Custom Dash Conversion 85 T/A with 2005 Holden Commodore Dash
InteriorDiscussion about interior modifications like dashboard swaps, seat replacements, or general interior repair.
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Custom Dash Conversion 85 T/A with 2005 Holden Commodore Dash
Hey Guys,
I'd like to hear some thoughts or ideas about a project I've just started(preferrably constructive).
I've built an in-car pc to install into my 1985 T/A with a 12" touchscreen and all the latest tech, gps bluetooth wireless internet etc, but when I'm mounted the screen into the car with the use of a DIN based mounting bracket/ARM it just looked really out of place.
I've also taken issue with the incredibly useless and oversized air con box that resides in the majority of the dash.
So I've had a look around and going on thirdgen.org trends of installing a 4th gen dash into the 3rd gens I've decided the transition is similar to that of a commodore dash into a T/A.
The overall size is very similar with less than 50mm either side before taking the air con vents from the doors and attaching them to the dash, so with the vents it should be pretty much spot on.
I've chosen the VY dash due to the centre console of the dash being the perfect size for the screen, giving the option of a glovebox, and having a nice rounded and updated look.
I'm purchasing an aftermarket air con box that is just 400mmx350mmx150mm in size and will allow demister for roadworthy and air con as well: http://speedyairspares.com.au/produc..._Unit-2-4.html
This should then also give me enough room to mount the incar-pc itself into the dash also.
ECU will be removed and replaced with Haltech E6GMX to also spider into the in-car pc, and give programmable function.
It seems the most difficult part will be the gauge cluster. VY cluster will be too difficult to use as it requires the body control module, VY ECU, and cam sensor to give tacho, and temps/fuel gauges/odometer.
I will instead be venturing for an LCD display, DEFI on screen display or aftermarket gauge setup using the optical sensor on the back of the current dash cluster and run them off that.
I'd be very interested to hear of anyone who has attempted, pondered or successfully completed something like this and how it turned out or why it was disasterous.
My current plan is to make a metal frame to hold the VY dash in place first, line everything up, then make an internal metal frame for the VY dash, and mount to the existing mounts for the old dash, and bolt to the firewall.
If anyone has a better idea or an eaiser one, please let me know or feel free to hypothesise.
I am hoping this will be something to get the car exactly as I want , and at the same time give the car its own uniqueness.
Thoughts?
Its original state -above
its current state
its replacement, just imagine an embedded touch screen monitor in place of the climate controlsin the centre dash area, and a lcd panel where the gauges are.
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i dont see the roundness of the dash flowing at all. it might look good but at the bottom of the dash it doesnt flow with the floor lines. what would you do there? the dash just kindof ends. and your door panels will look out of place in my opinion. But i guess i really cant say much until i can see a test fit or something. keep us posted on any progress.
yeah i'll upload the pics once i get it dummy mounted, but i'm doing the whole interior of the car in black vinyl, and the missing/irregular pieces of the dash surround will be made with fibreglass, so when i get to the bottom of the dash I'll probably make a fibreglass kick panel that blends to the dash.
All that is minor details, if I can get the dash itself to mount and have a nice sturdy feeling, the rest is just patience, time and creativity.
perfect. seems like you were already planning on going the way i imagined. haha. now the only thing i think about is that lip above the gauges, will that wheel clear the lip? in the position you have it in in the old pic it looks to me like it would rub.
possibly, but we'll see once the mock up mount is done.
I have to check if i can change the angle of the steering column, if i can bring that up a bit, i can lower the angle of the wheel and it will A) help my 6'5 self get in the car without banging my knees, and B) give a lot more clearance for the wheel.
sounds like an interesting project to modernise and improve the dash, but when i look into a yank car i usually expect an original dash, even if rhd, not a commode dash.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Guro 305
Isn't the Holden Commodore the Pontiac GTO?
rhd gto, but with 4 doors. fyi, the pontiac G8 will be continued under the chevrolet brand.
Very nearly almost
Pontiac GTO is the Holden Monaro which is a 2 door sports version of the 4 door commodore, so there's a common element to them which I'm banking on allowing for close to very close fits.
Quote:
sounds like an interesting project to modernise and improve the dash, but when i look into a yank car i usually expect an original dash, even if rhd, not a commode dash.
True, but at the same time, most people that see the car just see the outside as it goes driving by anyway, only a select few get so see the interior, and seeing as I spend all my time with the car behind the wheel, i think it's more important to be comfortable with how it operates than the authenticity.
