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bramagedained · 01-11-2016

More chipping away at this.

Since the last post I stripped the dash harness out which I forgot to take pictures of, it was another few lbs of wire.

I left myself pigtails for the factory wire into the factory plugs for the combination switches for the blinker/headlights/wipers.

I did the same with the wires/plug for the ignition and found another surprise.

That was under more duct tape. It's the same wire that was duct taped in another spot, which is the wire that ran to the solenoid on the starter. I'm sure these two janky connections didn't help with my hot start issue.

My order from Amazon came with a pleasant surprise.

I had ordered the cheap version of the B&M Pro Ratchet shifter, however, they shipped me the nicer one.

On amazon they're ~$80 different in price, list price is $100 different.

I've been working since Saturday on mounting the new gauges. It takes way more time than expected, but, only doing it for 3-4 hours at a time makes it much more enjoyable.

The brackets work and are solid, but, they're ugly so no picture of the back side.

This is from roughly where the seating position is inside the car. The speedo/tach still need their brackets, they're just friction fit into place.

At first, I was struggling with a good way to get them positioned correctly. The OEM gauges have just a slightly bigger housing. They way those are mounted is the back of the dash is angled slightly and they are basically spring loaded pushing against that to angle towards the driver.

I noticed that the bezels of the OEM gauges are just slightly smaller than the bezel of the Autometer ones.

So I took them apart, with a hammer and screwdriver. I could maybe been more delicate, but, meh. I then epoxied these into place in the dash, pressed against the angled flats to give me the proper angle.

This made locating the gauges super easy. They're centered and at the same angle to the driver as stock and it looks super clean.

As a minor nitpick, they must be from different production runs as the stencil that says "Auto Meter" and "Pro Comp" is ever so slightly different on the fuel level vs the oil pressure and water temp.

I also figured out what to do for turn signal and indicator lights.

Originally I had scavenged the OEM ones from the dash harness.

I was going to be clever and make a box and use some fiberoptic to pass the light out of the dash. I've seen some pretty clever use of this by buying the right size to fit inside a pop-rivet to give you a bezel and finished look.

However, I found these on DigiKey.

https://www.digikey.com/product-deta...739-ND/3153072

https://www.digikey.com/product-deta...731-ND/3153069

Green and blue panel mount LEDs with a diffused 3MM LED and a bezel. They can be wired right into 12v and have leads coming off of them I can easily add to the relevant circuits on the Painless harness. They were kind of spendy for LEDs ad $12 and $10 each.

I'm now done with school at 1:30 every day so hopefully I can finish with brackets and start laying out the wiring for the new harness.

01-11-2016	#69
bramagedained Join Date: May 2010 Location: KY/MN/Afghanistan Drives: EVO IX SSL Posts: 413	Re: My "new" car/project. More chipping away at this. Since the last post I stripped the dash harness out which I forgot to take pictures of, it was another few lbs of wire. I left myself pigtails for the factory wire into the factory plugs for the combination switches for the blinker/headlights/wipers. I did the same with the wires/plug for the ignition and found another surprise. That was under more duct tape. It's the same wire that was duct taped in another spot, which is the wire that ran to the solenoid on the starter. I'm sure these two janky connections didn't help with my hot start issue. My order from Amazon came with a pleasant surprise. I had ordered the cheap version of the B&M Pro Ratchet shifter, however, they shipped me the nicer one. On amazon they're ~$80 different in price, list price is $100 different. I've been working since Saturday on mounting the new gauges. It takes way more time than expected, but, only doing it for 3-4 hours at a time makes it much more enjoyable. The brackets work and are solid, but, they're ugly so no picture of the back side. This is from roughly where the seating position is inside the car. The speedo/tach still need their brackets, they're just friction fit into place. At first, I was struggling with a good way to get them positioned correctly. The OEM gauges have just a slightly bigger housing. They way those are mounted is the back of the dash is angled slightly and they are basically spring loaded pushing against that to angle towards the driver. I noticed that the bezels of the OEM gauges are just slightly smaller than the bezel of the Autometer ones. So I took them apart, with a hammer and screwdriver. I could maybe been more delicate, but, meh. I then epoxied these into place in the dash, pressed against the angled flats to give me the proper angle. This made locating the gauges super easy. They're centered and at the same angle to the driver as stock and it looks super clean. As a minor nitpick, they must be from different production runs as the stencil that says "Auto Meter" and "Pro Comp" is ever so slightly different on the fuel level vs the oil pressure and water temp. I also figured out what to do for turn signal and indicator lights. Originally I had scavenged the OEM ones from the dash harness. I was going to be clever and make a box and use some fiberoptic to pass the light out of the dash. I've seen some pretty clever use of this by buying the right size to fit inside a pop-rivet to give you a bezel and finished look. However, I found these on DigiKey. https://www.digikey.com/product-deta...739-ND/3153072 https://www.digikey.com/product-deta...731-ND/3153069 Green and blue panel mount LEDs with a diffused 3MM LED and a bezel. They can be wired right into 12v and have leads coming off of them I can easily add to the relevant circuits on the Painless harness. They were kind of spendy for LEDs ad $12 and $10 each. I'm now done with school at 1:30 every day so hopefully I can finish with brackets and start laying out the wiring for the new harness.