A Few Modifications To My Dash Underside Cover Plate

 I added a bit more of a "Tab" in the area of my cover plate close to where the monitors are located on the dash, reason being that I needed a bit more in that area in order to be able to place a mounting screw into one of the "L" brackets I have installed that the electronics are attached too. For me this is a great place to help secure the dash under side cover plate.

Next step was to cut out an additional aluminum "L" bracket the the tapered end of my underside cover plate to be also secured to the dash with a screw. After cutting the aluminum I drilled in some holes to allow more of the fibreglass and resin to seep in and grip more to the dash. Here on the left image you can see the aluminum "L" bracket glued into place with some Contact Cement.


 On the right you can see the "L" bracket finally glassed into place with fibreglass resin and matting. Once fully set I'll place my cover plate into position and tape it down with some masking tape just to hold it in place while I drill the holes for the mounting screws. Once the holes are drilled I can smooth out the cover plate a little more and then it's basically done. I'll hold off on the priming and additional sanding before painting as I may very well want to add more to the cover plate that fits close to the stock OEM dash. I'll know a lot more about how much and what needs to be done in that area after I get around to doing another test fitting of the dash in the car. It's no doubt going to be a little tricky and finicky work but no much so that making this cover plate to begin with. Just takes a little patience and perseverance. ;)

Glassing The Dash Underside Cover Plate

I had let the thick layer of white glue dry fully over night. Not long after breakfast this morning I cut up some fibreglass matting and mixed up about 4 Ounces of resin and hardener. You can see I marked with a Sharpie Marker a straight line I estimate to be close to the dash. This is the first layer done, I'll give it another layer in about an hour or so. I don't think it needs to be super thick as it's not in a high stress area and serves as just a cover plate to hide and protect any wires hanging in under that area of the dash.

Again so far this idea is looking like it should work. I'll know a lot more once the second layer has been applied. Then I can begin shaping it more, sand it flat and eventually prime and paint. ;)

Aluminum Tabs Added To The S-1 Upper Console

I was trying over the last few days to figure out a good way to mount that small electronics board I made up that has the LED indicator light and Microphone on it that I relocated from the Annunciator sound board in order to make it install better into my S-1 Upper Console. I had originally thought of making up 2 or 4 "]" shaped brackets and bolt the board to the top of the bracket with small bolts. But I figured it's not all that big and it basically just need to be mounted in such a way that it's not going to move about all over the place so I came up with the very simple solution of making 4 small "L" shaped tabs with a hole in one end that a "Zip-tie" could be thread through and then through the hole in the corner of the circuit board, one "Zip-tie" for each corner hole. Just waiting for the fibreglass resin and matting to set but I'm pretty sure this will do a nice job of securing the small piece of board into position and still make it easy to take out at any future time that it should ever need maintenance.

On a separate note for todays accomplishments I got the rest of the switch power wires on my left hand Switch Pod connected to the Molex Connector that way they are not just flying around loose. I can attach wires to the other side of the Connector when I have a purpose for those other buttons. I'll need to pick up another 12 Pin Molex Connector for the right hand Switch Pod power wires, perhaps I'll do that this week just to get that little job out of the way and then those wires will have a connector and be well prepared for future use.