But that said....I'm still keeping the original dash just encase
But hopefully by the time I'm finished it will look like the dash belongs, and hopefully enough mods done to make it difficult to guess the origin of the dash
You've got quite the project there, please keep the pictures coming. I've got a dash like that, but I'm gonna let it stay in the G8 for now.
__________________
1987 Trans Am, work in progress
2008 Pontiac G8
Retired: 1984 Camaro "ZF" 2.8L, 1989 Camaro RS
Customer Service Manager, 1A Auto Parts
I think it's a really cool project and hope you're able to give it a nice finished look. I really like how the center console flows into the dash in those cars. The roundness/ smoothness of the dash would go really great in a 91/92 bird with the rounded nose and an aftermarket Ram Air 1 hood.
__________________ Bright Platinum Metallic exterior with painted hoodbird. Black interior with 2002 Trans Am Ebony leather seats. Smoothed inner fenders.
Current Drivetrain: LT1 and T56 with SLP 1 3/4" primary headers and catback: 8.85 seconds in 1/8 mile w/ lousy street tires.
well i finally got the steering wheel off and tested out the fit of the new dash.
Unfortunately the guy who sucessfully did this swap is a bastard and won't return messages and give up any info, but what can you do.
As you can see it looks like I'll have to cut a small amount of the dash top off near the windscreen, so I'll probably make a metal strip along that section to re-inforce the plastic and give me something to attach the dash to the car, this should push the dash back a fair bit and allow the indicator stick to fit properly and puch the bottom half of the dash back more.
As you can see though there's plenty more room behind the dash to put the in-car pc and reroute all the air con. It lined up perfectly on the passenger side( US Drivers side) and needs about 50-70mm (2") on the right side, but I'll just make up a pnael to house an aftermarket gauge and it should look nice.
wow it looks great but u should take the center console out and put one it that fits the dash like the guy that u found doing the same swap it looks great.. good luck with the swap keep us posted
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yeah, i've got it, just havent started on that part yet...
baby steps :P
I still have no real clue how I'll actually secure it to the car.
I'm gonna ring a place tomorrow and find out if they can do it and if they can take photos of the steps for those more confident to try themselves to follow.
It is weird to see the hood release on the passenger side?
Looks good, you seem to be working out the kinks as you go, there is bound to be a few to say the least.
The roundness of the dash doesn't seem to go with the overall lines of a 3rd gen, but not my car.
How do you intend to blend the dash into the doors, or have you given any thought to that yet?
Your plate seems to be full with what you have already.
I am curious to see the finished project.
I always respecr the "sweat equity" a person puts into their ride!
Personally, I would just buy a G8 or holden
(until they become police cars in the U.S. that is)
Too much tech for my cars.
I do not like a car that is smarter than the driver!
It is weird to see the hood release on the passenger side?
Looks good, you seem to be working out the kinks as you go, there is bound to be a few to say the least.
The roundness of the dash doesn't seem to go with the overall lines of a 3rd gen, but not my car.
How do you intend to blend the dash into the doors, or have you given any thought to that yet?
Your plate seems to be full with what you have already.
I am curious to see the finished project.
I always respecr the "sweat equity" a person puts into their ride!
Personally, I would just buy a G8 or holden
(until they become police cars in the U.S. that is)
Too much tech for my cars.
I do not like a car that is smarter than the driver!
Yeah doors come later :P
I'm re-upholstering everything in black vinyl so it should suit a bit better.
I'll probably also end up getting a set of commodore door trims and using some of them to attach to the final door trims, a blend of them to suit the dash into the black vinyl to match the rest of the car.
Carpet will be black as well, and roofliner, kickpanels, rear trims etc will all be black vinyl, i'm hoping it will all blend nicely.
Also the 12" touch screen should be enough to focs attention to the centre of the dash :P
The dash gauges will either hopefully wire straight up or i'll get a module made up to convert the signal to what i need, or my last resort is a second mini-computer to run a 7" lcd screen and some obd software to get gauges off the ecu.
Evilstuie, the pictures of that other project is Marks TA, he lives is in Melbourne near me. but he has been offline for a while.
he was saying the VE commodore dash would of been the better option.
oh ok.
Well if you talk to him at all let him know to share the golden knowledge :P
I'm looking at getting a fabrication shop to make up the mounting brackets but it's probably gonna cost a fortune.
VE dash's would still be rare and very expensive.
At least the vy has parts everywhere.
hey stuie, word of advice, get rid of those connectors(joiners) that are attacking your wires.
they are deadset trouble. invest in a soldering iron if you dont have one already.
That looks nice! Has some real potential! I would probably be trying to fit that center console now...before you finalize your dash mounting. In case you need to do some tweaking on the whole assembly.
