Hey guys, im starting a ultralight dash project on my GTA and I was wondering if anyone on here has done one yet? I searched and found one custom dash made of wood... coughfirehazardcough. But thats all. Anybody?!

I'm in the middle of installing a fiberglass dash that looks very close to stock. I'm trying to get all the weight out of the car and still be able to drive on the street. I have an ARC switch panel and Racepak dash that will be mounted to the frame behind the dash. I will try to post the pics tomorrow night.

Exactly! Im going for a similar idea, to minimize the weight of the car but maintain functionality of a street driven car.

Well, you will have to excuse all the dust. It has been an ongoing project for a couple of years now. Damn economy!! Here are the pics of how I did my dash. I know it is not for everybody but, please be constructive with the criticism.












Here's how I mounted it:





That's it. Hope it will give you some ideas.

Nice mount design although it looks heavy. Nice steering column support.

This is what my dash looked like for a few years. I'm in the process of rewiring the car so I finally ditched this dash and made one completely out of aluminum.

Old dash, or at least the best picture I had of it taken back in 2007. The dash pad was cut on both ends to fit around the cage tubes. The face of the aluminum panel is covered with some decal material that I picked up from Walmart.



This is what the new dash looks like. I just made and installed it today. 0.032" thick aluminum. I need to make a few more braces for it and need to wire up the gauges and tach. Nothing but an oil pressure warning light, oil pressure, oil temperature, coolant temperature. All the toggle switches and a voltage gauge are mounted in an overhead switch panel which can just be seen at the top left. With the 5 point harness cinched down tight, it's easier to reach the switch panel than the dash.

Stephen, your dash turned out well. I've been following the re-wire and it's turning out very well also. The dash is not as heavy as it might look. I think the fiberglass part is only like 6 lbs. The mount part is made of .049" CM so it is actually pretty light too. I wanted it to look as close to stock as a fiberglass replacement could. I was happy with the way the steering column worked out. Got all of the supplies from Larson Race Cars. He gave me a little guidence as to how he might do it. Still have a ways to go but, I will try to update as I make progress.

wow bro you got a nice ride i bet you got 50k in that car

American Flag Dash. This isn't what ya may be looking for but it doesn't hurt to look. I did complete dash strip down to metal and built it back up and made the flag on it. All 50 stars and 13 stripes. It is an ongoing project,final surface isn't finished. It will be flat black in color though.

What did you use to build the foam back up, my-roc?

orangepeeler, that is freakin AWSOME!! how did you mold that whole structure with (appears to be) ONE piece???

It's actually a fiberglass dash made by Hairy Glass. I chose it because from a distance you can't tell it apart from the stock dash. It even has the grain in the dash top, so when the doors are closed it REALLY looks stock. Thanks for the replies.

I stripped it down to metal,then had some rubber matting i used for the first layer.Then I used a yoga mat from target.You can see the texure of the mat in the pic of my windshield vents. I do have all the vents cut and fitted to fill in gaps. It came out real nice.

Steven, how do I get my pics to be normal size like yours. Mine are thumbnail attachments.

I just made an album of all the pics from my dash restoration, in order of progress. I don't know how to make a link to view them. So if ya want, click on my name, then pictures. I only have 1 album right now. It is of my "Flag Dash".

have you tried vaccume forming its very simple to do and its fun .well i dont know how much it will cost you for the plastic but to make the machine is like 70 bucks.all you need is a 6ft by 4ft piece of peg board 2 6ft 2by4s 2 4ft 2by4s a 6ft by 4ft piece of mdf or plywood whatever is cheaper it would be the ply cause mdf is 35 t0 45 dollars a panel. and a shop vac a 10 gallon would work and some heating coils . and you heat the plastic drop it on your dash thats off turn the vac on and it basicly copies your dash pad and it very detailed so whatever you dont want on it fill it in with putty and mod it but you get great results by that but google vaccume forming and watch it on you tube the skys the limit when vaccume forming .you can redo your interior plastic pieces or mod them you can make your own anything and its cheaper and less messy than fiberglass well i hope this helps you or anybody maybe get the creativity flowing

dude, that sounds pretty neat, ima have to look that up, because I have my interior out of my car, and im loooking into different mods

Your thumbnail pictures are because you're using TGO to host your pictures. My pictures are hosted on my own domain and I simply use the IMG tags to display the picture URL. To use the IMG tags, the picture needs to be hosted somewhere on the internet. For the forum, try keeping the pictures no larger than 800x600.

