Dart Drag Car Dash & Wiring Makeover
Hey guys,
Thought I'd share my latest project. I have a 70 Dart drag car which I felt needed a rewiring. The car was totally functional as it was, but ton's of wires in all directions up under the dash, lots of the same color, color changes within a run, you know, the kind of stuff that happens over years of being a race car and needing changes along the way.
I don't have many good pics of the system beforehand, but in this one you can see the original dash in the car:
That came out and we test fitted, cut, test fitted, cut one of the Jegs aluminum Dash Kits into the car.
We moved the dash a little farther forward in the car than it was before just to give some room for crawling in & out.
Once fitted we started marking/cutting/drilling the dash for gauges & switches:
Underneath where the tach and shift light will mount I put in a backer piece of thin steel just to add some strength. Probably didn't need it but I liked the idea:
Switches, buttons & lights went in the dash next. Top row is Transbrake light, LineLock light, start button. Switches are Ign, Fuel, water pump, fan, lights, extrea, extra:
From there wiring started . . . . and went on & on & on:
The car had components mounted to the inside of the firewall and the trans tunnel, but I've always liked the panel approach. I was going to wire every single thing, but the Leash Electronics Sportsmans box really really simplifies things. In the end, this is my electronics board:
Installed on the passenger floor area:
In this pic you can see where I really started getting carried away with wire. I bought a mess of modern GXL wire remnants on eBay in various colors & stripes so that I could keep it all straight:
Red is hard to avoid so there are a couple of red runs. All grounds are black, and pretty puch everything else is it's own color. There's a 4 page MS Visio wiring diagram to keep it all straight.
This is not the latest of pics, but close. This is how it all came out in the car:
I'll try to get a couple of overall shots and some corner detail shots posted later. Gauges will be back in eventually and I added a voltmeter to the car. That electronics panel is grounded all the way back to the main battery cable at the frame.
Another thing not shown here is a jive little wiring harness that allows me to plug/unplug my delay box for times that I want to be in or out of that class.
Everything tested out OK. I have to extra switches in the dash for later; one will get a fan for the driver. The car now has functioning brake lights as well as running lights.
I'm real happy with it and I think maintenance will be a lot easier in the future.
Just sharing.
-Hemicbx
Hey guys,
Thought I'd share my latest project. I have a 70 Dart drag car which I felt needed a rewiring. The car was totally functional as it was, but ton's of wires in all directions up under the dash, lots of the same color, color changes within a run, you know, the kind of stuff that happens over years of being a race car and needing changes along the way.
I don't have many good pics of the system beforehand, but in this one you can see the original dash in the car:
That came out and we test fitted, cut, test fitted, cut one of the Jegs aluminum Dash Kits into the car.
We moved the dash a little farther forward in the car than it was before just to give some room for crawling in & out.Once fitted we started marking/cutting/drilling the dash for gauges & switches:
Underneath where the tach and shift light will mount I put in a backer piece of thin steel just to add some strength. Probably didn't need it but I liked the idea:
Switches, buttons & lights went in the dash next. Top row is Transbrake light, LineLock light, start button. Switches are Ign, Fuel, water pump, fan, lights, extrea, extra:
From there wiring started . . . . and went on & on & on:
The car had components mounted to the inside of the firewall and the trans tunnel, but I've always liked the panel approach. I was going to wire every single thing, but the Leash Electronics Sportsmans box really really simplifies things. In the end, this is my electronics board:
Installed on the passenger floor area:
In this pic you can see where I really started getting carried away with wire. I bought a mess of modern GXL wire remnants on eBay in various colors & stripes so that I could keep it all straight:
Red is hard to avoid so there are a couple of red runs. All grounds are black, and pretty puch everything else is it's own color. There's a 4 page MS Visio wiring diagram to keep it all straight.
This is not the latest of pics, but close. This is how it all came out in the car:
I'll try to get a couple of overall shots and some corner detail shots posted later. Gauges will be back in eventually and I added a voltmeter to the car. That electronics panel is grounded all the way back to the main battery cable at the frame.
Another thing not shown here is a jive little wiring harness that allows me to plug/unplug my delay box for times that I want to be in or out of that class.
Everything tested out OK. I have to extra switches in the dash for later; one will get a fan for the driver. The car now has functioning brake lights as well as running lights.
I'm real happy with it and I think maintenance will be a lot easier in the future.
Just sharing.
-Hemicbx