Whats Your Dash Look Like?

So Ive got a couple of gadgets and gauges I want to arrange. Im curious how everyone with aftermarket items fit them in an around the dash and front console..

Here's my instrumentation.  The gauge on the left is an air/fuel ratio meter.  The one in the middle is a vacuum gauge, and on the right is a voltmeter for the aux battery, an oil pressure gauge, and a coolant temp gauge.




And this is Mission Control.  That's a medium-duty radio bezel, like from an F450, and Carling switches.

Not all of these will work for everyone for  various reasons but here are some I've seen or done that I thought were clever and can be made to look good. Like Gary's center bezel.

1. Replace radio with a radio delete/blank bezel and add gauges there
2. Put an a/c dash in a non-a/c truck and use the vents to hold switches and gauges
3. Replace the tach placeholder with gauges
4. Install gauge pods on the dash pad using similar material as the pad
5. A-pillar pods - tough to make look good when using those made for later years but 3D printing is affordable now
6. Add an interface to convert sensor(s) output to Torque (android app). OK, haven't seen this one but want it

3D printing really does open a world of possibilities if one is so inclined.

A big thumbs up on Mission Control Gary! That looks great. I know I can find the part number for that bezel since I have my handy medium duty truck service manual

Im curious how you mounted your [motor mimder]on the steering column. Mine has a similar style bracket but is mounted on the column with a hose clamp.

Are all your gauges wired through the same 12v source?

Scott: I love my Torque app for my OBD2 truck. Its the reason I dont own an iphone. Im curious how compatible it could be for the bullnose.

I go back and forth on A Pillar gauges. Its a very functional spot but I like not looking at my gauges if I choose not to. The more I think about it, the more I like Gary's placement under the dash, maybe with a set of rocker switches down there too. And my trailer brake box

Mine was more of a complete instrument cluster replacement, rather than just adding a gauge or switch here or there.



I did the center console to match, although it is unmodified.

swampedout wrote

Scott: I love my Torque app for my OBD2 truck. Its the reason I dont own an iphone. Im curious how compatible it could be for the bullnose.

Here is when I started looking into it but didn't get too far:
http://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/Arduino-Torque-tp68097.html

The link in the 4th paragraph is worth checking out.

Sam - The Motor Minder is mounted through the plastic collar with screws, and there are nuts on the back.  But the screws had to be very short since the ignition switch linkage runs right in the center as well and I didn't want them to touch it.  Seems to work fine.

As for the power to the gauges, the lighting for all of the aftermarket gauges is via the dash lights circuit.  And the power to the AFR gauge is only applied in Run.  But the oil pressure and water temp gauges are mechanical, so have tubes running to them, meaning no power.

Which brings me to a discussion about how to mount those three gauges.   drilled a hole in the back of the pocket of the instrument bezel and ran the tubes, and the wires, through it.  So if you wanted to take the bezel off you'd have to remove the bulb for the temp gauge from the engine and feed it back through the firewall.  

So when I wanted to swap from the burled wood instrument bezel to the black mesh one I decided to take a corner out of the bezel to facilitate removing the gauges from the burled wood bezel, as shown below.  Then I cut a similar corner out of the black mesh bezel in order to mount them.  And now I can remove them from the bezel if I need to, but you can't see the cutoff corner unless you get on your hands and knees to look under the dash.

 

swampedout wrote

A big thumbs up on Mission Control Gary! That looks great. I know I can find the part number for that bezel since I have my handy medium duty truck service manual

https://www.ebay.com/itm/DASH-BEZEL-Ford-F-150-Truck-Bronco-80-81-82-83-84-85-86-XLT-Pickup-1986-1980/363162296582?hash=item548e28e106:g:lF4AAOSwyo1fGhZf

Here's my version done about 1990. I now have a gps speedo. Didn't like the way it was but needed a speedo.

20210310_095438.jpg

Really liking the Mad Max look!