It's time to cut my dash face off and revamp the cage

[sponsoredbydad]

Like the title says dash face has to be removed for some much needed repairs. The cage broke from vibration inside behind it. When I had it bent and put in I was not there for this thru the dash section and looks like, no , it was 2-pieced with a smaller tube sleeved inside,partially welded about 3/4 way around. So now I'm gona do it right and that A-Pillar tube needs to be 1 piece,so hence the dash face removal. Question? Is there more to it than removing the side bolts then cutting along the slots under the dash pad.

 

[Greg72]

Two bolts on each side (vertically) and there's a wing of metal that is spot welded behind and in the corner areas.... You may have already cut those to get the a-pillar installed.

Do all that and you can get it out in one piece. (Assuming you cut along those front slots like you mentioned already)


-G

 

[sponsoredbydad]

Cool. Got most of the dash gutted today so maybe tomorrow

 

[sponsoredbydad]

Wheew That was a wee bit harder than I had envisioned, but was persistent and it finally came off. Those spot welded wings were a bitch with the cage in the way.(If your going to do this I suggest doing it before you hide the cage behind the dash)Here is some pictures of the cuts,wings,and the reason I had to do this.

 

[Greg72]

Nice job Chris!

So......what's the plan now that you've got everything apart?


-G

 

[sponsoredbydad]

Plan? I have to have one of thoseI just wanted to cut my dash off
Actually. Remove the cage from the B-Pillar to the engine cage tie-in and redo it, right this time, a little rust repair around the vents and put some sort of sound/heat barrier on the inner firewall area

 

[NorCal69]

Hey, that looks like mine now..

A piece of 1.5 cut in half then whittled down, will fit the curve of the dash where you cut it. A couple of wings down by the vents and you should be good to go for the re-mount.

 

[sponsoredbydad]

Whew! After waiting for a month for the Fab guys to get me scheduled into their shop, then driving 1 hr each way twice a week for 3 weeks putting in 10-12 hour days rolling around in shaved metal dust the "Anti Prius" is back home.

 

[ashman]

woot!

 

[63chevyll]

Nice cage work and light bar

 

[72gmck5]

looks great

 

[Greg72]

Looks great Chris!

So what was the motivation for rebuilding the cage? Rust repair, or something more dastardly?

-G

 

[sponsoredbydad]

Looks great Chris!

So what was the motivation for rebuilding the cage? Rust repair, or something more dastardly?

-G

Well mostly it was a safety thing. I knew I had not really finished it to begin with. I had to change things up when I had to push the rear seat 4" back and remove some of the critical rear structure. Then the A-Pillar going thru the dash broke the welds and came apart. While the A-Pillars were out, Ya found some rust under the dash so it got cut out and replaced. The light bar was just a cool factor bling thing.