firechicken_3

iTrader: (4)

Thought i would post to inspire and or get feedback/criticism.

Since there is nothing out there for the Firebird dash besides a fella selling aluminum on ebay that really only fits 85 up, which i dont care for anyway.

I like the panel look that the early dash has and wanted to do a full guage set, so we went to work cutting off the set in portion of the bezel, put panels on the backside, then panels of appropriate thickness to bring things flush or close to it, and filled the cracks from less than exact fitting with more abs plastic melted in acetone to create a slurry/putty/glue that hardens as teh acetone evaporates off.

all thats left is to get things smoothed back out.

here are a few pics

firechicken_3

iTrader: (4)

so i got the high spots knocked down flat and this left me with only low spots, and rather than shred more plastic and melt it in acetone i chose to use a bumper repair epoxy from SEM..... 2 part in a tube, mix it up and you have about a minute to get it spread where you want..... and it sands much easier than the melted and re-solidified abs slurry/glue stuff.

you'll notice that i filled the divider between the 2 right panels, this was to allow better fit of the 4 smaller gauges, they would have been crowded tightly together in pairs otherwise

same album newest pic


will sand smooth in the morning

firechicken_3

iTrader: (4)

Update

got everything sanded smooth and am now ready to mark and cut out the new holes.

strc09

iTrader: (5)

Looks very cool. Nice work. Do you have the name of the seller on eBay?

firechicken_3

iTrader: (4)

i can dig him up, but i actually have one from him and if your interested pm me i'll make you a better deal on it. pm if interested

firechicken_3

iTrader: (4)

2 done 4 to go

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Info on the gauges??? Where'd you get those?

Is that a high beam indicator and turn signal indicators in the speedo? If so...those would inspire me to re-do my dash possibly. The only reason I made mine so complicated was to retain my factory high beam and turn signal indicators...I liked that factory look. But its a cluster-f behind the dash.

Looks good!

Justin

firechicken_3

iTrader: (4)

Those are Speedhut Revolution Series, and yes those are turn/highbeam indicators. Go to www.speedhut.com

My set ran $753 + $20 to include turn and high beam indicators. Somewhat pricey but when you look at the alternatives they arent that much more.

They look very nice, and there are lots of options. I went for a very plain look I'm personally not into flashy and bling, I want things to look nice and neat but function is major.

All guages are in, need a little touch up where the hole saw knocked off a little filler.. And i have to add a brake warning led and the odometer push button these will get stashed in that little pocket to the left of the speedo, not that they are huge or ugly i just dont want them on the face of the panel to keep things clean and un cluttered

A side note on the hole saw, unless you can find a seriously fine toothed hole saw, run it in reverse and sort of grind through. The large saw was a bimetal of good industrial quality and it cut well so i ran it forward, the smaller was a cheapy wood cutting type, in my test hole it created some destruction in forward so i tried reverse with much cleaner results, its a good idea to go part way and let it cool, the abs plastic softens pretty easily with little heat.



My next picture will be of the panel painted and possibly in the car. tho they wont be wired as its a little cold to sit in the car and wire it.

So far Im very happy with my results and the cost of the whole ordeal aside from the gauges has been small

Stock bezel from my car,
$16 sheet of 16" x 24" x 1/8in abs from ebay
$7 can of acetone to make liquid abs to fill small cracks
$5 can of abs pipe glue
$11 tube of SEM 2 part bumper repair from Carquest to fill larger low areas
$11 can of SEM Landau Black auto interior paint also from Carquest

$50 and bunch of time, you of course also need a dremel with cutoff discs, sand paper and the hole saws, all of which i had or borrowed.

3.1EyeCandy

iTrader: (3)

That's inspiring! I've got my speedhut gauges in the box still. I'm planning on keeping the factory turn signal and high beam indicators (and would like to work in a brake and SES light). Nice work!

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Um...Ok... They have a GPS 200mph speedo... That is f'in bad. I might need to put the Phantoms up for sale and change things up a bit.

Are the ones you got lit behind the numbers or are they lit from the surround like most autometers?

I cant believe Ive never seen these before...they have some nice gauges! Thanks for the link!

J.


EDIT: $249...Custom text, choice of colors, fonts, bezel styles AND GPS function. I really like these. Just wish they came in 5" for the speedo/tach. Although I do like the fact that they offer a feature packed 8000 rpm tach...I dont need 10,000 like I have now haha.

Awesome-X

Man that looks pretty good. I wish gauges didn't cost so much. Ridiculous prices for little pieces of plastic imo.

