Dash idea - or rather, un-dash idea

[widebody911]

Has anyone just plain removed their dash and replaced it with a piece of carpet or somesuch? The bare metal, without the padding and all, looks like a$$, so it needs some covering. I was thinking something like that black nylong carpeting stuff, like what people use for home-made RS carpet kits. Thoughts?

[addictionMS]

lots of race cars are that why, mine is, I added a little extra aluminum over the gauges to provide more shade,



Jim

[thrown_hammer]

I have thought about removing the dash and placing a plastic dash cover in its place. A pseudo dash........

[randywebb]

Grant G's Carbon Copy car has a long strip of Al there. Pics on Rennlist site.

You can estimate the wt. savings by measuring the width and vertical dimension and then figuring out the gauge (thickness) of the steel. It won't be much.

You saw my gauge wt. post.? That will be a greater reduction if you can find a light wt. panel display to use.

[GeorgeK]

The factory put simple black felt on the dash of the RSRTurbo, 935 racers.

[thrown_hammer]

Pull the dash and put one of these in its place. That way you still have a finished look but no weight!

http://www.topsonline.com/en-us/dept_255.html

[Jack Olsen]

I always thought you could use one of those space-filling lightweight foams to reinforce a dash cap and get the basic 'dash benefits' (shade for the gauges and no reflections in the windshield) with virtually no weight.

Of course, from the sound of it, 'virtually no weight' might topple the new ultralight version of Thom's car.

[jluetjen]

When I get to that that point in my car I'm going to use the "Factory" approach. Either some left-over quasi-felt material from the front trunk glued down to the metal or else just some black felt. I've heard the finish of that in the factory race cars was pretty poor with glue squeeze out and stuff. I figure that even if I'm sloppy, it will still look authentic. No matter what I'll be avoiding any sort of spray foam. That stuff puts out really noxious gasses when it burns.

[Rich76_911s]

I do not claim to know anything about this, but when I posted a question about using a carbon fiber dash in a street car I was told that the dash added structural intergrity to the car and that without a roll cage it would be unsafe. Now doing as Jack said filling in the back of a cap might make up the difference. Like I said though I really don't know anything about the subject or structural integrity of the car without the dash, I am just passing information along. Best of luck and keep us posted on what you hear because I cracked my dash taking it out, Yeah I'm a little slow, and would like a cheaper alternative than buying a new dash.

Cheers,
Rich

[widebody911]

When we say "dash," normally we're talking about the padded cover bolted to the section between the bottoms of the A-pillars, to put it in more clinical terms. There are some who cut out the metal section (after, of course, removing the padded bit) and replace it with other materials. That metal piece probably does contribute to the structural integrity of the car, and I don't think any sane person would be cutting it out of a street car anyway.

[rsa]

I have seen two post oon Grant G's car. Aluminum door panels and now the dash. I went to Rennlist and could not find his car. Would you post a picture so we can see?? Thanks

[randywebb]

The dash cap (or cover)? ("padded cover") That's what I call it.

Again, look at Grant G's Carbon Copy. The guy who did his car put a carbon fiber piece there. I emailed Grant about it but he doesn't have the wt. savings info. Probably not a lot. estimate by weighing a replacement dash cap.

Anybody that wants to further research this can read the Exlc. article and contact the two Quebec mechanics that built the car. Citation & their names are in my car comparison table on Thom's web page. Grant would have their address(es) and he monitors Rennlist.

[Jack Olsen]

Originally posted by jluetjen
No matter what I'll be avoiding any sort of spray foam. That stuff puts out really noxious gasses when it burns.

That's a very good point. I hadn't thought of that.

[CBRacerX]

Felt it!

[thrown_hammer]

So how much does the dash pad weigh?

[widebody911]

I don't know how much the pad weighs. A large part of my motivation for replacing it isn't the weight - it's the fact that it's deteriorating badly. I cut notches on either end for the cage uprights, which got me scheming on how to get rid of it altogether.

[makaio]

Originally posted by jluetjen
No matter what I'll be avoiding any sort of spray foam. That stuff puts out really noxious gasses when it burns.

Not to be a smart a$$ but everything on a car that burns puts off some noxious $hit! If you take a large enough hit from a burning vehicle with all the cyanide gasses, it can be lights out!

[widebody911]

I put off noxious gases when I'm not burning...

[randywebb]

Uh ... why make it worse??

I'll bet there are some aircraft foams that are both structural and rel. non-toxic.