A/C blockoffs short console and 4th gen gauges

very very nice

some nice custom work by you guys, here is a pic of mine

from VFN
82-92 Camaro One piece Dash . Weight=4 each Ship: UPS Items. Price=$279.00

wow thats a nice dash

Huh, I wonder why I've never seen that dash before this... Pretty slick

This is what I'm doing eventually

These are the early pics of my dash in my AI car. KISS aproach!! I will post soem finished Pics when I get done.

here it is complete...

Hey - Do you have any more info on how you put just the 4th gen gauges in there? I really like that. I don't care much for full 4th gen dash swaps because I think the 3rd gen interior fits the car stylistically. Your approach seems like a nice compromise...

Cut trim and fit. Once you start you cant go back,get a spare dash from 91 - 92 .

Any pics of it closer up? Detail shots? I have no problem with going all-in... I just wouldn't mind seeing how it came out before I give it a shot.

is that some kind of aftermarket 1 peice dash like the 3rd gen above?
if so where can i get 1?

Here are pic's of two different ones I made, the first pic is with the factory dash with a custom panel added on for the Autometer gauges. I painted it with VHT wrinkle paint so it matched the dash.



This is the current one I made(same car) out of aluminum, "Nascar style"

how hard is it to install those autometer gagues... I have no idea where to start!

After looking at some of these ideas I'm really thinking about making mine a reality. I want to do a custom dash for electronics on mine, and hopefully keep the 91-92 styling.

I emptied out the entire dash & the only thing there now is the top dash pad & the facia w/ 1/4" ABS plastic cemented to the back of the facia & holes cut out for the AutoMeter gauges sitting in the factory location.

pretty sick dashes..wish i had the time :P

i started on mine again after putting it to the side for a few months. the dashpad is fully fiberglassed with no vents at all now. i took all the vents out the dash and now ready to do step 2 of the radio instal

Here's mine. I made the guage cluster myself. All the AutoMeter guages are electric including the speedometer. All the AC ducts have been taken out of the dash. I also removed the box for the evaporator and heater core. Its completely empty behind the dash except for wiring, which you can unforunetly see throught the AC vents. The two cirles under the small guages in the middle are LED's. They are for the turn signals.



Never mind the ugle hood

The aluminum dash wraps all the way down and around, about 10 inches short of the firewall so you can't see anything but carpet unless you really get down. Behind is an amplifier and computer. The top is wood/fiberglass wrapped in fake leather. The computer is a single board 1.6Ghz with a SSD drive running Linux and my own interface to the Holley 950, cameras, gps, etc. Center gauge on drivers side is the Autometer D-PIC. I'm working on the center console.

Am I seeing that right? Do you have a tach and speedo for the passenger too? I like it

Ya I noticed that too... what's the purpose of that?

The passenger side gauges are navigator gauges, so they have a speedo/odometer for target time/distance events or road races. And where there is a speedo, might as well have a tach, eh.

Here's the one I did a while ago.



Also made this about 8 years ago since I took out the stereo.

Are your speedo and tach 5" gauges?

Most of the tach/speedos on the page look like the larger autometer 5" gauges. They do make an intermediate size, 3 5/8 or something. You can fit a 5" in place of the factory stuff with a bit of plastic trimming; I originally had mine mounted behind the factory front black bezel with the clear plate removed.

i figured they were 5's but i was just making sure

I gutted everything behind my dash and just used the shell.

Did you make that steering wheel? I like.

Yep totaly clear you lie it? I havn't figured what steering wheel to go with.

Let me know how this goes. i have a TV that installs in a radio slot, that i'd like to put up there