I'm stuck with welding chassis together as the jig has a frame on it at the moment so i decided to make a start on my 40 Ford dash, Its a fair bit wider than the T body and its usual to narrow them in the middle and recurve the ends.
I didn't want to narrow it so i cut it to length and will make new curved ends for it later.
One problem is with the 40 cluster is that its almost impossible to get a speedo and 4 small gauges in it, I've elected to fit just a speedo, oil pressure and water temp, my voltmeter and fuel gauge will be going elsewhere.

I made up a baseplate in 2mm stainless sheet and made the surround from 25mm x 5mm stainless bar, its made in 4 bits and welded at the corners. The baseplate is held to it by 8 x 3mm countersunk screws.






Next up was the speaker grille which actually will house my radio instead, easy way out would of been to get a repro chrome 40 grille but i did that on my 32 and while it has classic looks i wanted something different so i set about making something that would reflect the lightening hole theme in the car, again i started with a piece of 2mm stainless sheet and marked out my design that just happens to be the same as my grill insert, more about that later.
The outside finisher is 15mm x 5mm stainless bar again welded in each corner and radiused, the sheet is then secured to the back of the finisher with small screws.
It hinges up for access to the radio, I wish i had kept the hinge templates from when i did my 32 as they would of saved me a lot of time making it all work again.






Polished hinges are welded to the 2mm stainless baseplate and connect to a hinge plate that is welded to the inside of the dash.
i was originally going to polish both baseplates but thought i might get reflections that might dazzle me so both will be copper flake, I think it will also highlight the polished stainless edges better.






I was originally going with small bullet shaped thingys in the small holes but i've now scrapped that idea as i just didn't like it when i put some in, now i will be going with small rivet heads.








Where the ends were cut off the cut went through the ashtrays so fill in pieces were made and welded in and smoothed off.








There are quite a few holes to fill, some are stock but a fair few have been added by the various owners over the years.








The original radio hole needed filling so i used the piece i cut from the top of the dash, no wastage here. The bar you see here is the hinge bar for the hinged opening grille.








The piece was shaped to fit nicely and tack welded in place.








Then fully welded and smoothed off