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Dash Construction

OK, now that I am proficient at hosting my own photos....i have finally d/l'ed a multitude of pix for those who wanted construction photos of the various wackiness i've come up with over the years.
I figure, we can view the pix, then discuss and do a Q and A session and hopefully we can all learn from the discussions. I have d/l'ed my entire CIVIC construction photo album used in IASCA, but for right now, we will do the dash construction section for those of you who want to get stupid and/or have asked how it was done.
Here are the pix as they appeared in the install logbook>>>

NOTE> the majority of this dash was constructed in 2000 right after Finals in OKC, and the techniques will seem a bit archaeic (at least to me now), but this is one way we can all learn new techniques and discuss and hopefully come up with new ideas and whatnot.

OEM dash stripped down and ideas stage

Air bag brackets removed and metal framework "shaved"

OK, in this pic, notive I have already "narrowed" the defroster plenum, cut open the outside sections of the defroster channels, and removed the metal. I am also cutting and grinding away the top of the driver's side steering collumn support/airbag mount. The goal at this stage is to remove as much physical obstructions from the top as possible so the mids have unobstructed paths to the listeners ears.



In this pic, I am using the airsaw to "shave" metal over the top of the steering collumn, leaving only the brace bar and tilt mechanism on the top. YOu can also see the monstrous A/C routing box that would later be modified so that all 4 of those openings you see that USED to blow out of the 4 dash vents will be shaved off and sealed up, leaving only defrost vents and/or floor vents to be used. This would help clear out a HUGE obstruction in the center.

Modified S-10 defroster vent after narrowing

I took the plastic OEM defroster plenum and lopped-off the outer side sections, then used a piece of masonite to create a new side. This made the defroster channels about 12" narrower.


MDF framework and various "re-used" green trim bezels

OK, this gets hairy> First, a horseshoe-shaped upper border was cut to sit flush against the windshiled out of 3/4" MDF. This piece sits ONTOP of the modded defrost plennum and also provided the "opening" for the S-10 defrost grille to plop into (see later pic). This piece was secured to two side border pieces cut to the EXACT shape of the OEM dash and made from 1/2" MDF. These were screwed to the black metal dash brackets at far left and far right after the brackets were "shaved" a bit. The bottom board was then secured from one side to the other and would provide interlacing with the center console. YOu can see the two arced pieces which double as central dash braces and how they were cut (to form dash shape) and attatched (with l-bracket backstrap chumks and screws). I then attatched the two dash face boards to either side of the arcs with bondo-hair (so they would NOT move). Notice the black A/C control bezel chunk? I used a coping saw to cut this section out of the OEM dash bezel to provide a FACTORY fit for the AC controls, and it is seen here glued flush into the pass side dash face. The driver's side face simply provides an opening for the collumn to come thru and would meet with the new steering collumn shroud in a bit.
You also see the speaker baffles here, for 5.25: mid and 7" midbass, made from 1/2" MDF and secured at the angles I wanted. Do you see the gray fleece up top? Well, before putting this dash frame in the car and bolting it in prior to "glassing, I attatched the fleece around the top edge of the top board next to the windshield with staples...this would serve as my base to "pull the fleece" from. Get it?

It's hard to see the attatchment points here for the speaker baffles, but there are l-brackets behind the baffle securing it in three places, one to the bottom board, one to the side, one to the top (under the fleece in the pic). Look at the firewall, you can see the passenger side airbag support was completely removed/cut away. YOu can also see that I have shaved off the top of the AC air exchanger and sealed off the section with two layers of Dynamat Xtreme...worked like a charm! I also had to cut away metal behind the mids up top to clear the magnets...this metal was just part of the defroster channel, and since I narrowed the defroster, this area wasnt used anyways. I sealed off the defroster channel with more Dynamat Xtreme.

The fleece-wrapping stage

Here's when I stapled the fleece along the windshield edge...you can see the S-10 vent being trial-fitted. At this point, it is just the wooden frame you saw in the prior pic.

OK, remember seeing the green bezels in the prior pic for the gauges and tv's??? Well, they were attatched in step-like fashion in between the arcs. Since they were already made to fit the screens and gauges perfectly (see the previous dash from OKC finals) I decided to shave them down and re-use them.
I used some large plumber's insulation foam (similar to pads on a bicycle) over the top edge of the gauges and the leading edges of the arcs to give a more rounded appearance to the mold, then stretched the fleece over the whole thing. I used staples to secure the fleece around the entire perimeter of the dash. I taped-off the speaker grilles and secured them into place to hold the fleece to the speaker baffles. I then used pieces of masonite and screwed them into backer-plates to suck the fleece into all three openings, which are provided by my re-used green bezels. Great care was taken to ensure the fleece made COMPLETE CONTACT around the entire bezel opening. THis step is vital, of you will have to perform surgery to fix it later. YOu can see some screws I used to pull the fleece tight on the other side of the arcs, and various screws pulling it tight elsewhere.

