Cascade Crew

Quasi-Traction · Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 10:40 am Post subject: Some welding trouble

My berlinetta has a problem.

It won't accept a 3rd gen dash.

This is due to the dash supports being cut for a 4th gen dash to be installed.

Tony and I cut the dash supports out of the 84 yesterday.

They'll need to be welded in.

What i'm concerned with is how tight a space it is to work with.

Can anyone here tackle this problem? I can pay for your supplies and possibly some of your time.

Any other suggestions/avice to make this work. Really its the upper portion that will need to be welded in. the bottom side is in ok shape.

84transam383 · Banned Joined: 25 Jan 2004 Posts: 431 Location: bend, or

why would any of the supports need to have been cut for a 4th gen dash?

when i installed my 4th gen dash,i didnt have to do any of that,the only thing i had to modify was the wiring which was a royal pain.

im guessing someone didnt know what they were doing

ill be in salem this weekend i think,i can give you a hand if ya need it. ill pm you my cell number

Quasi-Traction · Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 12:44 pm Post subject:

I appreciate the offer.

The car is in portland right now, so I don't quite know how this would work.

I dont have a welder at all, but could get access to a 110 wire feed if necessary. Pretty much its two spot welds on top and three on the lower portion. I dont care how clean or sloppy it looks as long as I can get the dash back in the way its supposed to fit.

Twilightoptics · Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 12:46 pm Post subject:

What are the supports attached to? The car itself, the dash, the center console, etc?

I could do it. PITA to cart the welder around is all.

Quasi-Traction · Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 3:16 pm Post subject:

I'll try my best to describe this since I don't have a camera.

One is on the driver side and one on the passenger side, right by each door. If you were looking at the kick pannels you'd go about six inches up and to the side slightly. They have nuts that clamp the plastic part of the dash to them, and bolts with an attached washer that go through the bottom. The bottom is spot welded into a brace behind each kick pannel (about 3 spot welds) and the upper portion is welded to the cowl (two spot welds on one side, three on the other).

84transam383 · Banned Joined: 25 Jan 2004 Posts: 431 Location: bend, or

is this the peice your talking about?

the red tab visable between the kickpanel plastic,and the outer dash shell

iansane · Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 8:52 pm Post subject:

84transam383 · Banned Joined: 25 Jan 2004 Posts: 431 Location: bend, or

nope,i just unbolted part of it and pulled it back so i could snap that pic.

the dahs is narrower then a 3rd gen dash,no matter which 4th gen dash you use,or which 3rd gen dash you originally had,so there is a slight gap if you stick with 3rd gen door panels,but if you mod the doors for 4th gen panels,it fits like a glove.

and i havent had to cut/modify any original part of my car to get the dash to fit,i made custom brackets to extend the 4th gen peices out to bolt to the 3rd gen bracketing on the firewall,im in the process of taking my car back apart{since i plan on continuing the project now} ill snap off some pics tommoroww after work or saturday,to show what ive done to make it fit.

heres all the old pics of when i swapped it in.

Quasi-Traction · Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 9:11 pm Post subject:

iansane · Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 9:19 pm Post subject:

Do you have the upper dash pad? I need to pick one of those up for some creative cutting...

I'm kind of curious to see the 4thgen dash like that covered in an alcantra type material. I think it'd look pretty good but I don't know any upholstry shops.

rjmcgee · The Hammer Joined: 08 Jan 2004 Posts: 2320

84transam383 · Banned Joined: 25 Jan 2004 Posts: 431 Location: bend, or

quasi,glad i could help ya pinpoint what it was...anyways,i can take some movie stills,unless i get my new camera card tommoroww{damn thing got wet,wont work now haha}anywaysi can take some movie stills of that area to see exactly how its held in,and if i head there this weekend i can help ya get it taken care of,i have a small harbor freight welder that my gf bought me awhile back i can bring it if you cant get one,you have a 220 outlet?

and ian,yah i have thte upper dash pad,it hasnt been cut yet to fit the car,the shell i have is in good shape,but i want one in better shape,so i was gonna wait until i got the better dash until i cut my upper pad to match the car.

whats the material you speak of? i havent heard of it.

Quasi-Traction · Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 9:25 pm Post subject:

while I"m thinking about it..

Ian,
I think bobby left a dash piece in the Berlinetta. I'll bring it to cows (geez, my car's gonna be FULL of thirdgen parts...).

Fish,
Tony and I made the decision not to cut the floor section you want, but we do have the lower portion of the Quarter for you. Even tried to include part of that pan right by the frame rail. It didn't take us long but just to compensate for supplies used were asking $10.

Rod,

We tried to get the section for you but were only able to remove the middle portion (where one would likely put in a fuel door to get acess to the intake pump). The other sections had several spot welds to the tank support that we couldn't get free without runining the pieces. Since it may be less than you expected, We'll say $15.

Al Hasse · Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 9:28 pm Post subject:

Quasi-Traction · Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 9:29 pm Post subject:

84transam383 · Banned Joined: 25 Jan 2004 Posts: 431 Location: bend, or

ahhh,not enough juice huh...well my dad will probably let me use his 110 wire feed,jsut let me know,i think i pm'd you my cell number if ya ened up needing help

Xophertony · Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 10:08 pm Post subject:

Quasi-Traction · Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 12:44 am Post subject:

iansane · Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 12:54 am Post subject:

Why not put another 4thgen dash in there?

Quasi-Traction · Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 1:23 am Post subject:

it always kind of looks like a hack-job modification to me. Plus I really dig the look of the stock gauges on the 82-89 camaros. I'm basically gonna make the berlinetta look like a Base model coupe with a 350 and possibly a 6 speed.