Question

[hca]

At home depot they sell aluminum square tubing, about 1"x1"x3'. I wanted to use this to make a frame for a dashboard. Obviously it would be TIG welded up, but what would be a good way to attach the frame to the firewall of the vehicle? Two ideas so far: Weld on a flat plate to the end of the frame as a mounting plate, the bolt to firewall. Or weld to firewall, but then I dont know how or IF the aluminum can be welded to the firewall sheetmetal.

Any ideas out there?

[Chop Top]

You mean to tell me can't weld aluminum to sheetmetal ? Next thing they'll tell you that you can't braze copper to stainless steel with a coat hanger. :whatever:


I'm gonna go out on a limb here and give you some good ol' CT advice. The reason nobody has posted a response to your question here is that:

a. it's late/early

b. the question doesn't make sense

c. you are simply too easy to make fun of.


You see, I like a good challenging question. (Some thought provocation if you will.) Albeit posts like these present the constant source of entertainment we log on for each and every day.

Now for all I know your question ight fit in just fine here these days since I hardly come around this section anymore. There is another secret society within the depths of FSC. Imagine if you will a world where questions makes sense. And they are actually in their proper locations. Your question might have found a suitable response in the INTERIOR section, but this is the WHATEVER section so WHATEVER it is. Let's continue shall we ? Read on.


At home depot they sell aluminum square tubing, about 1"x1"x3'. I wanted to use this to make a frame for a dashboard.

Okay good thinking. Whenever I need good quality fabrication material Home Depot is the place for me. You should see some of the cold air intakes that have been harvested from deep withing the bowels of their plumbing department! Instant classics.

Obviously it would be TIG welded up,

Okay whatever cool pints you lost with me fron teh Home Depot comment you just gained back by being able to spell TIG. At this point I'm thinking I might be wrong about you. Maybe you've got the skills to pull off a full one-off dash swap?


but what would be a good way to attach the frame to the firewall of the vehicle?

When I read something I read, then stop, then think and absorb it. We learned it in the 3rd grade. It's called absorbtion of content and it is actually a measurable criteria in today's No Dork Left Behind plan. (Yet they still get left behind.) :dunno:

So at this point in your post I am stopping and thinking.(no really I promise) I am picturing the firewall and I am thinking "how would I do that" and make it versatile enough to remove through fabrication, yet sturdy enough to hold together without any problems. Oh and I'm picturing some nice pretty TIG welds on aluminum 1 inch square tubing. Oh so dee-lish. :D

Two ideas so far: Weld on a flat plate to the end of the frame as a mounting plate, the bolt to firewall.

Still thinking.......... nice padeyes on the ends of pretty TIGs. Clean shiny hex bolts countersunk in flush welded nuts....yes...I'm about to...yes I'm gonna.....oh....oh....OH......

Or weld to firewall, but then I dont know how or IF the aluminum can be welded to the firewall sheetmetal.


:thud:

Yes much like mom hitting the light switch on a 2AM romp, you ruined it. Now I'm not sure what brought you to this point but there are some issues here. DEEP issues. You managed to get this far in which you probably have your materials list, a vision and a conceptual drawing. In crayon. (I prefer Chartruse. It has a nice contrast when crossing things off the list with Plum Cake.)

Do you have a truck ? It's an honest question. Speaking as a man who had his entire 1200 watt of stereo system layed out in the closet before I even had a vehicle in the 8th grade trust me I can relate. So don't be afraid to answer honestly.

If the answer is yes, then the next step of asking a question such as yours is to maybe include the make, model and current mods done to the vehicle. This might give people an idea of where you are going with it. And before you ask, this isn't an S10 forum. Your post soundslike an S10 post, but I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt until you respond. I'm an azzhole, but I'm a fair azzhole.

If the answer is no, then we like your thinking and you're just young and want to learn. I've done many things I'm not proud of. Once I used romex for a remote wire for my Pyramid 75 watt amp on my M&M clear 18's. Guess where I bought it ? The local hardware store. (we didn't have Home depot back in 88)


With that being said, if you've suffered through the torture of reading this entire post, then you have earned (at the LEAST) the right for one member at least to respond to your question with an answer.

No, you can't TIG weld aluminum to sheetmetal. The melting points are way different. If you commit to aluminum for this frame then you will have to bolt it in. If not and you want to weld all of it consider using steel.

