"Hook 'em Up Loose" - 1986 F-150 Restoration/build

[Gary Lewis]

OK so Sunday was the first day off of work I have had in a couple weeks and I got some work done.

The ABS sheets came in Saturday I ended up using the 1/8 inch thick piece. I wish I had taken pictures of this process but my phone was dead.

OK so how did I do this.

First I laid the dash bezel over the ABS on the smooth side. I traced the damaged section onto the ABS with a sharpie to include the flat portion prior to and after the break.

I have one good screw mount left so I then laid that over the marks on the ABS using the horizontals I drew as guides to line it up correctly.

This left me with a mark like such.

I took my sheet of ABS and cut it on a scroll saw at low rpm to try to minimize melting. It still melted a bit but was able to use a pair of pliers to gently break it loose.

With the rough cut done I resorted to using a razor and a dremel to clean it up. Applied 5ton epoxy, held it in place, turned on some music and waited... and waited.

I was left with something that looks like this:

I profiled the hump down a bit with a dremel. I am letting it cure for 24 hours before attempting to drill the hole out.

a similar process was followed with the dash mount, except in this case I used a micrometer to get the measurements of the damage and just hack sawed out a piece to match the break. After it was dry I then used a dremel to round out the top to match the metal plate it attaches to and drilled out the hole.

Then onto the dash, this is where it really is going to look like it is coming together.

I bought the dash from JBG and by the paper work it is made by dashes direct. I dont remember if the old dash had nut clips on it or not. I hope someone can clarify but I think it did. This dash seems rather thick where the screws go almost like its intended to just be screwed into directly. Can someone verify this, and possibly provide a link/PN for the nut clips?

Also there are no holes in the defrost vents for the screws you have to make them yourself. Locating holes here will be tricky

Went ahead and did a dry fit on the dash and to locate holes in the vent side.

Good job on the repairs! Hope they hold up.

I have a dash apart and should be able to confirm that there are nut clips on it. And, I'm going to do some work after a while on the master parts catalog and will try to find the part numbers for them.

[Danny G]

Good job on the repairs! Hope they hold up.

I have a dash apart and should be able to confirm that there are nut clips on it. And, I'm going to do some work after a while on the master parts catalog and will try to find the part numbers for them.

I hope they hold too, we shall see.

I appreciate you looking for those clips. If we can't find anything I may just mic the dash and see if I can find some generic u-clips to fit there. I have only found the clips for the bezel to dash face screws. If I didn't bag and tag it from the old dash, it means I probably broke them trying to get them off.

[Gary Lewis]

Good job on the repairs! Hope they hold up.

I have a dash apart and should be able to confirm that there are nut clips on it. And, I'm going to do some work after a while on the master parts catalog and will try to find the part numbers for them.

I hope they hold too, we shall see.

I appreciate you looking for those clips. If we can't find anything I may just mic the dash and see if I can find some generic u-clips to fit there. I have only found the clips for the bezel to dash face screws. If I didn't bag and tag it from the old dash, it means I probably broke them trying to get them off.

I'm assuming that your question is if there are sheet metal spring nuts on the dash pad where the instrument & radio bezels attach and where the pad attaches to the dash itself. And the answer is yes.

Let's start here. These are the fasteners for the dash pad. The screw at the top, with the smaller head, goes in the defrost vent openings, while the one with the larger head holds the two bezels in as well as the dash pad to the instrument panel/dash on the right side.

Also note the two kinds of spring nuts. Both take the same screw, the one with the larger head, which is probably a #8. And both go into the dash pad.

The three driver's side spring nuts as well as two for the radio bezel are the smaller, traditional spring nut. But the passenger's side takes three of the odd spring nut with the extra loop on the back, which I'm sure is to protect the wires that run back there. Here's a shot of one of those with the screw in it to show how that piece protects the wires:

But, I don't have part numbers for either of those spring nuts. I'd take them off the old pad. And if one breaks then find some at the parts store that will fit. My normal ones measure .530" wide, .815" long, and have a reach of .325" to the hole. And a max material thickness of .140".

[Danny G]

Good job on the repairs! Hope they hold up.

I have a dash apart and should be able to confirm that there are nut clips on it. And, I'm going to do some work after a while on the master parts catalog and will try to find the part numbers for them.

Thinking I'm only going to find the smaller style clip. Should be able to get those at Ace

[Gary Lewis]

Thinking I'm only going to find the smaller style clip. Should be able to get those at Ace

If you don't find the little ones let me know. I may be able to find them on-line.

[Danny G]

If you don't find the little ones let me know. I may be able to find them on-line.

I have a feeling that is gonna be a 3/8 of 5/16 on center. I'm checking clips and fasteners.com right now..if they don't have it it probably doesn't exist.

[Danny G]

I have a feeling that is gonna be a 3/8 of 5/16 on center. I'm checking clips and fasteners.com right now..if they don't have it it probably doesn't exist.

Found a couple possiblities

.

Of course I don't think I will ever get the caged kind you have there. So need to find something that works in it's place. What are your dimensions on that one?

They have a lot more choices as well.

 

[Danny G]

Found a couple possiblities

.

Of course I don't think I will ever get the caged kind you have there. So need to find something that works in it's place. What are your dimensions on that one?

They have a lot more choices as well.

This one almost looks like it could be the same as the caged one less the cage

[Gary Lewis]

Found a couple possiblities

.

Of course I don't think I will ever get the caged kind you have there. So need to find something that works in it's place. What are your dimensions on that one?

They have a lot more choices as well.

You have a lot of good options there.

I didn't measure the caged one, but other than the cage it is the same size. So if you position the wires and their protection such that they won't be chafed by the sharp end of the screw you should be able to use the non-caged nut. And maybe round the end of the screw a bit?

[Danny G]

You have a lot of good options there.

I didn't measure the caged one, but other than the cage it is the same size. So if you position the wires and their protection such that they won't be chafed by the sharp end of the screw you should be able to use the non-caged nut. And maybe round the end of the screw a bit?

So I stopped by ACE and Lowe's found these at Lowe's.

I have been racking my head on why I wouldn't pull these off.... As you can see I keep everything bagged and tagged.

So I got lucky I was going through a box cleaning off the truck toolbox and look what I found.

For comparison to the speed clips I found at Lowe's... Which had a surprising selection.

Gonna clean these guys up and give them a coat of Rust-Oleum.