Newer dash conversion

[turbizzy]

I was wondering, I see that Lee Clary has converted his dash to a 87-93 style and i was wondering what you guys thought about it? I would love to keep the stock dash and all but i do like the way the newer dashs look and there is soo much aftermarket out there for them, not too much for ours. I don't want to ruin a perfectly good dash or anything but i was wondering what all i had to modify as f=ar as wiring and such. Obviously some gauges would have some different connections but is it pretty much just drop in place of stock location? I wonder if anyone has done this before? i searched Turboford but got nothing.

izzy

[Erics SVO]

Lee did his over a long period of time. Also he had to customize a console for the early style brake handle... Paul and I put a later dash in a 79 vert(made into a vert) I had to hole saw a few different holes for the newer harnesses. It helped alot that we had the donor car right next to it to get good visuals and maybe pirate some kind of mount , etc. to tack to the firewall.

-Eric

[Eyelawdoc]

Obviously it is a matter of personal taste. My feeling is that to swap in the later style dash detracts from the car. One of the things that makes an SVO an SVO is the fuzzy instrument panel and the turbo boost gauge in the cluster (inaccurate though it may be).

If you start swapping in later model dash parts, to me it just becomes another cobbed together junkyard equipped old car. I suppose there are some who like their SVO's better with 93 LX tailights or the 93 aero front end or a V-8. If it keeps a car on the road and out of the scrap heap, well, O.K. I just prefer the original myself!

[Erics SVO]

Originally posted by Eyelawdoc
[

If you start swapping in later model dash parts, to me it just becomes another cobbed together junkyard equipped old car. I suppose there are some who like their SVO's better with 93 LX tailights or the 93 aero front end or a V-8. If it keeps a car on the road and out of the scrap heap, well, O.K. I just prefer the original myself! [/B]

I dont neccesarily like mine that way, but it will wear a 86 LX nose til I can save/find/amass all the correct parts. I want to be able to drive it and enjoy it nto haveing to wait for the proper parts. See the decscription of the car in my profile... Hence cannibalizing the TC harness I had for the SPOUT is also gonna donate the headlite harness so I can make a sub harness for the car so I dont have to hack the SVO harness. Plus it may also come in handy for other unseen/unknown places in my harness...
I had a few of the regular parts lying around, and scored a Mach I style hood for the 83-6 on the cheap. Once I aquire all the proper parts these will go into the rafters for another project someday....

-Eric

[Eyelawdoc]

Originally posted by Eric's SVO
I dont neccesarily like mine that way, but it will wear a 86 LX nose til I can save/find/amass all the correct parts. I want to be able to drive it and enjoy it nto haveing to wait for the proper parts. ...
-Eric

Nothing wrong with that at all. Bringing some of these cars back from the dead and enjoying them is what it is all about!

[turbizzy]

Your probably right about that, in that the fuzy dash is pretty cool. ... Yeah, i think i will leave it as is. I just like all the available aftermarket gauge pods and stuff for the newer dashs but then again, theres tons of them out there. I don't want to be a ricer with all these gauges but i do want to add the following gauges just because i KNOW that ill be watching them: boost/vac, coolant temp, fuel, fuel pressure, oil, oil temp, A/F ratio, volt (stereo system) and intercooler H20 (for my future aftercooler.

I like the way Jon Dell Blair did his dash, he just replaced all his stocks with autometers and added an extra 2 gauges where the center vent goes, how the hekk did he do that?

JDB's interior pics (be patient)

Anyone wanna post pics of the way their gauges are set up?

[Eyelawdoc]

How to Add 2 Gauges into Stock Dash

I'm sure that most on the board will agree that JDB' s gauge install (and the rest of the car) reflects the highest degree of craftsmanship and attention to detail! Izzy asks how he got two more gauges in the panel where the vent is.

Easy. On the comp prep cars without air, there is no vent grill in the right side of the instrument panel. He fabricated a backing plate to mount the gauges in the area underneath the fuzzy panel where the hole for the vent is in the sub dash. He then cut two more holes in the fuzzy panel to match the two adjacent holes where the fuel and oil pressure gauges go, taking great care to make the cut holes identical in appearance to the existing holes.

The only rub is that you first need a fuzzy instrument panel from a comp prep car (rare and hard to come by -$$$). You also have to cut it, rendering it valueless, except in this custom installation.

[BAD5oh]

Take a look here. This is where I bought a pod for my 85 GT. I can show pics of how it looks in my car but will post them later because the pics are in my other computer. Personally SVO's and 4 eyed cars are my favorite. 87-93 are dime a dozen and everyone has one. The interiors in the SVO's and 4 eyed GT's I think lok so much better. Just my .02 cents

http://florida50.com