Maybe one day I can do a dash swap. I have a concept in my head I keep visualizing. AND a fresh box of crayons. :cool:

Chop Top

[mrflames]

hey chop you could have just givin him an answer with out all that other crap






this has been the down fall of the site in the last yr are so

[Chuggs]

Moved to the interior section.

On one hand, I want to say thanks for the entertaining response, CT. I needed something like that to get my Monday morning off on the right foot. But on the other hand, the sarcasm doesn't exactly represent us too well, especially when it's the first response.

[Chop Top]

Yeah I'm not a very good spokesperson at 4AM. If I could have seen a post count it could have helped me decide which way to turn the sarcasm knob in my response. This dude got it full blast. But really.......with the power of the internet these days is there any excuse to go into a public forum with a question like that ?

Well if all else fails sombody just give him an invitation card. :D

[mrflames]

But really.......with the power of the internet these days is there any excuse to go into a public forum with a question like that ?
he went on the internet came to this site and ask for help so he was using the power of the internet

[Chop Top]

This isn't your son or soemthing is it ? Or do you know the guy ? I was speaking as a member of FSC. Not as FSC itself. I didn't use we, I used I.

It's not like Demon was that nice to me when I joined back in 05. :D

Let's hear back from the guy and give him a chance. Wonder what the guy's story is ? I'm curious.

[Stratosman]

CT lives up to his billing! Funny stuff man.

Hopefully he'll read all of this and not just your 1st post. You are a true entertainer my friend.

[hca]

well.. i must say this: as long as i have been a member, I have never had the honor of being fully blasted. especially by one of you guys. i have read countless amounts of threads with guys getting 'it', and im glad i have had my turn!!
you know, yes i did ask a stupid question there, but hey at least it was asked on FSC!! (like thats a valid cover-up)

CT- YES i am a young dude trying to learn! I have never welded a single thing in my life. Everything that seemed like knowledge in my first post up there was from 3 hours of internet searching prior to asking on here, hence my late post time!!

A little about my project: I have a 'Glassed console and dash trim pieces just about done, and I am now thinking big and in the process of making the dashboard/console/gauge bezel/everything else all one big molded piece of fiberglass. There will be NO factory mounts left when I am done. Going to be using a HotRod Air AC unit as well. So I was thinking about just making a metal frame that the dash/etc could bolt up to, and have the frame attached to the firewall, either permanently or removable.

At the Depot, I noticed they sell the same square tubing (same size anyways) in aluminum or steel. I would love the light weight of aluminum, but the steel is much cheaper. I knew that the steel could be welded to the firewall, but aluminum: I honestly had no clue. So a' searching I went. And when I did not find my answer after several hours, I decided to come to my #1 place for knowledge on most things related.

SO thanks for getting to an answer. That was a very entertaining response. I love the sarcasm, seriously!! Its good to get a good kick in the a$s when you ask a dumb question. I'll remember it for the next one!!

[someotherguy]

At the risk of being blasted for using a lolcatz pic:

http://www.someotherplace.com/catpix/tldrcat.jpg

Get your materials from the local steel supply, not Home Depot. Some of them have a surplus/scrap section loaded with all kinds of good stuff you can get a deal on.

Richard

[Chop Top]

Great attitude man !!

Now that I know you're cool, here's how I can help:

Myself, Low88, JimmyP and a few others here are currently doing dash swaps and/or custom dashes. There are 0 sites on the internet to help you so I know where you're coming from when you say you searched. You just don't know much about welding and that's okay. When you type in "sheetmetal retro style OBS dash" in Google, you come up with mostly FSC posts. So search FSC for mine and others mentioned and report back with more questions and I will be glad to help with my experience.

I stretched a 1956 BelAire dash by using fillers harvested from a 57 Apache dash. (sorry classic guys) It took as long to do the retro dash as it did to chop the roof. My current regret is that I made the dash non removeable. I like your thinking about the bolt-in. Mine is curerntly at bodywork right now. If it all works out when you sit in the truck it will appear to have a tri-five dash. It's only been done a handful of fullsize Chevy's. The S10 swap is more common because the measurements are closer with less fab. The fullsize needs a hella stretch to get it to look right.

Low88 used one-off internal framing built with (I think) cold roll 1/4 inch rod. So did Jimmy. I used 3/4 inch flat steel for main supports, but framed the endoskeleton with the cold roll rods. I bought mine at Lowe's not Home Depot. :D After the dash was fully welde in adn filled I cut the rods out. I too am using a Vintage Air A/C setup when the time comes and there's plenty of room for it. I am debating on using 88 Burb vents -vs- 55 Caddy vents. Square -vs- round but there is plenty time for that decision.

