After checking the fit of the panel in the dash from Restore a Musclecar we installed the dash into the car and mounted it into position using a screw kit from Fbodywarehouse.com. Having a complete screw kit with all of the pieces individually bagged and labeled for each part of the dash and related assemblies is great for anyone who has lost any of the original nuts, bolts, screws etc. or for cars where previous owners have replaced the original hardware with whatever they could find laying around. Most of the 2nd gen cars have had portions or all of the dash apart over the last 30-40 years and people lost or broke some of the pieces. The Fbodywarehouse dash screw kit even contains the plastic T bolts that hold the plastic panel under the steering column, AND the inserts that fit into the dash framework that the T bolts insert into!
With the dash installed into the car it's time for the installation of the gauge panel. Each Autometer gauge has a wiring harness with a plug attached to it. Plug each one into the corresponding gauge and then coil up the wires for each gauge separately and install one of the labeling stickers provided with each gauge which names what gauge those wires are for. This way later on, when you're upside down under the dash trying to wire everything you don't have a big mess of wires to sort through trying to figure out which wires go to which gauges.
When installing the panel use some protective sheeting only on the ends of the panel where it is most likely to scratch the vinyl. If you use the sheeting all around you won't be able to see where the screw holes line up and it will be very difficult to remove the sheeting on the top and bottom with the panel fully into position.
Install the panel into the dash remembering to tilt the bottom in first, straighten it up, then push straight back. Once the panel is in position pull out the protective sheeting and then loosely install the three screws in the hood where it screws into the dash, then the two hidden screws that come up from the bottom of the dash. You can then loosely install the lighter trim ring, center up the panel where you like it, and snug up all of the screws. DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN!
If you are using a replacement screw kit the two long hidden screws that come up from the bottom may be Torx head screws. If they are Torx heads then tape a note to the back of the plastic panel under the steering column saying that they are Torx heads otherwise someone in the future will be going nuts trying to figure out why a phillips won't work up in there because its so dark they won't be able to see the heads. It might be you when you're old and senile and can't remember or a future owner but someone will be in there eventually. At this point in time we're just caretakers of these cars and the cars will probably be around after we're gone.