Show me your dash

[LuckyWinner]

Waiting on some parts so thought I would start to work on my dash. Can you post pics of your dash and tell me what switches you put on. Thanks.

[CDXXVII]

Lucky

What are you planning on doing? Are you going to use the dash supplied with the kit ( street version ). Or are you planning on making your own. I went with something in between. Kind of a softened competition layout with a glove box.

Guage and switch layout will be pretty close to the originals.

Here is one of my favorite threads for dash info. CobraDVM has a great layout which is pretty close to what I am doing. He was my inspiration.

http://www.ffcars.com/forums/17-fact...your-dash.html

[LuckyWinner]

Im going on the kit version. Just trying to figure out what switches I want to put on the dash and where.

[Cobradavid]

Here are a couple of pics of my layout.





The speedometer is to the left of the steering column and tach is to the right. Above the steering column are left and right turn signal indicators (green) and high beam (blue). Below the tach is a red charge indicator light.

The top row of the smaller gauges are water temp, oil pressure, and oil temp. The bottom row gauges are voltmeter and fuel. Below the smaller gauges are the switches (left to right): horn, ignition, parking lights (on/off), headlights (on/off), wiper (low/off/high), and heater/defroster blower rotary switch (off/low/medium/high).

I also have the driver's side foot box blower switch on the very far left side (curved part) of the dash. It's not visible in the photos.

Hope this helps.

David

[SlayerBill]

Our dash: P5130018+copy.jpg

[Gumball]

Smiths mechanical gauges in S/C layout with the following switches:
Cold air pull at each end of dash;
'65 Mustang ignition switch with red alternator light above it (to left of steering column, which has a Russ Thompson turn signal system with the lever pointing to the passenger side);
Windscreen wash button (metal push button tractor part from local farm supply store);
Lighter ('65 Mustang);
Lights (FFR switch with '65 Mustang knob);
Horn button (same metal tractor part as windscreen washer);
Fog (Lucas toggle);
Fan override (Lucas toggle);
Wiper (Lucas with original style Lucas knob);
Heat (FFR / Vintage Air pull-turn switch with Lucas "Fan - 123" knob);
Choke ('65 Mustang pull cable version with Lucas "Panel Dim" knob);
Map light (Lucas switch and light from MGA).

Here are a few photos of the layout - the gauge holes and glovebox hole were cut by ASTGlenn, but I did the switch holes myself - watchout for those as it's easy to drill them too large. You have to start small, then file/cut the flats and notches that each switch requires - they're all different.



This picture shows the dash before I replaced the FFR heater knob with the Lucas version and before I cut the hole to the right of the heater switch for the choke.

[Rootbeer Roadster]

Mine is different than most.





Jeff

[LuckyWinner]

that is the nicest dash ive seen Jeff!!!

[Rootbeer Roadster]

that is the nicest dash ive seen Jeff!!!

Thanks for the compliment. It's a custom design that isn't for everyone, but it's exactly what I wanted.

Jeff

[CDXXVII]

Here are some photos I found a while back. Good point of reference.

left-1.jpg

center-1.jpg

right-1.jpg

[ClemsonS197]

Not done yet, but here's the layout:

[riptide motorsport]

Man those are some damn nice dash's!

[frankeeski]

I didn't want any switches on the dash. They are all hidden. Pretty basic competition layout with key slot and turn signal.

[JeepFlyer]

Can I play?
Gauges.JPG

My kit gets here TOMORROW!!! Meanwhile I've just been staring at these making engine noises.

[cgundermann]

Iphone Pics 003.jpgIphone Pics 004.jpgIphone Pics 006.jpg

[Doc_FFR]

Iphone Pics 003.jpgIphone Pics 004.jpgIphone Pics 006.jpg

niiiiice! Did you come up with the gauge design?

[cgundermann]

niiiiice! Did you come up with the gauge design?

I did, took me a whole weekend of going back and forth ~ drove my wife nuts.

[JeepFlyer]

Iphone Pics 003.jpgIphone Pics 004.jpgIphone Pics 006.jpg

Is that solid carbon fiber, or a sheet overlayed on the aluminum?