If you are using the factory column don't forget to fabricate a breakaway in case of head on collision. Unless it's a full blown show truck. If you use an aftermarket column like Flaming river I think they are already perforated. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Alot of my pics are probably deleted. When I get home tonight I'll throw some back up here for ya. Low88....an update WOULD be nice if you read this so post up dude. :cool:

Feel free to shoot off some questions and I'll answer them as I can. I still have the one-off template for the dash piece made out of paneling if you are interested. Trust me when I say it will not be fun to make one. A one-off sheetmetal dash is a pretty gutsy project. I hope it all works out.

Seriously, post up the questions. In the meantime I'll see what I can do.

CT

[Chop Top]

Oh and post up some project pics too !! You have nothing in your gallery so post up man.

[hca]

Right on, thanks alot for all the info! I just went and searched for a while and like you said, its mostly s10's doing the swaps. I will definately keep track of you guy's projects. I was literally staring at Low88's build thread last night for about an hour. I talked to him before also about shortening the steering column, which is part of my plan as well!

You brought up another good point: steering column breakaway. Thats is definately something I need to consider since this is going to be my daily driver.

The Bel Air dash you did, that sounds like a lot of work! Yeah I would like to make it all as removable as possible. The thing that brings me down the most about my project is that the console is full-length, ending at the subwoofer box in my reg cab, so somewhere along the line with the design, I am going to have to section it to remove it from the truck. No way in heck the whole thing would come out!!

As soon as I get some more progress going I will start a new interior build thread. I think I have a couple older ones, but I have gotten way more into this since then. Fully custom molded door panels, console/dash, 1 piece kickpanel/door sills. Only reason its taking me so long, is that I went into this with ZERO experience. Literally had to learn everything online as I went along deciding what I wanted to do. Started out by painting my dash with krylon paint back in 2003/04, and the damn interior has never since been together.

But I''m sure you guys know how that goes!! Well thanks again for the help and like I said I will definately be checking the progress! And I always appreciate the FSC humor!!:aniteef: That, plus all the great info to find is what makes it fun to come back every single day!!
Great attitude man !!

Now that I know you're cool, here's how I can help:

Myself, Low88, JimmyP and a few others here are currently doing dash swaps and/or custom dashes. There are 0 sites on the internet to help you so I know where you're coming from when you say you searched. You just don't know much about welding and that's okay. When you type in "sheetmetal retro style OBS dash" in Google, you come up with mostly FSC posts. So search FSC for mine and others mentioned and report back with more questions and I will be glad to help with my experience.

I stretched a 1956 BelAire dash by using fillers harvested from a 57 Apache dash. (sorry classic guys) It took as long to do the retro dash as it did to chop the roof. My current regret is that I made the dash non removeable. I like your thinking about the bolt-in. Mine is curerntly at bodywork right now. If it all works out when you sit in the truck it will appear to have a tri-five dash. It's only been done a handful of fullsize Chevy's. The S10 swap is more common because the measurements are closer with less fab. The fullsize needs a hella stretch to get it to look right.

Low88 used one-off internal framing built with (I think) cold roll 1/4 inch rod. So did Jimmy. I used 3/4 inch flat steel for main supports, but framed the endoskeleton with the cold roll rods. I bought mine at Lowe's not Home Depot. :D After the dash was fully welde in adn filled I cut the rods out. I too am using a Vintage Air A/C setup when the time comes and there's plenty of room for it. I am debating on using 88 Burb vents -vs- 55 Caddy vents. Square -vs- round but there is plenty time for that decision.

If you are using the factory column don't forget to fabricate a breakaway in case of head on collision. Unless it's a full blown show truck. If you use an aftermarket column like Flaming river I think they are already perforated. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Alot of my pics are probably deleted. When I get home tonight I'll throw some back up here for ya. Low88....an update WOULD be nice if you read this so post up dude. :cool:

Feel free to shoot off some questions and I'll answer them as I can. I still have the one-off template for the dash piece made out of paneling if you are interested. Trust me when I say it will not be fun to make one. A one-off sheetmetal dash is a pretty gutsy project. I hope it all works out.

Seriously, post up the questions. In the meantime I'll see what I can do.

CT