree turn of the Dzus button. This allows the entire dash to be disassembled and removed from the car in less than ten minutes, which comes in handy when working inside the car.
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When I first envisioned an aluminum dash inside of Project 240LSR, it was nothing like this. I imagined a piece of sheet aluminum bent at a 90 degree angle with a bunch of gauges boringly stuffed into it. I guess my expectations were low. Thankfully, John Kuchta’s weren’t.
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Note the smaller radius anvil wheel used to contour the edge of the outer hood so that it could later mate nicely with and be welded to the inner hood. |
To exercise the right side of the brain a bit and avoid a boring look, John constructed a complex gauge hood from three different pieces of sheet aluminum. Using an English wheel, both the outer and inner portions of the hood assembly were contoured and shaped to match the profile of the flat gauge plate.
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Once the hood was shaped with an English wheel, John welded the flat gauge plate to the inner hood first and then welded the inner and outer hoods together. If you look closely at the right side of the gauge hood (above the MotoIQ logo), you can distinctly see the separate inner and outer portions of the gauge hood.
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After the hood was tig welded together, John trimmed, filed, and ground the outer hood to better match the contours of the aluminum dash panel. I’m honestly not sure how John managed to match up the compound contours like he did. Then again, this is what makes John the sheet metal whisperer.
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After the perimeter of the outside hood was shaped to match that of the dash, the weld which joined the inner and outer hood was also ground smooth so that it was no longer visible. Holes were then cut in for gauge mounts.
