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Finished remolding my dash for the guages. Also remolded to fit my steering column instead of the large rectangle opening around the stock 98 column. Once finished with the fiberglass and body fill, I retextured and painted the panel. More pics coming of the dash back in completed.

Thats dang nice lookin, is that just a retro fit of a new dash in a old truck?
How hard was that?
looks real good :D

Nice job. Same question - is that a new dash in your '75?

Yeah, I originally put the dash in the 75 about 2 years ago and modified it a couple of times for the guages. This time is the most practical. It is a lot of work, but not to bad if you have experience in custom fabrication with fiberglass. I use to build show trucks where guys would spend 3-7 thousand on a speaker enclosure. The hardest part is not turning back. You first have to cut out the metal original dash. If any one ends up doing this I can give you alot of helpful hints to make it easy. Another thing I did was modify the heat/AC system to actuated/electronic from the factory vacuum so I could use the 98 heater control module. Alot went in to it, but I have been customizing cars and trucks for 15 years and enjoy it. Patience and time is a big part of it. And don't forget to ask questions from many of the experienced people in forums like this. I know I have.

AWESOME. I think upgrades like that really make the older trucks feel a lot better. One thing I hate about my burb is the interior. Its all boxy and hard. My 97 feels so much more comfortable and its just stuff like the dash that make it that way.

It defintely changes the feel. I also put 95 60/40 front seat and a 2002 3rd seat in for the rear. It is amazing how an interior change can make the truck feel different and more clean.

Here are some more pics of it back together showing the difference of the hole around the column, heater controls (stock), and the rig it is in. Still need to mold the lower for the column and I need the push button for the glove box.

Very nice work!

That is seriously awesome. You really oughta do a write-up on that.

It is a very long process if you include the dash bezel mods. But if I get some time between the kids, finishing my roll bar,and enough people interested in a write up, I might be able to do a write up if time allows.

I'd love to do this swap in my truck sometime as well, as my interior needs an upgrade pretty bad...

However, I've been told that this dash is significantly taller than the stock one. How well are you able to see over it, and how much more / less room does it take?

It does not sit much higher than the stock and I can see perfect over it with no sight restrictions at all. That may be because I am 6'2". It is however 1-2" shorter on each side as far as the width in some places. The fun part is finding the dash to start with.

Other than the obvious wiring nightmare, how did you go about figuring out the heater controls? My truck has a cable driven heater box at the moment. Or, does a guy put the heaterbox from the donor truck in? How about mounting it. I know that when you cut the old dash out there is a small tab that is left over, but how easy is it to physically bolt the dash in otherwise?

The wiring of the headlight switch isn't to bad, but the heater was a challenge. I modified parts out of the donor trucks heater box to attach to my assembly. It takes a lot of time to adjust the throw of the actuators from the 98' to open and close the doors correctly. I also used parts under the hood in my a/c box. It is a very painstaking process, but I can assist in it if you do it. I have a background in auto electronics and fabrication that helps when reading the 98 schematics and making it work. the mounting is fairly simple with a couple of brackets and some screws in the right spots. You can't tell from the pics ,but I cut about 6" of the front off of the dash at the winsheild using a plastic overlay from my old dash as a templete for the shape and defrost holes.I also left 3-5" of the metal from the old dash at the winsheild to hold the stock defrost in place and to create a shelf for the new dash to sit on.

Wiring is of no concern to me. Probally be the easiest part of the swap as far as I am concerned.... My only real concerns lie in the heater box stuff. If you did not cut as much off the dash, would it really cramp you in a regular cab truck?

You need to cut it or the dash would have to be mounted higher because of the angle of the steering column. Since I remolded the dash to fit snug now, I have to drop my column to put the dash bezel on and then bolt the column back up. There are other mods as well like reconstructing a new duct system to match all the vents. If you end up doing it I might be able to take pics of the duct system as well. I used the 98 actuators to control the to old cable functions and 1 actuator to control a door in the pass. kick panel, which I also fabbed . 2 electronic controled vacuum swithches for the defrost door and the fresh air cowl door outside.

That looks great. I bet that was one long process to complete. Looks like it's paying off now though. :thumb:

man all say it again that looks sweet, i wish i had the time and a place to do that to mine, but i think mine is destined to truggy, wouldent want to put that much work into it

If i was to go and find a dash out of a newer truck what year would you suggest. Are there any that fit better then others? I will not be using the factory heat cuircit so that will make my swap a little easyer. I will be using the autometer guages and the stock HL switch,wiper, Other then that stuff thats all i will be using. How much did you have to cut off the new dash to fit at the windshield? Could you also go into a little detail on the fiberglass molding of the new dash. Or maybe a suggestion on a good tech book.

Thanks in advance,

95'-98' dashes are the same except the 95' is different on the passenger side because it did not have an air bag that year. I like the 96'-98' because of the air bag area. I am going to flush a monitor in that area later for video. I have not measured the 99' and newer dashes yet, but from experience in removing them, I feel that the conversion would be a lot tougher. I cut of approx. 6" of the new dash. The cut removes the flattened area where the 98' defrost vents are. I can take measurements if and when you need them. As far as the fiberglass goes, I cut the factory mold piece around the column on the pass. side and moved it over about 4-5" and then reconsructed the fill piece. Where the guauges are, I used 1/4" mdf and cut it roughly to fit in thedash bezel with the holes for the guages hole sawed out first. Then I tacked it in place with some zap gap (which is a 2 stage model super glue). Filled in most of the gaps with a coat of fiberglass resin and then did the finish work with metal glaze body filler. After that it is sanding and then texture and then paint. The filler piece at the column is a little more difficult. I used abs to frame the area and then stretched lycra cloth for the form and then glassed it. You can also use 2 stage urethane to fill the mold (body shops use it to fix bumpers and stuff), but the gun is about $135 and the filler is $60 a shot. I used the urethane all the time when I would build custom dashes with 15" monitors in them. It works great and quick, but costs a lot. I use to work for Ames Audio. You can see alot of the vehichles I worked on on their web site at www.amesaudio.com. Hope this helps.

