The GU dash is a bit of a bugga..... there are curves in all directions, and if you have the GL model that doesn't have the passenger airbag, then you have an area that you cannot rest anything on as it simply slides off ( quite annoying ). So out with the expanding foam after taping up the dash. The idea was good ..... the execution, well it turned out ok, but lets just say that the foam doesn't hold its shape when left somewhere else other than on the dashboard
.... so I scrapped that idea. Next I ventured into the Plaster of Paris concept....... hmmm now this works well, but what a friggin mess, and you have t work fairly quick with it once you have the mix right. I looked like a mummy by th time I was finished making the dash....
The idea is to split the dash into 3 pods. The reasons for this is that, firstly I HATE LOATH and DETEST the glare of the dash in the windscreen, and that goes for almost all the vehicles I've owned. So I want to eliminate that. Secondly, The hot air coming through the vents I believe is also due to the dash heating up and the vents are just under the top of the dash. If there is a pod above the dash it should in theory assist in keeping the cold air ( without aircon on ) cooler than it is at the moment. Thirdly, I thought that maybe someone else will want a dash console like this but has the GRX ( with passenger airbag ), so this needs to be sort of universal " one size fits all ". So one can take 1, 2 or all 3 pods as needed....
I cannot tell you how many plaster casts I've made .... and broken.....
.... but eventually I have successfully almost completed 2 of the 3 moulds. There is a little fine tuning still to be done on these 2, but you will basically see the idea behind what I'm doing. Once I have made the final pods in fibreglass, I'm going to have them covered in a dark grey Alcanara ( suede ) material with a thin foam to give it a "soft touch" feel. This will eliminate the glare on the windscreen. Then there is the 3rd piece, a thin pod that will fit over the dash instrument cluster, to keep the sleek curve line of the existing dash. Now this is the piece that is killing me. It needs to be quite thin, and so this is the plaster mould that I've broken the most 
..... But I'll get there shortly. I still need to recess the center pod for the gauges to sit in, but this was just to see that the lines are all good and that it all fits together.So here is what I have so far.....
- A view from outside
- dash.jpg (91.39 KiB) Viewed 10514 times
- just the center pod
- dash 1.jpg (93.71 KiB) Viewed 10514 times
- center pod close up
- dash 5.jpg (80.24 KiB) Viewed 10514 times
- passenger pod with top recess
- dash 4.jpg (87.68 KiB) Viewed 10514 times
- passenger pod again
- dash 6.jpg (83.58 KiB) Viewed 10514 times
- both together
- dash 3.jpg (83.74 KiB) Viewed 10514 times
- line of sight not effected by the height of the pods
- dash 2.jpg (87.68 KiB) Viewed 10514 times
- side view of the pods
- dash 7.jpg (70.77 KiB) Viewed 10514 times
