Dash conversion

[kkritsilas]

B-58 had a number of ideas, including the entire bomb bay/extra fuel tank under the belly that could be jettisoned when required. Fast as all get out, even by today's standards. The XB-70, as far as I can recall, is/was, the only Mach 3 bomber, and used a shockwave riding idea to get there. The B-58 was the only supersonic bomber on the US side, the USSR/Russians had the TU-22. Neither were heavy bombers in the B-52 sense. The US then brought out the B-1A (originally supersonic, then cost reduced to subsonic), the Russians brought out the Backfire and Blackjack bombers.

No Peter-pulling required, and I am not trying to convince anybody of anything, just stating opinions. I don't expect to change anybody's opinion in either direction, nor do I really care all that much if anybody agrees with me or not. You like digital dashes, great; somebody likes analog, just as great.

No argument about accuracy in any way. However, knowing whether you are doing 55 or 56 really isn't required most of the time. I like analog gauges just because I feel it allows me to read them faster, and keep my eyes on the road. You may favour accuracy. So be it.

Kostas

P.S. Another plane that seems to be almost forgotten, yet had stellar performance, is the A-5 Vigilante. Sort of the US Navy equivalent.

 

[My imp]

My son in law works on FA-18's. I was USAF, he's NAVY. We constantly mess with each other. When my son went to all the recruiters, the Navy guy was an a-holes a-hole. He totally ripped on the AF after I told him I was AF. I told him it was the USAF, but to no avail. Well, out came the fangs. When he said that Navy did in 600 ft what took AF 6000 ft. (carrier vs. ground take off). To which I said, he's right, but we didn't need anyone to hold our hands while we did (most Navy fighters have 2seats, while most AF fighters have 1). Then I asked him how many songs the Village People (pee pee touchers) wrote about the AF? What can I say, I'm a typical nit-picking Virgo. If my pressure relief is set at 55, why do I have 56 psi? lol no, I don't care to that extent. I'm not sure how I'll eventually end up doing this, but I want to take all my interior trim & cover it with real burled black walnut veneer & clear coat it with lacquer in true coach builder fashion. The easiest way would be to use Cordoba door panels & modify them to Imp standards. But either way any mistakes could be quite expensive!

 

[kkritsilas]

The use of something like MDF as a base, with a burled walnut veneer covering, then clear coated in a UV resistant polyurethane lacquer is really the only way to get "faded to pink" issue to go away. My blue Mirada is really bad in that regard. If you can get an actual panel, even a really bad one, it would make a good pattern to work from. Veneering is an art all by itself, but if it is done well, it can look great. I was throwing around a similar idea for the cracked upper door panels; get some MDF/outdoor plywood, cut/shape it match the always cracked plastic pieces, using the cracked plastic pieces as a model for the replacements and to make sure the door lock knob is located in the right place, then veneer it. Combine that with the veneered dash panel, and it would certainly bring the car up a couple of notches.

Kostas

 

[NoCar340]

I would probably start with luaun for the uppers. You'd want to completely seal it against the elements before final installation. It would probably be a little more forgiving than thin MDF or plywood for workability.

I did a mahogany veneer inlay for an M-body cluster and Chronometer glove box years ago. It was gorgeous, but the work was never completed on the rest of the interior. It turned out the fella didn't like to pay for the work involved (I'm nobody's Norm Abram; it was painstaking). Thought about doing it on my own car, but decided to go with the brushed aluminum look instead. Still considering what I'm going to do for the Imperial.

 

[My imp]

I was pricing the Burled Black Walnut today, with & without Grey Poupon! Not cheap, but not bad. Whatever we do to our ride, it is hand made. It probably won't all be machine perfect. They showed the Rolls Royce factory using the veneer to make up the center stalk. Flat stuff is easy to do. Compound curves, such as the ones found on the A pillar of our cars, are the ones where you'll pull out your hair (& wallet!) trying to get that to work. I'll try to find the cheapest veneer I can to attempt the most difficult piece first. If I can pull that off, then it's time for the burl! There's nothing nicer than having real wood in place of that fade to pink cracking crap the factory used. Some real leather on the rest of the door panel would be cool also. I plan on using suede on the headliner.