[cgundermann]

It is .5 CM thick and has a 3M adhesive vacuum bonded to it and then the aluminum dash. Real carbon fiber and the company that produces the sheets manufactures various thicknesses and finishes. The standard .25 sheet shows slight imperfections. If your interested, I can provide you the info and some tricks I learned along the way concerning fit and finish.

Chris

[JeepFlyer]

It is .5 CM thick and has a 3M adhesive vacuum bonded to it and then the aluminum dash. Real carbon fiber and the company that produces the sheets manufactures various thicknesses and finishes. The standard .25 sheet shows slight imperfections. If your interested, I can provide you the info and some tricks I learned along the way concerning fit and finish.

Chris

Very! Do you have a thread already with the info? I'm sure there are others out there interested too.

[cgundermann]

Very! Do you have a thread already with the info? I'm sure there are others out there interested too.

The thread is ~ "Carbon Fiber Dash & Speedhut Gauges", essentially:

I live in Washington State and a company here, http://www.protechcomposites.com/ - produces a high quality CF at a great value. The .25 MM sheet is easier to cut and bend, however, it will show surface imperfections. I went with the .5 MM sheet and also had them vacuam bond a 3M adhesive to the back. They will cut it to the 65" X 10" dimensions for the dash. You can bend the .25 MM sheet under the the dash and tack it with hidden rivets to hold the adhesion or in my case, I painted the bottom in a black bed liner and used the factory precision cut edge to line up with the bottom edge of the dash. With .25 and .5 MM, if you cut with scissors or scribe cut with an Exacto knife (pretty tough and difficult for the holes), it will leave barely noticeably fissures in the edges. You won't see most of these, however, if it is a visible edge - I would cut or use a dremel cutting tip for the edges/gauge holes and create a 1/4" stand off outline (CF away from aluminum). Next, I would use the dremel sanding wheel and sand the CF standoff down to the aluminum edge (sands quickly and stops nicely at the aluminum); gives it a laser cut edge without any small burrs. I was able to bend the tip of corners to 45 degrees after I bonded the CF to the dash without delaminating. I had put a rivet at the end to tack it, but it bended nicely and really didn't need it. Don't think you can bend the .5 MM around the bottom edge, but the .25 CF sheets you can. Cut out or drill any additional switch holes before you lay down the CF sheet (if you drill aftwards there is slight shock waves in the CF). I will be using some billet aluminum trim for the steering shaft hole.

After this thread, I trimmed the edges with rubber trim (from www.mcmaster.com) to clean it up and provide some protection.

Chris

[Mikey_P]

Dash from my Mk3.

[emac]

I did a pretty standard setup. Then realized I hated not having a self cancelling turn signal, and I added the Russ Thompson switch. So, I have a horn button (still working) and a turn signal switch that I aren't used. Think about everything you will need.

[Crashburndie]

When i was figuring out my dash layout, I downloaded a ton of pictures of everyone else's dash. I uploaded them all to photobucket..... http://s1117.photobucket.com/albums/...ash%20Layouts/

[skullandbones]

Hey Lucky,

Did that photo gallery do it for you? It did for me. Thanks, Crashburndie!!! WEK.

[LuckyWinner]

Hey Lucky,

Did that photo gallery do it for you? It did for me. Thanks, Crashburndie!!! WEK.

cant get to it at work....will try tonight at home

[LuckyWinner]

So what was your total cost on this project?

[cgundermann]

So what was your total cost on this project?

Carbon Fiber (CF) with 3M adhesive vacuum bonded roughly $165 and rubber edge dressing $10. You could save $ by going to .25 CM CF, but I would keep it a little thicker.

[RooRocks]

The dash fabric:

[LuckyWinner]

The dash fabric:

SNAKE SKIN!!! I thought I was the only one that thought about doing that!!!! Very nice, I will show you mine when done.

[Cobradavid]

Saw this on the photobucket link.



Does anyone know what all those gauges are for?

David