Timinsk

iTrader: (9)

I'm curious on who the manufacturer of those guages are and for the wiring, would it plug right up for a 1989 camaro? I don't mind doing my own fab work either, i'm just curious.. Plus do they make 140~160mph gauges? Mines mechanical, do they make that or an adapter?

firechicken_3

iTrader: (4)

Thanks for the comments guys, I'm really happy with how this is turning out. And glad i didn't just give up and do the aluminum panel method.

To the last couple guys questions, these again are Speedhut Revolution Guages they are full 270 degree sweep, full electric microprocessor gauges. They do offer an adapter for mechanical speedo guys, it just screws in the trans like the cable and creates the electric signal. And best of all highly customizable in terms of colors fonts and addons like the ghetto cruiser showed above.

For wiring, in terms of plug and play.....not really. But it doesn't look to be bad. You need to use the speedhut sensors, and my consequence run the wire harnesses for them accordingly. However for things like power and lights they provided a harness that all 6 guages plug into, and thus its only one set of connections for you to figure out. I plan to tap into the factory panel harness for everything but the speedo, tach, oil press. and water temp.

It mentions somewhere on that site that if you need something you dont see just ask, they might be able to do it.

Mine are as follows
GR4-6KIT-02
Revolution series 6 Gauge Kit (4in. 160 mph Speedo, 8K Tach, Water Temp, Oil psi, Volts, Fuel Level)
Black dial // White font(Reverse White Glow)

So thats 4inch tach and speedo you see there, to me its perfect size for the area, the others are 2 1/16inch. I almost went with 2 5/8 but would have had to stagger them and to maintain good visibility around the steering wheels it would have looked funny, as they are now, i miss about half the gas gauge.

Oh and for ghettos lighting question, you'll have to excuse the blurry my camera doesnt like not using the flash.

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Thanks for the picture! Thats perefect! I miss my stock gauges that lit up from behind... My phantoms have orange lights in them, so it sorta kept the theme...but these look like they'd fit the bill much better.

Also...that price isnt TOO bad for gauges with customizable features, and stepper motor technology. AND the GPS gauge has me seriously intrigued.

No gauges will be "plug and play" into our cars...gotta get out your wiring diagnrams and tools....

However, these seem like they rely more on harnesses rathe rthan single wires like the autometers. That helps BIG time IMO. Also, they are much thinner looking. Not sure I like the big spinner ring for mounting them....but its not bad. Going over my numbers now haha.

J.

firechicken_3

iTrader: (4)

yeah, i did a set of ultra lites in dads nova, with a covans panel.. it wasnt too bad to do,

i would have preferred the spin rings there as the panel was a little flimsy and the u strap did more to warp it than flatten it out like the spin ring would have...

also the gauge body is threaded its entire length so thickness of the panel shouldnt be a problem unless you get to 3/4in plus

i almost went with the white day time red night lit numbers, but i wanted keepability should anything happen to the car, this design could easily move to a different car and not look out of place, i have also turned my hvac panel white by scraping the orange paint off the edge of the lense... if you dont follow i can get a pick of what to do.

strc09

iTrader: (5)

Is it an overlay or an actual dash peice to replace the plastic one? Pictures, please?

firechicken_3

iTrader: (4)

its an overlay type, the pic is it laying on the early 82-84 dash, which it doesnt fit right on. i had an 88 formula that i was using as a dd and it matched that dash very well. i emailed the guy about it and never got a response and he still lists them as fitting all years which i guess it technically does just not well.

it came predrilled for 3 3/8s and 2 1/16 gauges.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/atta...l-hpim0726.jpg

BlackTopKing

iTrader: (1)

I have to say you did a great job and its right in time- i just got a set of gauges (not as nice as yours) but I am excited about them. I found the thread looking installation tips,
So please keep it updated with the wiring side as well.

This is also nice and I have saved this thread because when I got the gauges I had thought to my self - try to find away to mount - with out going to the aluminum face plate and I like how you did your dash peice to fit- the look is sharp, thus is what I want to do.

Great Job

gsmarcano

looks great, nice job.

Timinsk

iTrader: (9)

You know what would be kind of nice, if someone made a arched gauge bezel for the camaro owners. From left bezel to right bezel, because from the arch it should allow just about all those gauges with being 4" Speedo & Tach, and the x4 2 1/16th" 2x2 setup in between. Just got to extrude and bevel the around the gauge itself to have them stand out without colliding and having the gauge itself on an arch.. but i think it would look nice. I believe how the kitt car has it.. Just throwing my own idea and opinion out there..

if someone did make one so the camaro would still have its stock appearance i'd buy it and buy the guages as well...

strc09

iTrader: (5)

for the pucture. It wasn't what I was hoping it would be. Yours looks much cleaner and nicer than having a peice of aluminum sitting over the existing gage bezel. Keep up the great work. I'm looking forward to the finished product. I need ideas for how to replace my digital dash. I hate it and would much rather have analog style gages.

