Mikelly Posted December 9, 2005 Share Posted December 9, 2005 OK guys, don't get all excited about pics just yet... I'll take some as soon as this all matures. However, Something today happened that actually made this Dash project "work". My youngest stepson stopped by to show me his new tattoo and in order to deraille his attempt to show me it, I had him instead go up stairs of the garage to fetch me one of my extra old dashes... He brought it down and we stripped it clean... down to the frame. Then we cut off the bottom half/ verticle section of the frame work. We were left with the top of the dashpad frame that bolts to the firewall and provides the base for the dash to sit on and the little metal black vent panel to bolt to at the base of the windshield. So once everything was trimmed exactly like my dash board cover and around the cage work, I was able to bolt it in, lay the dash pad in place, and bolt the little black piece in at the base where the windshield would be. I then took a couple of my gages and test fitted them. They will work perfectly and I'll be able to use the dash framework to bolt the gage brackets to. I'll weld 3 to 4 braces of steal bracketry in place at the cage and bend them to form a front face brave for the dash and then also I'll drill four holes in the top of the dash cap where the matching holes exist in the frame, tack weld the nuts in place and use black cap screws in the dash to bolt it to the frame work. It'll take less than five minutes to remove the dash completely and get to the electronics/ accusump, and other items I plan to stash up against the firewall. Pics will come once everything else is done and I can show the final product and the dis-assembled pieces. I'm stoked! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparks280zt Posted December 9, 2005 Share Posted December 9, 2005 how much weight do you estimate you will be saving? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted December 9, 2005 Author Share Posted December 9, 2005 Well that is a good question and one the stepson commented on when we were done with the mod... Probably cut the weight down more than 50% and quite possibly by more. The few pieces of metal bracing I'm welding in off the cage to support the assembly won't amount to 3# worth including the weld and the shell/cap assembly combined won't weight more than 5# with bolts. The gages I'll use are all autometer Phantoms and are silly light... I'd bet the whole thing with all gages mounted won't be 15#. The factory dash is at least 30# and probably more. I'm doing this more so for ease of troubleshooting at the track, and ability to keep it looking sort of stock in the dash area... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunar240z Posted December 10, 2005 Share Posted December 10, 2005 sounds awesome, i had that same idea! and now that i know it's possible... you could probably stiffen up the dash cap in some places with some "great stuff" foam if you're going to use it on the street. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v80z Posted December 10, 2005 Share Posted December 10, 2005 HMMMM. Got me Thinkin. I was going to fab a small dash but still have the stock one laying around. Let me see what I can do to lighten it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted December 10, 2005 Author Share Posted December 10, 2005 I"m going to lay out the elextrical today for the dash and all accessories, and maybe fabricate the mounts for the gages and mount some of them, and get that harness wired up. Then I'll finalize the dash and take some pics. I hope to have the bulk of the wiring done this weekend. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
260DET Posted December 11, 2005 Share Posted December 11, 2005 Yeh, pics would be good. Not to sure whats going on here but it sounds interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted December 11, 2005 Author Share Posted December 11, 2005 Yesterday I got adventurous and opened up the painless wiring "kit" I bought about 3 years ago. I thought I got a regular 12 circuit unit, but I ended up with the more robust 18 circuit model, which will have a LOT of wiring I have no use for. Guess I'll just spool it and zipp tie it incase one day I end up doing a Terry Oxendale and put it back in street trim. I also managed to digg out a bunch of my electrical components so I could prepare to mount it all and run the wiring. I ended up throwing a lot of stuff away. I'll end up throwing a LOT more away in the coming days... I made a panel that will bolt in behind the dash from the firewall to the trans tunnel, using the existing bolt holes from previous dash hardware, and that panel will hold my MSD and the Holley ECU. Still gotta sort out where I'm gonna bolt the wiring harness circuit panel. Gonna work on that one today so I can actually start routing the wires. I'm pretty impressed with the painless harness kit. Every wire has what it goes to stamped on the sleeve, including the code for the reference in the manual. This was a $300 well spent. The following are what will be wired in: Headlights Tail Lights Turnsignals Wipers Heater control Gages Ignition MSD ECU Starter Alternator Fuel Pump Electric Fan Accusump I've got a Moroso five circuit toggle box that some of these items will run off, and the starter button runs off that box as well. So I'll have to incorporate that into the wiring, along with the harness for the ECU... Gonna be like spaghetti for a while... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark Posted December 11, 2005 Share Posted December 11, 2005 Mike, I feel for ya. Mine only has tail lights, gauges, a start botton and the ecu and associated wiring. It still took me way too long to get it all wired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted December 11, 2005 Author Share Posted December 11, 2005 I'm only going to wire in 2 speeds for the wipers and a wire setup for a small heater blower for defrost only. I really wanted to keep it simple, but won't be able to cut back much more and be able to drive it at all on the street... Which might be 10 miles of test and tune locally... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boodlefoof Posted December 11, 2005 Share Posted December 11, 2005 Sounds like a lot of wiring. I'm with Mark, wiring is a pain in the butt! Look forward to seeing the pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Here comes trouble Posted December 12, 2005 Share Posted December 12, 2005 Don't forget the tat photos.. My one one and only tattoo cost me 10 times the original price for removal and now is a remakable scar on my shoulder ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted December 13, 2005 Author Share Posted December 13, 2005 Slow day in the office today so I went out to the shop and routed the wiring harness into place, ran the rear harness and loomed it, mounted the fuse panel to the cage and then drilled the hole and installed the grommet for the firewall and ran the front engine bay harness through. This painless harness is gonna be pretty simple to wire up. I'm impressed with the documentation and how it was wired up. Routing the harness was CAKE. I also mounted the ECU and the MSD box on the custom panel and mounted it. After lunch I'll go out and finish taching in the braces for the dash and drill the holes, mount it and take pics. Next on the list will be epoxy mixing and affixing the brackets for the gages. I have a painless gage harness from previous applications and I'll wire the gages, mount them and run a battery over to test for connections. Moving right along... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Here comes trouble Posted December 13, 2005 Share Posted December 13, 2005 Harbour Freight sells a small portable ceramic heater ( Lot # 36711) designed for either heat or defrost that plugs into a cigarette lighter on sale @ $6.49 until DEC 19.....$12.99 regular.. Sounds a little hokey, but I quit laughing at Harbour Freight products. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted December 13, 2005 Author Share Posted December 13, 2005 I really got side tracked after lunch... I made the mistake of opening the box for the Holley Commander 950 and pulling out the wiring harness for it. It is now in its new home. I also wired in the remote solenoid and 50Amp mega fuse kit that came with the painless harness kit. Tomorrow I'm going to a State Legislatures lunch to discuss business in our city with the Governors office... Oh joy! I'll be lucky if I get back to it by the weekend... Making lots of progress though! Still no pictures yet! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted December 17, 2005 Author Share Posted December 17, 2005 Well I got about five solid hours of work in on the car today... Wired in the complete gauge cluster from the gauges (Autometer Phantoms) to the painless harness. Wired the MSD box into the painless harness. Wired in the tach signal to the harness, the MSD and the Tach. Wired in the Hayden electronic fan controller. Wired the complete rear lighting. Wired in the brakeswitch. I also sorted out the windshield wiper wiring sort of. I've got two speeds worked out on the old harness wiring, and I think I'm gonna just tap into the controller on the stalk for those two presets. So long as I have wipers working, I'm good. I got the Odyssey PC680 in today and made a mount for it as well. Although it is smaller and lighter than a traditional battery, I was disappointed that it weighs as much as it does... Even though I can pick it up with one hand! Fun and games... Still got to wire in the accusump, head lights, fuel injection harness, fuel pumps, and a few other odds and ends... She is coming along though... My guess is by the time I can afford to get it ready for paint, it'll be running! Goal is to start this thing and hear it run by the end of February... Money is the only factor that will hold me up. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueovalz Posted December 18, 2005 Share Posted December 18, 2005 Still no pictures yet! Bla bla blaa bla bla. Quit procrastinating! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted December 18, 2005 Author Share Posted December 18, 2005 I thought about that yesterday after the THIRD time of removing the dash cover. I'm waiting until I'm done with the wiring and have it all tested out so I can drill the few holes, test fit, paint the dash cover, bolt in the gages and bolt the dash down. Then in those final few steps I'll click off some pics! Unless of course someone is waiting on these for their own project, then I'll get right on it. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
260DET Posted December 29, 2005 Share Posted December 29, 2005 Any further progress? This is interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MatMan Posted December 30, 2005 Share Posted December 30, 2005 Uhh, yeah... any pics yet, Mike? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.