It's kinda like a rivet, but threaded on the inside, so it squeezes itself tight against the metal, so it won't spin. It's what they used to mount the factory racing mirrors.
Very nice idea, looks pretty good..... I would like to see the inserted panel more vertical..... I think it could be done but would require quite a bit of cutting and welding..... You have definately given me some food for thought.....
that would be my sister.. yes my father past away. but Im the only other person thats helped with fabrication of the cluster.. my name is Richard Kuss. I am my fathers youngest.. but if anyone could tell me if there is a way to change my log in name(Don Kuss II) it would help alot of confusion....
Contact Stefan. He runs the forum and should let you know what you need to do. You could also put a note in your signature to explain who you are. Hope this helps, -Scott H.
painted it with SEM self etching black primer, came out really nice. Well, I know, it isn't stellar work but I'm very happy with the outcome. I gotta get my behind in gear though because I have to get the dash functional before the AZ meet.
The pics aren't great but here is what it looks like so far, I got a chance to run the copper oil line and the water temp sensor through.
the aluminum really doesn't match anything in my interior and is also very reflective so would really make it tough to commute back and forth with.
Looks nice. Not to nitpick, but why didn't you weld the pods on inside the ring, so the weld wouldn't be visible? Either way, came out great, should look pretty seamless once the pad is put back on.
I totally agree. I saw someone else do something like this with their dash and they put the welds on the inside, looks super clean. I don't have access to a TIG welder much less the skills to use one. But I found a source, someone who said next time around they would do it for me the right way.
Yeah, I'd love to be able to weld aluminum but for close to a grand for a decent used tig welder its a good bit out of my budget for the occasional project.
man i get the chills when i hear about someone doing a project like this. most people just end up destroying a perfectly good original part. you seem to have done a nice job though. good work!
Here is what I ended up with. This is the view from my eye level. I would say that the stock dash looks great in my opinion and this is a "decent" replacement of it. If I were to do it really well I would keep the stock dash looking as stock as possible by just welding up the stock cluster insert and keeping that curve and installing gague pods in there.
