Whittled up an Idea

[deepNdirt]

I been wanting to ad some guages to my tractor as most of us do
although i didn't want to cut the dashboard in order to do so,.........
Back in the 70's when Hippy vans were a cool thing to have and having all custom made interior, I was one who did up some of these crazy Custom vans, though when the old school custom vans went out style so did my work, although I might a little out of practice in that field I still do wood crafting and building furniture cabinets etc,etc, it kinda goes hand in hand with my profession as an Interior Trim Carpenter,

anyway with some extra time lately I have whittled up a instrument dash panel for my tractor, a simple Bolt on with stud from underneath at each corner should hold it in place, while leaving a area to pass wires through from the old tach gauge Hole, as well as the idiot lights hole, off to the side would be enough room to add extra toggle switches or whatever..
It fits the contour of the dash and tightly against the rubber seal of the hood, for the one who like to keep originality/classic can easily remove it drop back in the original components, thread 4 pan head srewsor rivets into the corner holes of the dashboard and you would never know it had been installed,

In the picture you can see what I have made, I still have to fiberglass sand and paint, but you see the general idea I have, you might might! or might not want something like this, I think it could fit many of the YM-series tractors,
I must get the fiberglass matting and resin and see how much of a mess this part of the project will make,

 

[winston1]

Well now, that is going to be nice!:thumbsup:

 

[Ginormous]

Don't forget to post pics after you get it painted red.

 

[jerrybob]

Very nice work and really cool! I hope you're not thinking about gluing carpet to the side of your tractor like the old hippie vans use to have. Seriously.....great job!

 

[Ginormous]

Very nice work and really cool! I hope you're not thinking about gluing carpet to the side of your tractor like the old hippie vans use to have. Seriously.....great job!

Or how about a small mirror ball hanging from the top of the muffler??

 

[Samandothers]

I bet the seat is water filled!

 

[deepNdirt]

I bet the seat is water filled!

something wrong with having a water filled seat

my tractor has canopy over the top, I could hang some mohair

haven't quite decided yet on the mural painting

if I were to ever close in the cab I'd be sure to add
some tear drop bubble glass windows,:laughing:

so have we covered it all yet

 

[Johndeere3720]

Nice wood working. :thumbsup: Looking forward to the finished product. :thumbsup:

 

[Car Doc]

Its groovy man!

 

[deepNdirt]

Its groovy man!

Yeah! the gauges will set a little "far-out!" man! :laughing:

 

[Johndeere3720]

Yeah! the gauges will set a little "far-out!" man! :laughing:

:laughing::laughing::laughing:

 

[rmully]

If your glass job gets a little bumpy you can always apply a little bondo and smooth things up. Your project looks great and very "inventive" !!

 

[deepNdirt]

I decided not to go with the fiberglass & resin, was too costly and would had been a very time consuming procedure, so I used what I already had on my shelf ( Bondo-glass) which has fiberglass in it and works a bit easier, although have to be fast as it tends to set up very quickly, I used a thing coating in only the area's that needed, after sanding I coated it with polyurethane and lightly sand it again, then painted it, It should be dry by now and I plan to install today, I'll get pictures post up later,

 

[Johndeere3720]

I decided not to go with the fiberglass & resin, was too costly and would had been a very time consuming procedure, so I used what I already had on my shelf ( Bondo-glass) which has fiberglass in it and works a bit easier, although have to be fast as it tends to set up very quickly, I used a thing coating in only the area's that needed, after sanding I coated it with polyurethane and lightly sand it again, then painted it, It should be dry by now and I plan to install today, I'll get pictures post up later,

Looking forward to seeing your finished product. it will definitely show your craftsmanship whenever you get on your tractor. :thumbsup:

 

[deepNdirt]

O-K folks! here's the done deal as usual there is a couple of things wished had done differently, Like leaving the tach gauge on the right side instead of having relocated it to the center hole. it was rather a task when having to get enough cable pulled through to make the reconnection,I wound up disconnecting it from the engine to pull enough slack,... I might also mention I had to relocated the regulator box that resides directly under the dash where I installed the tach, the regulator happen to be in the way of a straight shot to the tach gauge,the cable would not flex enough, It surely wasn't worth the effort to locate it in the center, the rest of it went easy as planed, I went ahead and installed a toggle on the right side to have later when ever need to add something, the left side I simply used the old lights and will not have use for the old idiot temp light,
I had to give the rest of the tractor a wax job so the gauge console didn't stand out so badly,

 

[winston1]

Nice job! :thumbsup:

 

[Johndeere3720]

That is awesome! When do they get on the market? :laughing::thumbsup:

 

[ninefinger]

Now you have the BD model. Nice work.

 

[deepNdirt]

I think they would be better built from metal, could add a little more design to them by bending metal, would be a matter of cutting some templates,
cut out from 1 pc. and make some bends, and cap of the ends, if I had to go over I might would have built it something more like this,