Prepping the Interior on a Baja and Frenching a Dash

[bajaherbie]

one thing i learned on the splatter paint was it helps if the base is all of the same color...

i did the interior of my doors years ago and the green door came out darker than the white door. maybe i had some cheap stuff, i dunno...

[david58]

one thing i learned on the splatter paint was it helps if the base is all of the same color...

i did the interior of my doors years ago and the green door came out darker than the white door. maybe i had some cheap stuff, i dunno...

Base color does make a difference, and I am using gray primer as the base.

[david58]

My little buddy is proud of his self. This morning I was working on a customers mini van and said why don't you go work on the interior of that baja till I need a hand. About a hour of so later I had the heads back on ready for torquing them down. So I said take a break and come give me a hand. He crawls out of the baja and I say take a break while I find the torque specs. He says come look at what I did, he was grinning from ear to ear. He is bringing the interior down to bare metal. He said to me it is a shame your going to paint it. I am going to have the cleanest interior of any baja, I only wish I had the motivation he has.

[david58]

Well I decided to do something I haven't seen done to a baja. Imagine that. I am recessing the dash 2 couple inches towards the front of the car. This should help when installing the roll cage and the window cranks should have plenty of room so the windows can be rolled down. And also give plenty of leg room to get in and out of the car.














I am going to have to get a new nozzle for this welder this one has seen it's day. The insulator is completely gone and I cut a piece of cardboard a couple months ago and it does ok on 1/8 or 1/4 but this sheet metal don't like to be welded with 035 wire and a screwed up nozzle and I am same as out of gas also. So I got to spend some money on the welder before I can continue.

thats gonna look good.... a "frenched" dash. george barris would be proud

That's the word I was looking for herbie. I think it will come out pretty nice, just got to take a little time making templates, and go slow on the trimming, and fitting. This isn't something I have ever done. The fuse block and all the switches will be stock, and it looks like the glove box and the ash tray will still be operational. I had Charles the young guy helping me scratching his head, the whole time. He couldn't figure out what I was trying to do. So far everything has been done using the eyeball method. I probably won't get to work on it tomorrow, got a couple jobs I need to turn out. But if I get them done I might do some more fitting and welding. I am thinking of brazing the dash back in. I know that times have changed and brazing isn't the recommended way. But I have plenty of oxygen, acetylene, and brazing rods. I might play around with some scrap material and see how bad the warpage is. My welder is really too much for sheet metal. That is with me using it, I was welding from the back side of the dash, and it looks like I was welding from the front side. It will all clean up so it isn't a big deal, I was surprised when I looked at the front side of the welded seam. You know if it looks like dimes on the wrong side you were at the verge of blowing holes in it.

[david58]

Here is a few more pics of the dash.

[kyle_pc_75]

Cool idea, I'm anxious to see how it turns out.

Kyle

[Qurtys Lyn]

Should have left the radio section in the normal position, then it would look like one of them newfangled cars.


It's going to look awesome though, can't wait to see it.

[Chris V]

Hmmm...is there still room for wiper linkage? There's gotta' be a reason we haven't seen this before...

[david58]

Hmmm...is there still room for wiper linkage? There's gotta' be a reason we haven't seen this before...

It never rains in Georgia. It pours. You know every time you start modifying one thing you got to mod something else. Thanks for pointing it out though, I hadn't given the wipers any thought. I don't know if I have a wiper assembly for it.

[Sneaks]

BOX<---- ---->David.

Nice plan, I like it. As an owner of a Bug with a rollcage in it, I can tell you it is VERY tight at the corners. I think this would work, the only hangup I see is what has already been pointed out and that is the wipers but you should be able to snag a low profile setup outta the junk yard and make it work with some fabrication...which you are obviously not afraid of. I would think since you are tying it back into the bulkhead that any structural integrity lost will be minimal.

[david58]

BOX<---- ---->David.

Nice plan, I like it. As an owner of a Bug with a rollcage in it, I can tell you it is VERY tight at the corners. I think this would work, the only hangup I see is what has already been pointed out and that is the wipers but you should be able to snag a low profile setup outta the junk yard and make it work with some fabrication...which you are obviously not afraid of. I would think since you are tying it back into the bulkhead that any structural integrity lost will be minimal.

Well this morning I dug thru my earthly treasures and found a complete wiper assembly that fits the car. Chris V was dead right the wipers will not work, there isn't enough room for the motor bracket to fit in stock form. But looking at the situation I believe I can make then work. The wiper shafts themselves have enough room to be installed with the Frenched dash in place. So if I mount them and the linkage I can remotely mount the motor on a fabricated bracket. As long as both linkages stay the same it doesn't matter where the motor is mounted. I will just need to make a brace to go between the shafts. It is doable from what I can tell, just have to use some of that brain matter.

[david58]

Got a few minutes to play around with the wiper motor mechanism I made a video to show how it works. I installed the wiper shafts and the linkage. The linkage going to the wiper motor still has clearance problems, but nothing that can't be tweaked. This gives me the option of updating the motor so it will have 3 speeds.

[david58]

If you compare these 2 pics you can see where I cut the lower part of the dash out with a cutoff wheel. The dash is spot welded in this 1/2 inch seam, by using the overlapping lip as a guide you can cut it out perfectly straight from the top. The side cuts are the trickiest, on the top part of the dash I cut just under the rolled lip that runs across the top it has a slight curvature to it. The top of the dash and the bottom are about as perfect a fit as you could hope for. I used some sheet metal I had laying around to fill in around the top and sides of the dash. I left the 2 sides real long as you can see in the previous pics. The reason for it is that it will be easier to blend the sides back into the pillars, it is easier to bend a long piece of sheet metal than it is a short one. Once I get the curvature right then I will trim them, then I can make the final cuts on the pillars, and butt weld it all together. This moves the dash down about a inch and forward about 4 inches and retains a stock appearance. I like the idea of a use-able glove box, having window you can roll down without busting your knuckles on the roll cage, and the extra knee room. The only thing that presents a problem is the wipers, hopefully I will have time tomorrow to address that problem and get it ironed out.

[david58]

[david58]

I am smoothing the dash I welded some sheet metal where the speedo, the fuel gauge and speaker were. That way I can install the gauges and have a clean looking dash. I am using the fiber glass bondo it is hard to work with but it is a lot stronger than regular bondo. It is really hard to use in small amounts like around the top of the dash where the glove box is. There is a lip that is only about a 1/4 of an inch wide. Anyone have any suggesting on what to use to fill the seam?