I just got done designing a new instrument panel for my 84 Camaro this weekend. I am using a 6 gage BlueLine set from Marshall (purchased on EBay for $310) plus an indicator gage from New Vintage.

For the dash panel, I'm thinking about using 1/4" HDPE black material which has a surface texture. I'm going to buy a piece today to see if I like it. If not, then I'll use aluminum and have it black anodized or powder coated.

Does anyone have any tips for gage placement or order?

 

heres mine

 

Nice looking work. I found a 1/4" HDPE panel that has a texture like yours. I like it much better than just a smooth black surface, so I'm going to use it. I've ordered my gages with black bezels to keep the blacked-out look of the original panel.

I have a question; did you use the existing wires to the stock instrument cluster or did you run all new wires? I'm a bit worried about the "discovery" process in using the exisiting wires. Any tips on this would be helpful. Also, are you using an "LED" lamp dimmer? I'm not sure why the stock dimmer won"t work with LED lamps?

 

My tip for gauge placement - keep oil pressure and water temp with the tach since these are the 3 gauges you look at most during spirited driving.

It can be a personal choice though of course.

 

Thanks Bow-Tied that's good advice!

 

nice work! cant wait to see the final product...and maybe ask for plans haha

 

here is mine from Classic Dash

 

I was going to buy an off the shelf 82-89 dash panel, but, I didn't like the gage layout. I like your layout, but your dash panel is different than mine. Since I have access to a machine shop at work, I'm making the panel with the gage layout that I want.

 

I'd be happy to post the panel design once I'm done. It's been kind of a pain reverse engineering the panel shape. It looks symetric but it's not at all even across the top. And the mounting holes are not inline or evenly spaced either. With that, the gage pattern has to be slanted several degrees to look evenly spaced on the un-even panel - lol.

 

I used the stock wiring for what I could use and anything I couldnt I ran new wires. I cut the connectors off and extended the wires and labeled them. You can do this as well as it was the easiest thing to do

 

I recently recieved the last parts and made the time to work on my new instrument panel. I have some pictures posted of the progress. The wiring was time consuming, but in the end not too difficult. The panel is installed and wired, but not fully tested yet. I still need to change out the oil pressure and water temp sending units on the engine to complete the job. The steering wheel is back on, so as soon as the new senders are in I can go for a test drive and check out the gages for proper operation.

I really like the look and operation of the Marshall gages I bought off Ebay. The Blue Line lighting matches really well with my Pioneer CD lighting. The New Vintage indicator gage I have for the turn, high beam, & brake indicators looks very modern and provides a well integrated package.

 

That's a very nice looking set up, I like the look of stock gauges, but I know you can never trust them.

 

My stock gages were a speedo that bounced +/- 20 MPH and a fuel gage. The rest were idiot lights.