Making of a 308 interior

Love your work. Looks great, the proportions, the accuracy.
I use to work as a manual 3D model maker, with PU foam among other material,
i must say it also takes alot of courage to do this kind of project.
Good luck!
 
I'm trying to be conscious of thicknesses etc when it makes sense, like in between pieces, and when it comes to the overall size of the dash up by the windshield which I have left a little room for fiberglass and covering but thicknesses of material where it would impact mounting I am just going to take it by ear and figure out depth of attachment when I get to it. Being as most of the time that I am shaping it is trial and error I just planned on that process continuing until the end. It's going to be interesting to see your take on this Hussein and how you tackle the various challenges :)
 
OK - I can relate to that working process, I am much the same in my approach. The dash & console being stationary, I would expect to be pretty straightforward in terms of attachment & reinforcement at key intervals.

The areas of concern that I can see are things like the armrest attachment, since it needs to take weight, absorb shock (door slamming, etc.), and survive being pulled on, and have a little cushion :D. At the moment, I can't see how to resolve all those aspects. My initial thought process would be to bond aluminum plate to the backside with mounting points that correspond to the existing armrest attachment, but would the fiberglass form hold up over time with no other inner reinforcement between that and the outer form where weight & stress will be applied? I don't have experience with forming fiberglass to encompass this sort of event.

I'm looking forward to how you address this :D
 
Clark said:
All that remains now is to create the passenger side arm rest and prep the pieces for fiberglass. (Which will require some figuring out of mounting points etc, smoothing over some areas with drywall compound, and probably the removing of the binnacle from the dash - which will require a bit more thought on my part.) Anyway, the project continues.....
Click to expand...

Looking at this part of the process - if the IP is made to mount from the front face, is there any reason to have the binnacle removable? Looking at our dash shelf/frame, I don't see how one could reach up underneath in order to access any attaching hardware from underneath. I guess locating tabs along the back edge of the binnacle that tuck in/under & then securing hardware in front that are concealed by the IP could work though. Otherwise, I'm thinking just cut a recess groove that the dash covering tucks into to create an edge. On the other hand, dealing with those compound curves when covering the dash would be much easier if the binnacle is separate from the dash surface....
 
lookforjoe said:
Looking at this part of the process - if the IP is made to mount from the front face, is there any reason to have the binnacle removable? Looking at our dash shelf/frame, I don't see how one could reach up underneath in order to access any attaching hardware from underneath. I guess locating tabs along the back edge of the binnacle that tuck in/under & then securing hardware in front that are concealed by the IP could work though. Otherwise, I'm thinking just cut a recess groove that the dash covering tucks into to create an edge. On the other hand, dealing with those compound curves when covering the dash would be much easier if the binnacle is separate from the dash surface....
Click to expand...

YUP! That's why I'm taking it one step at a time. :p
 
Got a few hours yesterday to start preparing the center console for glassing. As mentioned earlier I need to protect the foam from the polyester resin that I will be using for the fiberglass. The original plan was to prepare the pieces with acrylic paint but when push came to shove I just went with what I was familiar with - painters tape. Its cheap, thin, relatively easy to apply, and can conform to many shapes and sizes with little effort and the polyester resin won't eat it for breakfast. I'm thinking now that I may wish to spray it quickly with a liquid wax as a parting agent to make the separation easier. I'll probably test this method first on the door armrest to make sure that everything is copacetic as these pieces are easy to fabricate in the event that something happens to go awry.

green-console.jpg
 
The nuts are half inch with 3 washers on top of that and nothing on the rear. This is just a temporary setup until I get around to making a more permanent stand-off.

handbrakeheight.jpg
 
Just curious, are you going to; a) glass over the foam as a rigid top layer, b) make a hollow glass shell to use alone, or c) use the glass to make a mold then create a new glass piece from it?
 
Dr.Jeff said:
Just curious, are you going to; a) glass over the foam as a rigid top layer, b) make a hollow glass shell to use alone, or c) use the glass to make a mold then create a new glass piece from it?
Click to expand...
It started out as A but seems best to make B. Because I'm going to cover it with vinyl it would be too much work for C. I'm going to be using the thin mat to create a shell strong enough that I can take off and glass stronger from the inside.
 
What to do?

During the course of curving the door panel arm rests I noticed that the window crank fouls by maybe 1/4 inch when everything is in place. Should I just notch a piece out of the armrest and make it a tight fit or are there stubby cranks out there that I can get? Given the location of the inside door handle it doesn't look like there is going to be enough room in there to create a door pocket for storage either. ideas?

curve.jpg


handle.jpg


Image1.jpg
 
Last edited:
I would say to notch it but... on my car I noticed the teeth in my plastic handles were worn and slippin. I replaced them with metal ones, probably sourced from Spiders. I do not have the original ones for comparison but they maybe slightly shorter. Not sure...

20180303_145639.jpg


Other option would be to fit electric Windows... Not sure if it Worth the trouble, but seeing how much work you are doing just to replace a perfectly working dash, that's your call!
 
Couple thoughts. I wanted something different for my window cranks, and found a couple styles from other cars that either fit or could be made to fit easily. The point being to look for options that are shorter.
Also consider remaking the arm rest with more of a"S" shape so it arches higher over the crank.
 
20180303_164007.jpg
just in case my solutions are of any interest for you, just found a spare metal window handle. Cromodora 4192246 used on Fiat 131 and 124. A tad more than 3,5 inches from the extremity of the rotative handle to the middle of the shaft.

And if looking for electric Windows, I have a pair of spare side Windows with the electric motor. But no switches. BTW, switches are going in the center console.
 
Thanks guys.... you both got me thinking.... so I doubled checked the height of the dash and remembered that it sags when just sitting there. So I have been taking my measurements with the angle sloped too low to begin with :(. When I raised it to the proper place the top of the "S" has an inch of clearance over the crank now. But with that being said I now have to add another inch to the top of the bottom pieces. DOH!

Oh, and I forgot to carve out a lip for the top of the console box before I added the tape - so I did that this afternoon too. I must have too much on my mind these days... good thing I'm not a brain surgeon.

bucket.jpg
 
I'd agree with Jeff. Looking at the original armrest, it appears to be slightly flatter up top coming back into the door before curving down anyway. That was my original thought when I first saw your armrest, regardless of issues with the window crank. That would also allow you to utilize the existing captive nut from the original armrest also.

EDIT - didn't read the later posts, so never mind . It's a non-issue. I do still think the top should level off a tad before meeting the dash though...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top