 

[MiradaMegacab]

My Mirada dash.
Gauges are, fuel level, water temp, volts, trans temp, speedometer, tach, oil press, boost/vac.
I have a cowl mounted fuel pressure gauge and a Nitrous pressure gauge on the bottle.

 

[jasperjacko]

Hey Mega, all that and it only goes "85"mph? hehe p.s. Did someone write on your hood?

 

[MiradaMegacab]

Lol, the hood is open, you can see the cowl hood scoop just above the crack in the steering wheel.
The magic marker notes on the windshield is a reminder to myself of what needs to be tightened or completed. As this is an ongoing build, I need the reminders.
Nothing like priming an engine, having no oil pressure, and after some investigating, realizing I forgot to put the oil filter on, cleaning up 5 quarts of oil on the garage floor....... Well, u get the picture, it's just easier to write shit down......
As far as the speedometer, the mileage is someones birthday and the trip reading (6969) is a R rated story.
I can talk my way out of most tickets from law enforcement but not having an actual speedometer is apparently worse than having a blower, nitrous oxide and slicks. Go figure!

 

[R/T Mirada]

Love that Dash!

I've been thinking about doing the same thing myself, Do you have any pics of the conversion?
I know where 2 stock instrument clusters are located, I plan on picking one up for practice.

Good job!

 

[MiradaMegacab]

Thanks Mark,
I don't have any pics, I did that dash 20 years ago.
I believe I used 2 1/16" gauges and the tach might be 3 3/8"
I wired the gauges making a plug and play harness. I swapped out the factory wire connector and used one from Radio Shack. The gauge lights are dimmable, as I wired them into the headlight switch.
As far as install, I removed the dash bezel and the 2 black pieces, cut up the white housing for any clearance issues with the back of the gauges, I sandwiched the gauges in with the 2 black pieces as they already have the right size round holes to show the face of the gauges. I believe there was no cutting of the black pieces, I did remove the clear plastic panels that were bonded to the black pieces.

 

[My imp]

Hey Mega, all that and it only goes "85"mph? hehe p.s. Did someone write on your hood?

Windshield, the writing's backwards. Looks good! Do they make those in digital? lol

 

[NoCar340]

...Flat stuff is easy to do. Compound curves, such as the ones found on the A pillar of our cars, are the ones where you'll pull out your hair (& wallet!) trying to get that to work... I plan on using suede on the headliner.

The M-body cluster bezel isn't as flat as you might think. The way I went about it was to peel the original woodgrain out carefully, squish it flat, and use it as a template. It doesn't look much like an M-body part once it's flattened. I soaked the veneer and carefully pressed it into place and allowed it to dry for several days, pulled it back out formed and stained it. I then applied the adhesive and put it back in place. There was a lot more to it than that (staining, etc.) but that was the basic procedure.

Suede on the headliner? Wussing out on the alcantara?

Mega's dash is close to what I'm shooting for, except with all matching gauges done in the font found on his speedometer. The light-blue hashing with the metric stuff will go away, though, unless I can figure out something to do to make the tach match.

 

[kkritsilas]

MiradaMegaCab:

That looks great. That's the type of setup that should have been available from the factory. Looks 100X better than having a 3 3/8" fuel gauge and idiot lights.

Did you have to change out the pressure/temp/voltage sensors, or do the factory ones work with the gauges?

Kostas

 

[NoCar340]

The volt wires just go to 12V+ ign on and ground; there is no sensor. The factory oil-pressure switch would have to be swapped out to a sender, but the OE wiring could be used. His appears to be a mechanical gauge, though. The factory Mopar temp sender is actually the standard for most aftermarket gauges and unless your application has an idiot light, it can usually be used. Just install and watch the gauge at running temp; if it seems off then use the sender that came with the gauge. This is actually true of most oil-pressure gauges, too... if you had a factory gauge, the sender should work. VDO gauges are their own beast for pressure senders, though.

