More Dash Work

Dateline - 03/26/2016 - Continued to work on the dash this weekend.  My first chore was to rewire the center instrument cluster.  This took about two hours to do but the results are nice. I ordered two connectors to finish up the wiring harness, but they have not come in yet, so I'll do that later.

Center gauge cluster wired together

Next I installed the Tach and Speedo in to the left hand dash and started working on fitting that.  Well, things just did not fit.  Again, the problem with a prototype!  The biggest problem was the bottom facia is just too long.  So, I pulled back the upholstery and grabbed the had saw a cut a section of the middle, right below the steering column.  It took about an hour to cut, sand and glue it all back together, but it worked out well and I was able to pull the loose upholstery up to get it tight again.

I also had to talk the steering column back down again because I had to remove a bracket that sat around the key hole.  The bracket was there originally to hold the piece of black plastic molding that went around the key.  I don't need it anymore and was getting in the way.  But the only way to get it off was to pull the steering column back down to get to the screws.  What a pain!  I was really hoping I would not have to deal with that anymore.  Oh well!

So, once I got that sorted, I was finally able to get the left side of the dash mounted.  Now I needed to make brackets to hold the dash.  My new dash sits about 3/4 of an inch further back then the original dash did, so it does not quite fit against the original dash mounts.  I made two brackets out of aluminium that hold the dash in place. I need to fasten the dash to these brackets, but I don't want them to be too solid so that they can flex a bit, so I think I'm going to use industrial hook-and-loop tape.  I think that will hold it, but still give me the ability to pull the panels without too much effort.

Finally, I put the dash pad, steering column cover and steering wheel lock on and took some pictures.

That was a full nine hour day and I was pretty pooped after I was done.

Dash with fittings from back window

Dash from driver side

Dash from passenger side

What's left?  Well, I still have some under dash wiring to deal with as well as finishing the center warning light cluster before I can mount everything.  Then I can attach the center console.  After that, Seats, and dare I say it, external panels!