[img]http://www.teamaudionutz.com/pics/dash10.jpg/img]
I actually stapled the fleece to the inside of the bottom lcd bezel, then used masinite chunks to pull the fleece into the middle and top openings. I had to make a relief cut inside the middle opening to allow the fleece to complete the stretch in that area. YOu can also see I pulled it tighly around the arcs with screws and staples.

The 'glassing stage, first soaking the fleece, then two layers of matting prior to removal from car.

Item #1---COVER THE WINDSHIELD!!!!! Resin on glass is for gheys, and the honda is no exception! Although it doesnt seem like it, resin will splatter a long way. I covered the floors with old sheets and carpet and basically soaked the fleece with a 2" paint brush applying about 2 gallons of resin. I had to make CERTAIN that i used enough resin to soak completely tru the fleece and bond with ALL wood surfaces everywhere the two materials touched. This step is also vital, or long days of corrective surgery is ahead of you! After a complete day with the car sitting in the sun, I applied another liberal coat of resin and let it sit in the car another day to fully cure. THis step was also vital or warpage will occur.

Removal from car

Here's the fresh dash mold removed from the car after curing. You can see all the relief cuts that had to be made in the fleece to get it to stretch properly. At this stage, I am about to flip it over and apply matting to the backside to create structural integrity! YUM!


trimming

Basically, trimming away all excess fleece and using the D/A sander to scuff the resined surface. I used a grinder to remove the fleece where it was stapled.

the backside

OK, here's what the backside of the un-matted mold looked like. You can see the backstraps used to hold the speaker baffle in place very well. Also, you can see where the fleece was stapled along the top and down into the defroster opening before being shaped in the car. See also the little step-arrangement made using bracing between the arcs that held the gauge and monitor bezels in place. Also seen are two blocks of wood used to hold the AC and steering collumn face boards. We are basially looking at the back of the mold skeleton...BOO! lol


Sanding, bondo-ing, and test-fitting

here, I first scuffed the entire mold with 40 grit on the D/A sander. Next, after trimming, I used bondo to smooth over the screwed areas of the fleece and smooth other areas where the fleece was bunched and had to be ground away, and around the speakers for proper grill clearance. Also had to fix an area around the gauges so they'd fit properly.

Additional layers of matting on the backside with a 1/4"-3/8" cross-sectional thickness of the ENTIRE dashboard. Then Dynamat on the entire backside.

After matting the backside, i applied Dynamat Xtreme, then covered the ENTIRE backside with three layers of Gravitex spray-on bedliner for added damping.

Polyester filler primer, sanding, spot-filling stage

Slick-Sand filler primer is your friend! We primed it, sanded it smooth, then used spot-putty to fill minor imperfections.

test-fitting

More primer applied, Wires hanging out are for the ignition extension, which incidentally is the smaller hole next to the steering collumn. You can see also the interfacing surfaces between the dash and console...came together pretty cool I must say. Darker grey primer is spot-fill primer.

Notice the arc shape now, continued into the console...much of the curves of this dash went overlooked due to the black color. What a shame.

Texture-coating for ABS plastic look

Dyed with SEM "landau black" vinyl dye

The above 4 pix represent an art-form in car audio known as texture-coating. The process of spraying texture onto your molds has to be done properly or it will look like ASS!!! We achieved a nice even coat by holding our spraycan about 2 feet from the surface, and then using 600 grit over the whole thing to smooth it out once it dried. The Dye used is very forgiving though, and a nice even coat dries to perfection!

Monitors mounted


These show how the monitors and gauge cluster were attatched from the backside and are pretty self-explanatory. Note the seemingly haphazzard block of mdf bondo-haired into place? Thats the perch for the ignition switch to mount at the right angle so it pokes out the little hole.


bolted into car

Well, here it is back in the car. There is NO WAY IN THE WORLD that vinyl could have been used to wrap this without being stitched and having seams showwing...no matter tho. b/c the texture coat looks BAD_ASS!!!!
Note the mids and midbasses are free-air!!! Yes folks, free air! I used acoustic open-cell foam damping panels and cut them down to form-fit a "partition" between the mid and midbass on each side, then packed damping panels, foam, and polyfill behind the dash from underneath and thru the speaker openings to absorb the backwaves. I created little cavities for the magnets to rest in a bed of polyfill for each driver. This effectively attenuated enough backwave that cancellation was never an issue, and the midrange in this setup was judged by many to be impeccable in both tonality and dynamics. It;s been said before, and it will be said again.....free-air works GREAT in cars!
Oh, whats that you see? Yes sir, that is Nordost Super FLatline speaker wire. Although many claim there is no sonic difference, I personally went thru the added effort to use it and was not disappointed.

 

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