67 Dart 270...Project Old School
This weekend I started the conversion to a digital dash. I am using a 6 gauge clutster from Itellitronix. My plan is to have it all fit inside the stock, 67 gauge bezel. The problem I have right now is none of the gauges in the dash work reliably (other then the amp gauge). I have gauges hanging every where.
Here you see the tach on the column and the fuel gauge hanging on the left.
Under the dash I have the 3 gauge combo of voltage/oil pressure/water temperature:
Over all it detracts from the plain jane, low performance image I am trying to project. I managed to remove the stock instrument cluster from the dash and then unscrew the gauge cluster from the bezel. I then washed the bezel in warm soapy water to get rid of the 45+ years of dust hiding in all the nooks and crevices.
First I wanted to ensure the digital panel was working so I hooked it up to a 9V battery.
I then test fit the digital on the bezel using the factory cluster screw points.
You can see the compact the digital cluster is very compact. It also weighs a lot less then the pot metal casting for the factory gauges. The digital cluster has two push buttons that need to be accessible in order to initiate functions like calibrate the speedometer or review 0-60 times. I had to drill 2 small holes in the factory bezel and I also had to extend the buttons to reach through the factory bezel. I used round plastic rod cut to length and then attached it to the existing push button rods using heat shrink tubing. If I ever have to take it apart I will just simply split the tubing with a knife and remove my extensions.
I used thin black plastic sheet to fill in the spaces on the end of the bezel where the digital cluster did not cover. The pieces of platic sheet are held in place with the factory gauge cluster screws and mounting points. I have the digital gauge cluster mounted to the factory bezel and I am at the point of wiring up the modular plug I got from Radio Shack. This way, it I ever need to remove the cluster/bezel assembly in the future I will be able to unplug it.
This weekend I started the conversion to a digital dash. I am using a 6 gauge clutster from Itellitronix. My plan is to have it all fit inside the stock, 67 gauge bezel. The problem I have right now is none of the gauges in the dash work reliably (other then the amp gauge). I have gauges hanging every where.
Here you see the tach on the column and the fuel gauge hanging on the left.
Under the dash I have the 3 gauge combo of voltage/oil pressure/water temperature:
Over all it detracts from the plain jane, low performance image I am trying to project. I managed to remove the stock instrument cluster from the dash and then unscrew the gauge cluster from the bezel. I then washed the bezel in warm soapy water to get rid of the 45+ years of dust hiding in all the nooks and crevices.
First I wanted to ensure the digital panel was working so I hooked it up to a 9V battery.
I then test fit the digital on the bezel using the factory cluster screw points.
You can see the compact the digital cluster is very compact. It also weighs a lot less then the pot metal casting for the factory gauges. The digital cluster has two push buttons that need to be accessible in order to initiate functions like calibrate the speedometer or review 0-60 times. I had to drill 2 small holes in the factory bezel and I also had to extend the buttons to reach through the factory bezel. I used round plastic rod cut to length and then attached it to the existing push button rods using heat shrink tubing. If I ever have to take it apart I will just simply split the tubing with a knife and remove my extensions.
I used thin black plastic sheet to fill in the spaces on the end of the bezel where the digital cluster did not cover. The pieces of platic sheet are held in place with the factory gauge cluster screws and mounting points. I have the digital gauge cluster mounted to the factory bezel and I am at the point of wiring up the modular plug I got from Radio Shack. This way, it I ever need to remove the cluster/bezel assembly in the future I will be able to unplug it.