77 yellow gmc swb

[BIGBERTHA]

Man, that bezel is freakin sweet!!! Nice Job!!

[73gmc454]

Thanks I'm still sanding and smoothing out the bezel, not a lot goin on its been hot ! I was able to get the rest of the knobs turned and polished , I removed the knobs from the 50 amp switches and put the turned units on tonight ,

[67_SS396]

Nice touch on the switches.
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[bigsj]

Man your doing and outstanding job on your truck i love the way your back wheels look.

[BuddR]

EXCELLENT fab work. The best part of your whole project is all the unique one off pieces but yet old school factory look. As always great job.

[73gmc454]

Thanks ,Well after alot of sanding I finally got the bezel ready for paint !

[BuddR]

What color are you going with on the bezel ???

[73gmc454]

Semi gloss black , I need a new dash pad next, the hunt is on !

[watahyahknow]

i wonder if the dashes are better in canada theres less heat there . it isnt that far to ship parts from

[73gmc454]

Yea I think that the cooler weather helps , I'm in the northern US and the original pad was fine other than theres a couple cracks where there was a pop can sitting when it was parked for 5 years , I thought I would maybe try to smooth it out but just dont have the time to do that just want to get another one , new or good used , dont hear much good about the new ones but I may have to get 1 for now ... I'm ready to drive this thing !

[watahyahknow]

i seen a few dashes here where they pulled fake leather over it and gleud it , looked like new you need stuff that can stretch a bit though

[73gmc454]

Yea I wished I could fix the dash but I dont have time or the want to make it happen, be way easier for me to make some money and buy one that works !

[luifer76]

Wow the bezel turned out really nice man....can't wait to see it all painted and installed keep the updates coming....
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[73gmc454]

Thanks I got it painted and the gauges installed , I've been dealing with some wiring issues but I think I got them all figured out , I also ordered a new dash pad today we'll see how that goes ,

[77BBGMC]

That looks great!

[Gordonr1973]

That really does look fantastic!!

[BIGBERTHA]

That bezel looks amazing!

[watahyahknow]

looks profesionally build . i think people might be interested pulling a mould of that dash to start building them in poliester

[kikkegek]

very cool!

[bigsj]

The bezel turned out great the gauges are also nice you can start selling those you can make a mint i no i would buy one.

[luifer76]

Originally Posted by bigsj

The bezel turned out great the gauges are also nice you can start selling those you can make a mint i no i would buy one.

X2 ill buy one too.....

[bigblock73]

You do good work, bezel came out GREAT!

[hotrod_991]

id like to see the back side with all the gauges in so I can get a hint on how its all help in and wired if you dont mind

[73gmc454]

Thanks guys glad you like it as much as I do , it turned out better than I could have imagined , by the sounds of it I should have built 10 of them ! I wish I knew a how to go about casting something this big I do all sorts of small items but this is just way bigger than I can handle , heres a shot of the back with the gauges mounted with the autometer brackets supplied with the gauges ,theres really not much wiring all the gauges are mechanical what wiring there is lights ,fuel and voltmeter are in the dash ,

[watahyahknow]

it shouldnt be too hard to cast this piece as its made from flat parts mostly and doesnt has compound curve or inwarth bend parts that cause it to get stuck in the mould .
if you ever make a second dash from steel make the mould before you make the holes in it .
sink it intoo a piece of plywood , make sure you get the looseningcompound on there thick and everywhere on the part and the wood around it so youre able to get youre piece back from the mould
put on a few coats of celcoat and then layer on fiberglass mats a few inches past the dash and ontoo the wood soaking it in resin in the process.
you can layer in a few scraps of wood as whell to prevent the mould from bending and to make it sit flat on the table in the future when pooring stuff in it .
when everything is hardened you can pull it off the wood , the extra around the edges alows you to pry sumething under there to lift it
when the mould is released go over it to see if there any small defects left in it as they copy intoo every poor you make from it you can fill those with bodyfiller and/or sand with 400 or so waterproof sandpaper , trim the edges a bit so there clean without fiber strands sticking out but still leave it bigger then the original
before using the mould make sure theres enough looseningcompound smeared intoo it put on a few coats of celcoat and layer on some fiberglass and resin untill its thick enough
when thats dry and you got it released from the mould all you have left to do is trim the edges to fit the dash and drill the holes

the things to watch out for is the loosening agent , if you leave one spot untouched youre gleuing the parts together and you cant get them apart without damaging both the mould and the part
when working with fiberglass and epoxy you have a verry limited time to work it intoo the product once you mixed in the hardener before it starts to go off , the stuff stinks to high heaven gets youre head intoo the clouds , makes you think you are flying or floating at least and when you get it on youre hands and clothes its not comming off get it under youre shoes before walking inside and it'll be all over the livingroom carpet , epoxy without hardener stays sticky so the wife will hate you forever if you happen to use the same shoes and clothing in the house ........
you need to make sure that the glass mats will touch the innercorners of the mould you need to stipple the stuff with a tough short brush to make sure there no airbubles in those corners and then stipple some more over the rest to make sure all the matting is saturated and without air underneat there some rollers made from rings that are handy for the flat parts ...... all withing the 10 minutes or so you have untill the epoxy goes off so make sure you got most of it cut to size ready to trow in the mould the stuff you use you either have to trow away or clean/dunk in acetone

i have an alergy to epoxy myself i got it from working with the stuff , i get small bubbles on thin skin (eyelids between fingers wrists those type of places ) itches like poison ivy and the bubbles flow together and makes the place swell up .
so make sure you use eye skin hair everywhere protection when working with the stuff (go to the toilet before using the stuff as whell as nuttings worse than doing the peepeedance when working in a timelimit wearing all kinds of stuff you need to take off before going inside and still run the chance on getting epoxy on the family jewels) or better still bring the dash to someone who can make small series of it and have him make the mould and the finished products