With the front sheet metal attached to the frame, its time to move on. The brake pedal and steering column need to be supported. Since I'm using the Dakota firewall, the holes are already present for the Dakota stuff to bolt in place at the firewall, however the brake pedal and steering column in a Dakota are also supported by the dash frame. You understand that the Dakota dash frame does not exist in this truck. Realizations had to be met, and modifications had to be made.
The 1st realization that had to be met was the original 49 dash had to go. It was in the wrong location, and was frankly, in the way. That decision was easy, I didn't have any original instrumentation, and it would not have matched up to the current drivetrain and electrical systems even if I had them. I would need to leave enough of the original dash to screw a new one to around the windshield. Everything else was open. I added reinforcing to the upper part of the cowl that would connect to the Dakota steering and brake bracket, and then build a piece that would become the lower dash brace. Once the 49's dash was out of the way, that was much easier then I expected. Things like a new dash and instrument cluster could be worked out as necessities were accounted for.
With the column and pedal support figured out, the realization occurred to me that I should insulate the firewall before I bolted the steering and brake pedal in place. I purchased a product called NOICO off Amazon. it is a butyl material with an adhesive side and a foil backing. Its an .080 thick insulation and sound deadener that is fairly easy to work with. You cut it to the shape you need with a utility knife, peal the backing off and stick it into place, then roll out the foil backing flat. I've used it before, its very effective. I like the NOICO stuff because the foil backing comes in either silver or black, and isn't covered with advertising. If I can't cover it up right away it still looks great. I pay the couple more bucks and get the black foil. This may sound counter productive, but several years ago I discovered that painting stuff under the dash white makes working under there much easier. I applied the black foil backed NOICO to my firewall, then painted it white, but the entire firewall took less then 1/4 of the box.
Pic 1, The inside of the firewall, covered with the NOICO and painted white (notice the white paint job doesn't have to be great to be effective).
Pic 2, The steering column and brake pedal back in place (not completely bolted up, probably a photo opp. Also notice the NOICO covers the floor back to the seat riser (that part is still black)
Pic 3, The firewall with the heat/ac box bolted in. It got really cluttered after that. The inside computer was hung on the passenger side kick panel. The under dash fuse panel was hung on the left side of the steering column, and the under dash wiring was draped through. With lots of stuff hanging from zip ties, and a seat through in, the truck could drive to the street, turn around, and drive back into the garage.
Pic 4, This is a later pic, but gives you an idea how busy it got under the dash. More was added after this pic was taken! Gene