Thats going to be great if you get it all set up and working. Especially if you do the car pc set up. That would also be cool if you did an entire drivetrain swap into a thirdgen...so you could make everything work, even the factory controls. Those dashes are slick.
Good luck getting more of it done!!
Justin
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Thats the exact reason he went the VY aswell.
i think i have spoken to you on aussieV8 havent i?
Yeah I did have a post started on there but the mod got mad with power and banned me for correcting his spelling for 2 weeks so i just left.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vini
hey stuie, word of advice, get rid of those connectors(joiners) that are attacking your wires.
they are deadset trouble. invest in a soldering iron if you dont have one already.
Yeah that's another thing on the to-do list, I've got the soldering iron and I'll wire the head unit and pc in properly and solder, but I'll still use spade connectors for the PC power supply as I'll need to have the option to remove the pc from the car when it breaks as most pcs usually do.
That looks nice! Has some real potential! I would probably be trying to fit that center console now...before you finalize your dash mounting. In case you need to do some tweaking on the whole assembly.
Yeah, hopefully there should be some real progress this weekend, depends if my mate at work is back today or still off with unkosher flu.
But if he is we're gonna attempt to make up the brackets etc for mounting, I may get him to make a 2nd set while I'm at it encase someone else wants to have a go later down the track.
But yeah I'll definately chuck the centre console in to help line it up.
Quote:
Thats going to be great if you get it all set up and working. Especially if you do the car pc set up. That would also be cool if you did an entire drivetrain swap into a thirdgen...so you could make everything work, even the factory controls. Those dashes are slick.
Yep, the touch monitor fits perfectly into that centre piece, just gotta make up a fibreglass panel to cover the rest up, I'll mount the monitor inside that and it should all be done, easiest way to make the panel for that is I'll just find an old insert for that peice from the wreckers, fibreglass over the whole thing, then cut out the hole for the monitor.
I want to do an LS1 swap, but it would end up costing too much, I'd have to get sump sent from USA, mounts made up or bought from the states and then everything else and the work and then find an engine that hasn't been treated badly.
I'll get the interior done first, then exterior, then drivetrain.
TuffDawg has 460hp 383 motors for pretty cheap so i might end up transplanting one of those in with a HSR setup.
i just bought a complete LS1 and 4L60E for $1800au from a VX commodore (GTO), that included all pumps, the wiring loom and pcm. i think i will get away with about $5k.
i know a bloke that despatches a container every 3 weeks from California, he has quoted me $400 to ship a 4th gen interior and all the LS1 swap parts.
i just need to find the parts in CA so shipping doesnt blow out to bad.
oh ok, is that pete tate by chance?
I was going to use them but i just didn't wanted to get burned again on another international purcahse that didn't turn up.
And getting $4k+ of stuff sent to a place i didn't know on the hope it turns up here wasnt a risk i was willing to take.
But let me know if it all goes well.
Hey there,
No sorry not as yet. Got sidetracked with some rust repairs to the targa roof, had to get that done before any of the new dashy and electronics went it.
Now I'm off to Johannesburg for a month for work so if/when i survive and return I'll have all the cash I need to finish the whole car and then you'll see some pretty quick progress.
The dash has been sized up and ready to go, we just need to weld the mounting brackets in, remove the windscreen and screw the dash to the lip we'll weld to the firewall (or possible make a clip assembly to slot in instead) and then route the demister in such a way that it demists the whole screen fairly quickly.
I still need to get a bit of info on removing the stock air con system and find out what an AC delete box actually is and if i can just screw a flat plate there instead as i'll be using an aftermarket air con un it with its own blower.
But yes, I'll keep you updated.
Ah ok! So it is the GTO with 4-doors hence the G8 aka the Grand Prix. Thanks for the clarification. So, Monaro is the GTO and Commodore is the G8.
The G8 is also a newer generation of Holden. The GTO/Monaro are an older body style. The G8's dash has similarities to the GTO/Monaro dash but it is clearly a newer design.
Yes, the G8 is part for part identical to the same year Commodores (save for the bumpers, hood, and steering wheel side); a lot of G8 owners have imported parts from the Aussie cars for mods and what not
Want to say the progress looks great so far. Just noticed the nice looking components in the doors too. Those GTO/Monaro seats are pretty comfy, got some of those going in too?
__________________
1987 Trans Am, work in progress
2008 Pontiac G8
Retired: 1984 Camaro "ZF" 2.8L, 1989 Camaro RS
Customer Service Manager, 1A Auto Parts
. and saving money
