Rally Dash, modern interpretation

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my68barracuda

my68barracuda

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have any of you renew a rally dash and not re-flash all of that shinny chrome.

The dash in the 68 Barracuda is sound, has never been hacked into, but has most all of the chrome missing, the rest is age worn.

This car will have a day two appearance, I am thinking of renewing the OE gauges, adding an aftermatket tach to the center pod, and re painting what was chrome a modern semi gloss trim black, or other subdued color.
I would do the remaining dash in the color that matches the interior, dark metallic green..

any thoughts, has anyone else done this?
I also wonder if at some point down the road I want to have the dash returned to OE, would the paint applied prevent that?

thanks
 
I sanded the bezel for my Duster down and painted everything. I used DMT inserts for the panels as well. I did a write up on it in my build thread here

My "new" '74 Duster- or why I need a project like a hole in the head

85FB86F4-9FC1-4EC0-9263-CBA7E681AA80.jpeg
 
Seems most owners opt for the Chinese reproduction rather than restore the OEM piece.
If you think you might rechrome it someday don't sand it. Take it completely apart, chemical strip with oven cleaner ( removes paint and chrome doesn't harm the plastic ), then paint it. It would chemical strip again.
 
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Much Thanks, great info.
Tsully, is that a strip of stainless across the bottom half?
Where did you source that from?
 
my68barracuda said:
Much Thanks, great info.
Tsully, is that a strip of stainless across the bottom half?
Where did you source that from?
Click to expand...

No sir... that is from DMT... it’s one of their radio delete inserts. They make them all with a radio cutout but when you order from them just make a note of what you want and they’ll do it a no extra charge. They make inserts for the top as well. Great company to deal with and top quality products. I have bought from them several times and the products are always a great fit.

AE848B7A-C4C0-42A3-95E9-87203D9B133B.jpeg
 
Tsully said:
No sir... that is from DMT... it’s one of their radio delete inserts. They make them all with a radio cutout but when you order from them just make a note of what you want and they’ll do it a no extra charge. They make inserts for the top as well. Great company to deal with and top quality products. I have bought from them several times and the products are always a great fit.

View attachment 1715278954
Click to expand...
I will check that out, thanks
 
I have my dash out and completely apart. Using an Exacto knife and a razor blade I was able to successfully trim the ends of the little plastic posts that
hold the gauge assemblies in and the gauge lens assemblies together. I am probably several days away from putting it all back together, but I am thinking of the
re assembly process.
How to remake the ends on the plastic nubs,,,, I am thinking of using a dab of silicone on the nub ends. Think that would do the job?
What have others done?

thanks
 
Take some plastic and sand paper make some dust, take a pinch of this dust put it on top of the nub with gauge in, and a drop of super glue …...
 
I use a solder tip to melt things apart. Of course those tiny donut shape bits that came off are never enough to put it all back together again. I have donor ABS material to add where needed.
The most critical bond is at the 4 gauge pod. The amp gauge is firecracker hot and this particular fuel gauge is a ground source. IF the metal matting piece should fall back against these 2 gauges, the needle of the fuel gauge will turn to ash and disappear like a magicians trick.
 
Gotta watch the super glue - it will craze your lenses and make them white or foggy. I've heard of people using hot melt glue to reattach the lenses.
 
Hey @my68barracuda I used a soldering gun to soften the plastic blobs around the gauge cages and picked up a rod of plastic at a craft store to reinstall. I literally lit the plastic on fire and pressed the molten plastic on top of the old post. Nice and tight and looks surprisingly factory(ish). Picture HERE I'll be honest, I've never seen anyone do it this way before, and it took balls-O-steel to get the process started, but ended up being very easy.

I repainted my dash, and it came out Okay, https://www.instagram.com/p/BTAdGCRlfPv/ There are some pics of the process and paints I used on my Instagram board, you don't have to have an Instagram account to see them - they might help (then again, maybe not).
 
re assembled the dash a photo is below, again, I was after a modern interpretation of the classic rally dash and not all
the flashy chrome. Not to mention it was a lot less expensive.

I used the satin black upper and lower panels from DMT, the fit is awesome.
Also changed the amp meter over to a volt meter using the CP8215, as discussed in a couple of other threads.
It is a nice fit. I also included two photos showing how I re used the insulation grommets from the 8215 kit.
Maybe other folks had done that, but it was not mentioned in the posts and the hot post definitely needs to be
protected from grounding

file-23.jpeg


file1-11.jpeg


file-22.jpeg
 
csheehy said:
Hey @my68barracuda I used a soldering gun to soften the plastic blobs around the gauge cages and picked up a rod of plastic at a craft store to reinstall. I literally lit the plastic on fire and pressed the molten plastic on top of the old post. Nice and tight and looks surprisingly factory(ish). Picture HERE I'll be honest, I've never seen anyone do it this way before, and it took balls-O-steel to get the process started, but ended up being very easy.

I repainted my dash, and it came out Okay, https://www.instagram.com/p/BTAdGCRlfPv/ There are some pics of the process and paints I used on my Instagram board, you don't have to have an Instagram account to see them - they might help (then again, maybe not).
Click to expand...

Hey csheehy, love your dash job! Nicest one I have seen! Can you briefly describe your paint process and list the paints? Couldn’t see paint numbers in your Instagram. I am social media challenged....
 
my68barracuda, that turned out amazingly nice. great job!!!
 
@Mike69cuda I'll take a shot at it soon... keep your eyes peeled. And thank you for the kind comments.

@my68barracuda has also asked I write an article on how to install an 8-cylinder tachometer into a 6-cylinder car as he did. SPOILER...It's not difficult (I did it), but it does require some extra hardware if using an OE or OE-looking tach.
 
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