I am hoping to plow thru a lot of details this weekend so expect lots of updates on this page.

Before I could continue with the interior I needed to get the seats and transfer case in position to ensure I don't have any interferences.

once everything was in place I started laying out the dash.  I am using square steel tubing this time around to make mounting panels easier.  As you can see I added another cross bar which will become the mounting plane of the instrument panel.  I also plan on walling off the triangular shaped opening formed by the 3 cross bars so I can hide some of the wiring. Next I ran a pair of .25 x.25 square tubes from the dash cross bar down to the rear seat cross member and mounted the shifter.

The shifter cable needs to be routed to just behind the transmission pan to utilize the supplied mounting hardware.  Unfortunately we chopped off one of the aluminum ears on the transmission that is required (there was an interference with the battery tray).  I will have to make a substitute bracket to replace this mounting point.

I also mocked up the front driveshaft.  It looks like I can get away from a  two piece driveshaft as long as the upper part of the shaft is smaller than 1.37" in diameter.

I made a bracket to mount the shifter hardware to the transmission and then spent the next 6 hours tweaking it trying to get the shifter to hit all the gears, neutral and park.  The problem is the linkages need to translate about 4 inches of linear movement into 10-15 degrees or rotary movement.  If the pivot points aren't in the exact place you won't get enough or may get too much rotary movement. 

Mounting the battery was another task I was not looking forward to.  the new transmission cross member forced the battery to look for a new home.  Once again the one good spot to put it is not very accessible.  I made a new mounting tray and bolted it into position under the divers seat.  The battery can be removed by dropping the skid plate. 

I also relocated the ARB compressor to the drivers side just forward of the battery.

I added some cross bars in the dash to make panel mounting easier. 

The center stack is finalized and braced.  I then added a 15 degree bend to the shift levers to get them to clear the transmission shifter. 

I have a few spots where clearance is tight.

Once I was happy with the dash bars I spent a few hours doing the final welds.

I spent a couple hours mocking up the interior panels and what I will call the firewall.  I will have more leg room than I thought on the drivers side.

The gas pedal needed a hard stop which I added as shown above.  I also modified the bracket the pedal mounts to so it will also retain the throttle cable.

I had ordered a locking transmission dipstick from Summit Racing hoping I'd get lucky and it would fit.  Once I received the part I discovered I'd have to modify it so I borrowed a neighbors acetylene torch and heated the tube up so I could bend it into the shape I needed.