Club Cobra - Building a New Dash

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Building a New Dash

One of the things that I want to change on my car is the dash. I have looked at a lot of "pre-made" dashes from places such as Acton, Kirkham, ect. and while they are a great option for some, I would have to modify them for my car because my steering column is higher than an original car. While I want to be as true to original as I can, I am not going to be using everything from an original Cobra and am going to be making some substitutions to the dash just like the original owners did back in the day.

That being said, I was hoping to get some input from some of y'all out there that have made a dash for your Cobra's. My main question is what to make the dash out of. My first thought was to make it out of furniture grade plywood but I don't know about that... And if I was to make it out of aluminum then how do you get it to have any rigidity? Any help on this would be great, thanks guys!

This link is to some pictures of the current dash in my car and behind where the glove box should be. I will most likely be going in the S/C dash route because of the lack of space for a glove box.

.06 to .09 aluminum or sheetmetal

Dwight

Make it out of aluminum; light weight, inexpensive, and easy work with. The dash has some curves to it. Trying to get those curves in plywood can be done, but it's not easy.

Bends and curves will not add any strength, but will add rigidity. If you put a bend in the bottom of the dash, and then secure it to the firewall with another small panel, it will be plenty stiff enough.

Make a blank dash using your existing dash as a pattern with the bottom an inch or so long. Take it to a sheet metal place or a fabricator and have them put that extra inch in a metal brake and bend it over. That will stiffen it up substantially along with the upper mounting bolts. If the fabricator has a shrinker/stretcher have him put the bends in the ends with the folded over lower edge and it will be very stiff. If you can't get the shrinker/stretcher, cut off the bent edge at the spot where the dash has to start turning on both ends and bend it by hand to the proper shape. Then install some braces from the center bottom of the dash to a solid support under the dash.

Bob