One other question yet. Would the trimming be required if you used a steering column from the later truck?

Not sure, but most likely because of the angle of the steering column mount under the dash and the area in which it goes through the firewall. Which both can be modified, but would be more work than if you cut the dash. I am assuming you are talking about the cut at the windsheild. If you are talking about the dash bezel, then you would still have to modify the dash bezel or move the column over to the right since the centering of our rigs is not the same as the 98'.

Very true. I'll have to see if I can get ahold of the owner of this 74, and see how he installed his dash...

http://webpages.charter.net/toolboy/

I was going to use the 98' steering column from the donor truck, but my neighbor ended up using it in his land cruiser, which we also installed the motor,tranny,computer, and harness in. He paid for the donor truck, so I can just be happy the dash would not fit in his rig. It looks like the 74 loses alot of leg room with the dash more forward to allow for the non cutting. Like I said before, I am 6'2" and have my seat back all the way. He did a really clean job as well. I am assuming that he has the computer from the donor truck in there because he kept the factory instrument cluster.

That looks awesome man! Great work!

Normally I dont go in for custom applications, but I must say that is dang sweet man. In your 2nd post, the 1st pic, I was like O hes showin a pic of the truck he took the dash out of.....wait a second...lol. Again man, very nice work. :saweet: :thumb:

Hey man, the more I look at this, the more I want to do it.

If you've got them, can you email me pictures of the brackets made to hold the dash in place, along with any pictures of the heater box stuff?

I've got two months before I gotta have my truck on the road (wanna tear into grad with it, the last time everyone saw it was this time last year, and it was an old 2wd rust bucket, hehe), and it is looking like I might be able to finish the dash swap.

ZieglerDigital(at)hotmail.com

It might take a couple days, but I will get you some pics. Some of the areas I obviously can not get to because the dash is in, but I can explain the best I can.

I cant see your pics, but I Glassed, and bondo-fied a complete 1983 blazer dash, and boy was that a Pain.... Most Time I ever spent on a little Project... However that thing Looks SSSSSSSSSSSuper SSSSSSSsweet. I painted it Metalic Orange, The rest of the truck is Blue GO GATORS!!!!!!!!!!!

Looks real good... Awesome job man...

Thanks for all the compliments guys. I would also like to give my wife and kids some props for allowing me the time to do this kind of work on my rig. Hope this has given others some good ideas. I know that I love to be custom and different, especially with my rig builds.

I think when you have time you should do a write up on it. I really like how good your's looks. I would also like to see all the pics on the install. :thumb:

The problem is that I did not take any progress pics of the dash build, but if someone wants to do the conversion and needs my help or is local enough to do it at my house, we can do a full step by step from start to finish. Pics are worth a thousand words as they say. So to just do a write up without the pics to compare to might not do as well. but I can certainly answer any questions when someone is doing it.

Alright, when I find a good dash, you and myself can work together to produce an in-depth tutorial :)

Sounds good. Just pm me when you are ready.

I see your/our delema....... :thinking:

Too bad your on the OTHER SIDE OF THE COUNTRY :D

Thanks for being willing to help out :thumb:

awesome work. i'd be interested in a write up . :grin:

gotta bring this up from the dead just cause its so cool

I didn't see this before. That is Focking Sweet!

Man that's really cool Very nicely done..... I'd like to put Auto meters in my 98 sub dash how much work do you think it would be??? or would the computer interfear

That's pretty slick!

Wow that looks really good. I dont like the gauges from 95, my work truck is a 95 GMC 1500 and I think the interior is gawd awful. But that looks really really good and with the autometers its unbeleivable. Nice work and bravo!

WOW!!!! You did an outstanding job, brother!!!!!!! :bow: The final results are truly impressive. Once again, my hat is off to you. :thumb:

hey man it looks really really sweet. i was wanting to do the same swap in my 88 blazer but wasnt sure how to go about it so i fiugred i'd go on ck5 to see if anybody had done it and sure enough the first thread i clicked on was here and i was amazed and now i really wanna do it in my truck. i had an 95 extended cab 1500 and i loved the dash in it and i wanna put that in my 88. so i'm gonna see what i can do w/ the info i got off ur page man. again thats really awsome.

back from the dead. Im truely em jealous, amazing work. Here is another thing to add to my dream build along with the duramax and allison :haha:

nice job :thumb:

Fine work!!!

hey that looks awesome i was thinking about doing something like that to mine too. you did a bitching job. do you know how far concord is from OC i was thinking about trying to get this done b4 the end of the year. also if you could let us know like a list of all the parts u used form the donor that would be cool :eek1:

looks bad azz man good work:bow:

Man, this thread is back from the dead. Concord is in the Bay Areawhich is probably 400 miles away from Orange County. Most of the parts for mounting were just fab. As with any swap, grab as much as you can that mounts to the part you are swapping. You can always throw away unused parts. I believe I wrote some install steps in a thread from the past. Try searching my posts and threads from 3 or 4 years ago.

cool thanks. i actually found a guy parting out a 97 silverado i am supposed to go pick up the stuff this weekend so i am just gonna take everything i can pull out in one day. and ill serch you're posts if i can figure out how lol. well thanks again for the pointers