InteriorDiscussion about interior restoration, repairs, and modification.
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After collecting a full set of Autometer carbon fiber gauges, I was ready to start modifying the original plastic piece. I used a 5" speedo and tach, so I had to enlarge those holes using a 4-1/2" hole saw. The other five gauges are 2-1/16" and I cut holes in the panel to make an oval (like ghettocruiser did). Then, I used 1/8" abs plastic and a 2" hole saw to make the insert. Next, I glued it in and here's the result:
Next, came the wiring and I used 8 row terminal strips to organize sets of wires easily (power, ground, light).
Finally, the only thing left was to run the power/ground from the factory wiring harness and the sending unit wires to the gauges. I used about 2ft. of wire for each, which made connecting everything up before mounting the panel a breeze. Here is what it looks like:
I have the red backlights, but I might change them to white. I figured I'd give it some time to see how I like them. I'll post a pic whenever I get one. I also haven't done anything with the turn signal/high beam indicators, so I'll have to figure out what to do there.
I finally got a decent pic of the gauges showing the red backlights. I'm loving the programmable speedo, since I've already changed rear end gearing once.
looks AWESOME! how hard was it to run the wiring? could you have used the stock harness and sender? i've been wanting to do something like this for a while.
LG4 305ci 4bbl motor, 2.5" Cherry Bomb Extreme muffler- side exit exhaust, Cragar 15x7 Black D Window wheels (4" backspacing), Cooper Cobra Radial GT tires (P235/60R15), 36mm hollow front sway bar with wonder bar, 24mm rear sway bar, Energy Suspension endlinks and Guldstrand bushings, Edelbrock Elite 4222 air cleaner with K&N filter, FF Dynamics 16" Cyclone electric fan, Flex-a-lite Variable Speed Fan Controller, custom fixed headlight conversion with 5000K HIDs and Silverstar Ultra H7 bulbs, Pilot PL-362W driving lights with Hella 100W H3 bulbs, Deka Intimidator 9A78DT AGM battery
Thanks all for the compliments. The wiring ended up being easier than I thought it would be. Using the terminal strips to group wires made it clean and simple. I don't think you can use a stock sender with an aftermarket gauge, and even if you could it would be a good idea to have new senders anyways.
I did use many wires from the factory harness including the power, ground, light, rpm, and fuel level. For the speedo I just had to run the sender wire down to the transmission, and wired the oil pressure and water temp. to the Autometer senders I already had in place (since those gauges in the factory panel didn't work).
This has been one of the coolest mods I've done and it's nice to have finally finished.
No wiring diagram, I just used a test light to find what wires I needed. The hardest part was fabricating the plastic oval insert to fit within the cutout from the factory panel. You camaro guys have it easier since there is an aftermarket panel available.
My first post has the gauge sizes that I used. The total cost was about $600. I bought most gauges used or new from Craigslist. Also, most people wouldn't need an electronic fuel pressure gauge, so it would be $450 without it.
Dash looks good! When I re-do mine eventually, Im going to keep the same configuration, but Im going to make the 2-1/16" gauge panel part of the main assembly like you did. The way I have it now is nice...because things kind of unbolt and come out like factory. But I have that separation between the big gauges and the small gauges which makes it kind of a pain. I plan to re-wire and re-work things a little.
Good job!
For the lighting... I used orange 194 bulbs in all of mine. I like the orange light better than straight up red. I think it matches the original backlighting better.
J.
__________________
ARE shortblock, Ross custom boost pistons, arp rod bolts, ARE ported oil pump,
MTI 2e 5.3L ported heads milled .030 with double springs,
228/224 113+1 Comp XE-R, Cloyes adjustable timing chain, LS6 valley cover,
fast 90mm intake, NW 90mm throttle body, SVO 30lb injectors, 85mm MAF,
ASP underdrive pulley, 160* t-stat, stainless LT headers 1.75" primaries
Yep, I have the concealed display for the Valentine 1 radar detector mounted there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ghettocruiser
For the lighting... I used orange 194 bulbs in all of mine. I like the orange light better than straight up red. I think it matches the original backlighting better.
The red ends up being slightly orange-red, but what I don't like is that it is too dim with the colored bulb covers. I have lots of those 194 bulbs around, so I give your idea a shot next time I have the panel off.
that is sick. definitely gonna have to do that eventually. how much modding was there to do to get it to fit. Love the gauges also
Not sure which part you're talking about. If it's the concealed display, it fit in that spot easily. For the other gauges, I just had to remove the entire back plastic piece and just use the front trim to hold them all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnny Blaze
Thats a lot of gauges!
What are they all?
All but the a/f ratio gauge are Autometer carbon fiber gauges:
(left to right)
- boost/vac
- Innovative XD16 a/f ratio
- programmable speedometer
- tachometer
- volts
- oil pressure
- electric fuel pressure
- water temp
- fuel level
Since I'm out of room in the dash, if I wanted to add another gauge, I'd have to replace the 2 gauge pod with a 3 gauge pod. I was thinking an exhaust temp gauge or air intake temp gauge would be neat to have with the turbo.
Thats one of the cleanest setups I've seen. One thing that's deterring me from putting an aftermarket panel in my GTA is that I haven't found a simple way to angle the gauges up to the eye like they were from the factory.
Looks like it would be easy enough with the way you cut the panel like that, I could cut some styrene tubes to fit in the insert panel and angle the gauges that way, and then coat the entire thing with plasti-dip! The only other thing I don't like are the huge ugly autometer bezels on all their gauges!
The red ends up being slightly orange-red, but what I don't like is that it is too dim with the colored bulb covers. I have lots of those 194 bulbs around, so I give your idea a shot next time I have the panel off.
Just to show you a couple pics of my Phantoms with the Amber/Orange 194 bulbs...
Here is an OLLLLLDDDD pic of my pillar gauges along with my stock dash cluster.
And a newer pic. Not my current set up 100%... but an earlier version. In this pic, the lights are cranked. They are PLENTY bright. I usually run the car with the dimmer set at 50%. Its perfect for me.
Turned down a bit. The only things left that are stock illumination are my HVAC and headlight switch. So it all blends pretty well.
Thanks for the pictures, I think your gauge setup looks really nice. I'm not sure if my gauges will be able to get as bright as yours even with the bulb swap since mine have a black background instead of white. I think it's still worth a shot to try it out though.
