Removal of Hillbilly dash and wiring PT1 1972 FJ40 pics (1 Viewer)

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Sacramento,CA
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www.landcruiseroftheday.com
Sunday project...My trusty assistant (9 year old son) and I tackled removing a poorly done cheap diamond plate "faux dash" so we could access the subsequent disaster of wiring beneath and determine the condition of the original dash...please note several gauges inactive etc.
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We now have a dash....whats left of it:rolleyes:....thinking of the JT outfitters aluminum kit for the gauge cluster and the middle section...we have the stock glove door so I may still use that.......even a one piece dash solution that's clean could be good...fuse block has to come out as well...it's rusty as ****...

Any and all suggestions welcome on the dash...send em over:)

PS....end of the day...all our hard work was rewarded with a brittle & broken oil pressure line that proceeded to pump oil on the driveway after I started her up to move her...we really lucked out as it was a break close to the motor and was pointing straight down at the ground...could have been a real disaster:p
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good thing it didnt happen when driving :) that would have been bad

know of anybody with a donor dash?

You could go simple and put a panel in the center only

I know! that would be crazy bad...not good that such a simple stupid thing could totally take you down...I can't believe there inst a secondary casing to prevent a total failure from happening???the new kit i bought is such the same simple tubing...I guess you go copper if you want heavy duty.

Doner dash....thought about that...it would be nice to have the clip in flashing piece on the bottom and then work around that....
 
Wow , you do have your work cut for you! you should be able to fix the dash if you have someone willing to take a tracing of theirs and you have a welder.
 
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There is a dash currently on eBay for sale. I haven't looked at the listing to see the condition but it's just the dash for what I can tell.
 
If you are not going for a completely stock look, should be easy enough to just weld in some new sheet metal as that area is flat. Then you can just drill holes in the stock locations for the needed switches. The only thing that would be hard to recreate would be the ashtray.
 
PS....end of the day...all our hard work was rewarded with a brittle & broken oil pressure line that proceeded to pump oil on the driveway after I started her up to move her...we really lucked out as it was a break close to the motor and was pointing straight down at the ground...could have been a real disaster:p

LOL - I did the exact same thing once! :bang:

Jonny
 
I have a stock center sheet metal section for sale if that is an option for you. See pic.
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The first thing you need to do is search " JT OUTFITTERS"
 
I'm far from a purist but what you had in there was kind of horrible looking.

Do you know how to weld? If so I'd sure be tempted to take 77TLC's offer and repair the center section.

I like the symetrical style of the stock dash. Using the stock gauge bezel, or even one of the aftermarket bezels, the stock glove box lid. and some removeable panels in between would look much better than the one piece panel that was there. That's what I've been considering for mine since somebody in the way back past took out the ash tray and cut out the metal around it clear over to the glove box in order to put in a CB.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

Don
 
Even if you can't weld, trim the replacement dash section and screw or rivet it in place. I wish the center of my dash was removable to address wiring or switch issues.
 
The first thing you need to do is search " JT OUTFITTERS"

yep...I just ordered the gauge cluster kit + the dash panel kit....that will give me a few good options to mix and match....I might even get them powder coated to match the sand colored trim as well.....will post pics once I get her fix up....thanks for all the suggestions guys! :popcorn:
 
PT 2 New Dash for 72

So...I got my aluminum dash panels from JT outfitters and put a plan together for the new dash...I started by going to Tap Plastics to get some 1/16 black ABS to go under the aluminum plates. I thought this would give it some depth and look a little more professional. I used a special plastic jig saw blade a a dremel for some of the edges etc:
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