Dash Finished

Well, the plan was to do a Dash Leather part 2, part 3 etc. but I just got carried away so we'll jump straight to Dash finished. After I'd temporarily fitted the gauges, I stuck the leather tabs down on the rear of the dash and cut out the holes for the warning lights and switches using a punch. I didn't have a punch of exactly the right size but I found that because the leather had some give in it and to a point was stretchy, I could use a punch a little smaller and gently ease the warning lights and switches through the slightly smaller hole.



It all went together relatively easy so it was onto the piping around the aperture for the steering column and then along the top edge. The piping looks a little odd in the pictures but I left it a little high along the top edge so that when the dash is in position it folds down nicely.



One area which gave me a little to think about was the lucas switches which came with either a round fixing ring or a hexagonal nut like fixing ring. I've seen other builds which had the rings all matching so I set off on a mission to find either more hexagonal nuts or round rings so they all looked the same. The solution was relatively straightforward in the end and I bought a couple of spare round fixing rings from SVC but at £5.50 each I was a little taken aback ! Anyway, it's done now and I'm glad I bit my lip and pressed ahead as it looks much better with them all being the same.



So onto my chosen layout, I've basically put all the gauges which I consider to be the most important along the right hand edge of the triangle so they're easier for the driver to see, oil pressure, water temperature and fuel.



I hadn't stopped to think whether there was a standard layout for the gauges and found that when I fitted the dash loom on the rear some of the wires needed a little help to reach their intended position. With the integration of the standalone Mast wiring loom I'm using for the engine management, I had to make some slight alterations and put some extra wires in for ignition, rev counter, malfunction indicator light (MIL) and water temperature which I'm driving from the Mast ECU rather than a straightforward sender.
I also had to put an extra earth wire in for some modifications I've made to the windscreen wiper circuit which now has an intermittent wipe feature. It looks like a dogs dinner at the moment and I may try and tidy it up but I need to test it first so I'll wait to find out if it all works before I mess with it anymore. It is all very secure though and I've lost count of the number of zip ties I've used to hold it all in place.



In addition to the wiring, the loom also needs a voltage stabiliser fitted which regualtes the voltage down to 10v for some of the instruments which takes out inaccuracies caused by the fluctuating voltage of the main loom caused by the alternator cutting in and out as required to charge the battery. I bolted the regulator across the fixing brackets used to secure two of the small gauges.



Got a bit of work to do to the wiring in the car which connects into the dash loom and steering column switches, ignition, indicator stalks etc. then I should be in a position to connect it all together, connect the battery and give it a test.