The Cal-look Lounge

Hey guys I have ben wondering this for a while  :)

what "guage" steel should I use when plating the dash ???

what thickness is the original metal  ???

Any welding tips for the dash would be great too  ;) :)

20 ga is probably the closest. For a while I thought about using the skin from an scrap bug door. It is close to the right curvature.

--louis

cool cheers dude but what do you mean "curvature"  ??? which way do you mean  ???

welding tip#1 practice before you cut on your car.

If you look at the dash, it is curved top to bottom and side to side. Its not flat. If you don't care about keeping the stock curvature, cut it all out and make it flat.

--louis

In the metric world I would say its 1 mm thick.

if it's like the rest of the sheet metal of a bug it'll be 0.8mm

hey maybe get in tough with Magne to see how his orange car is done... that looked good and was pretty well done. but it was done in Canada or the states, but he'll be able to halp you out. that dash looked good and was straight.

Hi Lee If you are welding it solid I would go a hair thicker  it will not warp as bad when you weld it in or if your a good mig welder stay with the standard thickness  tig welding would be the best for a big area

I tend to use bits of old doors for making panels - the bottoms may rot out, but they're a pretty good supply of decent quality steel! :)

Magnes dash is a fiberglass thing glued on the outside of the dash.

I just picked up a set of panel beating hammers and dollys, I need the practice before I do my dash!  ;D

Thats what I'm getting for christmas  ;D

I was lucky, got mine for £15!!!  Sometimes ebay is great.