We are in the same boat then..
I won't cut the dash up, or the speaker grill, and under the dash or on the column just look wrong, at least to me.
It will be a while before I get to gauges, but I have done some figuring and think it will work, although the sun visors will have to go. Should be able to make a sort of second dash that screws in place, and the headliner fits up to it.