Looky what I’ve been doing:

First, strip entire unnecessarily complex dash from car

Remove blower box components for rebuild

Before

After

Install new gauges and re-wire dash

Kinda proud of this…

I had to locate the dimmer for the new gauges, but the dash is so thick it was going to be hard to mount it in the stock location. However, I took the old “trip” reset knob, coupled the Speedhut dimmer knob to it (via the long spring-snake) and pushed it back onto the dimmer pot stud. Makes for a really cool remote dimmer switch that uses stock pieces, looks factory and more importantly keeps me from drilling more holes in my dash. Sure, it’s technically on the wrong side of the steering wheel (the stock dimmer is to the right of the steering wheel and the trip reset is on the left).

This is the snake connected to the stock trip reset knob.

Edited August 17, 201014 yr by konish

I would like to see more of the new gauges. Where did you get them, etc.

Looks very nice!!

The 'after' shots of the blower box look great! How did you prepare it for paint--and what paint did you use? How did you fabricate those foam pieces?

I would like to see more of the new gauges. Where did you get them, etc.

Looks very nice!!

Speedhut. I have the Revolution series speedo and tach. The oil press, water temp, volt meter and fuel gauge are Speedhut series (economy line) gauges.

I'll post more pics when I get the dash put back in but in the mean time, do a "speedhut" search on Hybridz to see some full installs.

R/

D

The 'after' shots of the blower box look great! How did you prepare it for paint--and what paint did you use? How did you fabricate those foam pieces?

Thanks! My buddy blasted them and I immediately primered and painted with rattle can black. With the heat in Okinawa, the paint set and cured *hard*. I've never had that much luck with the durability of rattle can paint, but you could see the volatiles float off the paint as soon as it hit the hot metal.

The foam pieces were a challenge because of the pivot point of the flappers cause the new foam to wedge the doors open. After trying every type of foam I could get my hands on, I eventually used was a thick, dynamat-like material instead of foam.

Being waterproof, reflective (for heat management for my A/C) and sound attenuating it seemed like a good choice and it seals just fine (better than crumbling 40 year old foam anyway) and controls the "clunk" when the doors close. Besides, the adhesive backing sticks like crazy!

I found pipe isolation wrap Rubatex brand also works well. Its a rubber based high density foam. Dont put the rubber back (won't seal well) on it just use the foam if you use it.