I thought I'd show you guys my little project.
This is the problem.
Not only does it look bad, but it doesn't even hold the CD player anymore. So, I decided to make another one out of metal.
This isn't ideal but I think it'll work. I really don't know what happened here because the rest of the interior is in beautiful shape. Must just be the poor design and the weight of the CD player.
My plan was to just trace out the old panel onto the sheet metal which means everything has to come off. I have never seen so many wires for 3 switches.
Now, I am the most unorganized guy in the world and I have no doubt that there would be no chance that I'd get it all back together correctly.
Fortunately, my wife actually enjoys this kind of thing. I sat back and drank a beer while she labeled wires.
After that, the water/air temp gages has to come off.
BTW, that tan square sticking up is the temp adjustment. Pretty easy to get to.
Don't loose these.
I just taped the pieces down and traced it out. Yes, I'm showing off my folding workbench a little
Then grab a beer and your favorite tin snips and go to town.
And here's my stopping point for the night. I used my angle grinder and cut out the CD box. I'm not going to add the CD holder, so that'll just be a good place for a decal or something.
One thing I'm not sure about is what to use to cut out the switch holes. Angle grinder is too big. Maybe a jig saw with a metal blade?
When it's all cut out, I'm going going paint it with a hammered finish black paint. I think it'll look nice.
Finished product tomorrow!
Metal switch panel
... I did these back in my car stereo installation days. I would use 3/8 - 1/2" Lexan (plexiglass) backed by aluminum plate. Basically after you shape the lexan, you would peel the paper off one side only and paint it (usually black) and install with painted side against the aluminum plate. Once you peel the paper off the non painted side you would have a rich deep glossy black finish that you could reach into. It was kind of fun.
