Dashboard riveting

[Pedders]

This seems a bit of a lame post following CJulian's awesome thread, but....

The one step of the build I am struggling to find any reference to is the riveting of the lower edge of the dash to the chassis tube that it hooks around.

I'm not looking forward to this, as it would appear that I will need to force the dash a fair way to get it to fit, and am worried about cracking it, particularly given the hole I have cut for the stalks and Dash 2 unit.

Also, I can see lots of pics of people trimming the dash with the centre section out of the car, which makes me wonder whether people are not doing this or whether I am overthinking it and should just get on with it...

Any practical experience/advice would be much appreciated.

[Pedders]

Thanks for the responses all. The idea of not riveting certainly appeals, but having looked along the lower edge of the dashboard, I can see that the vertical (ish) face of the dash kicks out slightly around the steering wheel area, and I think the only cure for this is force and then rivet.

I also understand that forcing the lower edge of the dash onto the chassis tube and then riveting gives the dash a slightly convex shape, which is apparently intended - albeit I could quite happily live with the flat dash if it were not for the aforementioned kick!

Like Abbo, I will make the final decision at the weekend, albeit my centre section is already riveted in at the front, which I am hoping I won't regret....