 

[My imp]

The M-body cluster bezel isn't as flat as you might think. The way I went about it was to peel the original woodgrain out carefully, squish it flat, and use it as a template. It doesn't look much like an M-body part once it's flattened. I soaked the veneer and carefully pressed it into place and allowed it to dry for several days, pulled it back out formed and stained it. I then applied the adhesive and put it back in place. There was a lot more to it than that (staining, etc.) but that was the basic procedure.

Suede on the headliner? Wussing out on the alcantara?

Mega's dash is close to what I'm shooting for, except with all matching gauges done in the font found on his speedometer. The light-blue hashing with the metric stuff will go away, though, unless I can figure out something to do to make the tach match.

I know the dash isn't completely flat. I was just saying that flat stuff is easy, compound stuff isn't. I fabbed a cross for my church out of wood. Its all flat, so it was easy, I'll shoot a pic or two. No stain involved. Oak for the base wood, I was going to use wood that they may have built Christ's cross from. It started with a "C", it wasn't Cyprus, but I can't remember the name. Only one supplier had it, & it was $3000 a board ft! That cross is 3' tall, do the math! Oak is a rugged enough wood for me! The purple wood is Purple Heart. That's it's natural color. The INRI is Blood wood, again, natural color. The other is Birds Eye Maple. All have meaning for their use. Oak, I already explained. Purple Heart; purple is the color of royalty. Jesus was the King of the Jews. Birds Eye Maple; god is all seeing... Blood wood; for the blood Christ shed for our sins. Oh, by the way, that's the Topol clear. No scuff & buff. I know there's dust in the clear, I finished it on Good Friday at 8:00 am. I delivered it at noon for the stations of the cross in the park. It just isn't that high on the priority list to scuff & buff. On a better prepared surface, that clear flows like water,& looks like glass when it dries. If you don't get any dust in the clear, & you have good gun technique, that'll work as a finished paint job.

 

[MiradaMegacab]

Windshield, the writing's backwards. Looks good! Do they make those in digital? lol

AutoMeter Pro Comp

 

[My imp]

I haven't priced suede lately, however, alcantara, which is a suede substitute is $104 a yard in black. I've a buddy in the leather business that I can get suede on the deal. Plus, I just LOVE the smell of leather! Connelly hides, Oxford wool carpet, suede headliner, probably be worth more than the car! But this will be the car I've always dreamed of. As I've said, this is the only car I've ever had in 40 yrs of driving that I actually look forward to driving, each, & every time. Why not go all out & do it exactly the way I want? It won't be the fastest, best handling, or economical thing I've ever owned; but it will be the best all around car I can make it to be.

 

[My imp]

Summit sells Dakota dashes for an arm & a leg, then you have to make it fit. If worse comes to worse, you can make a decal. I make my guitar headstock decals from it. It comes in sheets. Layout what you want on the computer, then hit print! Applies just like the models we built as kids. Because it is the same. You just need to clear coat before you stick it in water. But there are companies that'll make gauge faces to fit your app. Just forgot the name?

 

[MiradaMegacab]

MiradaMegaCab:

That looks great. That's the type of setup that should have been available from the factory. Looks 100X better than having a 3 3/8" fuel gauge and idiot lights.

Did you have to change out the pressure/temp/voltage sensors, or do the factory ones work with the gauges?

Kostas

Thanks, I installed the senders that came with the gauges.

 

[NoCar340]

Summit sells Dakota dashes for an arm & a leg, then you have to make it fit. If worse comes to worse, you can make a decal. I make my guitar headstock decals from it. It comes in sheets. Layout what you want on the computer, then hit print! Applies just like the models we built as kids. Because it is the same. You just need to clear coat before you stick it in water. But there are companies that'll make gauge faces to fit your app. Just forgot the name?

If you shop around, you should be able to find Cyberdyne or other gauges that aren't so amazingly expensive, but they just won't look right unless they're VFD as original. Just my opinion there.

Laying out what you want on the computer isn't as easy as it sounds. I did that with a tach face for a converted M-body fuel gauge. It was tricky to get the numbers aligned and the hashmarks weren't much fun, either. It looks a little flattened on the sides on the computer, but it prints out the way I wanted it...