<<subscribe>>

WildRidez

Looks good man. I like the custom gauges.

Timinsk

iTrader: (9)

Is there anything like this:

That sits back more in the stock position and maybe have a custom bezel on top so it still appears stock, but also has the warning lights and turn signals in some location?...

firechicken_3

iTrader: (4)

Well, we got the panel painted saturday, and lets just say what i thought was smooth was far from it..... you know how they say black shows all? well it showed alot of sanding marks and some imperfections i didnt see.

So it got sanded and filled a couple more times, it looks far far better now but is still a long ways from perfect, but for the time being im going with it.

Maybe someday i will do this again, if i do i will do the cutout and fill in the panels a little differently to make fewer seems to hide. Or just go to a textured paint if i can find something i like.

Anyhow heres a couple pics one of the panel ready to be wired, and one showing where i put the trip reset button and an led for the brake fail warning




I will get a pic of it in car as i will prolly set it in there for safe keeping once i get the panel side wire connectors on, but it may be a while before its actually functional. I hate wiring to begin with and well its winter time here in Iowa and the shop isnt heated.

firechicken_3

iTrader: (4)

in the car nothing wired up yet, just set in with a couple screws for safe keeping untill its warm enough in the shop to work, im pretty satisfied.

BlackTopKing

iTrader: (1)

Wired up yet?

I am hoping you continue the write up on the wiring side as well with pics, and of course I want to see these babies work...video please.

firechicken_3

iTrader: (4)

yeah they are in and wired and have about 500miles on them... i didnt get any pics of actually wiring them, but i have to pull the panel soon to add another push button to the pocket for my t56 reverse lockout, i'll snap a pic of the harness then. as well as them working. if your looking for what wires do what, search in my threads i have another one asking about that in the electronics forum somewhere with wire colors and such.

im happy, my only gripe is with the fuel guage, it moves very slowly. the real problem is the sending unit in the tank tho. my old guage moved all over when you stop hard and such. this guage doesnt move fast enough to keep up. BUT i must stress this is not really a guage problem.

BlackTopKing

iTrader: (1)

Yeah that would be great to just see the harness, I took off my Gauge unit (stock ) to kind of map out everything before I did any modds. And I see the two harness conectors that snap into the cluster- and the wireing but I as woundering you had made a peice to snap into the stock conection or did you cut the harness and re-wire from there?

firechicken_3

iTrader: (4)

i just found what i needed and cut and spliced... you wont use that many of the wires something like 9 of them is all you really need. i bundled

guage power, lights, and grounds in 1 4 pin connector speedhut provides a harness to daisy chain all 6 guages into a single set of connections.

my l+r turn signals, highbeam and brake warning light into another 4 pin connector....

then each speedhut guage has its own pre terminated harness for its sensor.

so really to pull that panel you have to unplug 8 connectors.. a hassle yeah, but how often will i need to do it? i looked a little for a large enough plug to do a single connection but didnt turn up anything i liked

BlackTopKing

iTrader: (1)

Wow, Ok- I was going to just solder, but I think that the pin connectors would work out better, ez conect and dis conect.

Do you have a part number?

Do you think that Radio Shack would have something simluar/ maybe?

Either way, Thanks alot- that has help alot.
I so cant wait to get these in !!!!!!

firechicken_3

iTrader: (4)

they came from radioshack actually, very similar to th 4 pin connectors used in computers, i beleive they also have a 2 and 6 pin version. choose whatever works best for you.

weswisehart

next to top left screw is an l.e.d. which is left turn signal. The right is on oppiste side and brights are the l.e.d. in the middle

OUTLAW_IROC

firechicken_3 Thanks for posting this I had never heard of speedhut before this, I was getting ready to buy Ultra Lites when I saw this and checked them out. I wound up ordering the 6 gauge kit plus boost/trans temp/and fuel press also a pod. I upgraded to a 200mph GPS speedo w/turn signals. Silver face w/red fonts and reverse red glow. Really top notch gauges and sensors, I'll try to post pics asap. Should be here in a week or so cant wait. Thanks again. Also for anyone thinking of buying their customer service is second to none also got an awesome deal because of the memorial day sale and purchasing extra gauges.

bigdavesiroc

awesome...looks great...totally sold on the gps speedo...change gears/ tires all you want and never have to "recalibrate" the speedo!!