(05-05-2011, 09:19 PM)rafaelpadro24 Wrote: Hey great looking dash mod, I have wondered if anyone has converted the original instruments cluster to aftermarket unit. How complicated was this mod and any hints on what to do and not to do. Did you use the original wiring harness? I sure like to do this mod on my car but a bit worried on the process, any information is greatly appreciated.
We used Autometer gauges, the Nexus range. I modified the gauge support that did require some cutting and mounting of flat plates that these new gauges fitted through. You can see the smaller silver ring is actually the gauge trim, then outside that is a bit of visible backing plate, then the rest is originial mounting.
The Nexus range operate differently than normal gauges. The sender signals go into a control box, and the gauges are driven off that. So the gauges are real slaves. We used regular senders for volts, oil, fuel, water. But the tacho came off our new ICE distributor and speedo off a hall effect speed sender that we got from Autometer.
Autometer are from USA, so most of you guys in this forum will be able to get better knowledge with a phone call. I found thier tech help to be excellent, and I am confident they will be very helpful over the phone. if you want more photos of the adjustments I made to mine, let me know.
Unfortunately the race steering wheel has proven to cover the gauges as I made them here, so I have had to make a completely new gauge cluster. It protrudes the gauges nearer to me instead of recessing them. With the geometry of the dash, it was the only way I could do it without looking completely stupid. It will look pretty good, but more movement away from any original look. The good news is that the car is performing extremely well, and we should have a great race season starting January - and I will be able to see our speed!
Here is my belated report! We went into the last race series pretty confident that we would do well (for us). We have a car with 250kw at the wheel and 600nm torque at the crank. We were happy with that at this stage, and the upgraded brakes should stop us pretty well.
Then things got a bit wierd. We discovered a slightly bent axle that was shaking every nut and bolt out of the car. And with the improved power and tyre grip, the axle collars were moving, allowing the axles to slip in and out, creating a huge vibration.
Of course, these things only came to light under race prep, on track days immediately before the race! So we tightened every nut and bolt each night, and we welded the collars on! No movement left there, but the axles would have to be replced - which we were doing anyway in favor of straight axles with floating hubs on 32 splines.
We were running extremely well with a tentative start in Targa Tasmania. We were sitting comfortably around 25th out of ~100 cars. Which is excellent because our competition is mostly experienced and well funded with paid crews, etc. Not a father, son and mates team like ours.
But then we crashed out near the end of Day 1 because the crew of another crashed car did not caution on-coming cars properly. But thats racing, and who knows, we may have crashed anyway. unlikely, but possible (can you tell I am a bit annoyed?).
If anyone wants to see the crash, PM me your email address and I will 'allow' you to see the YouTube footage. There is a 'surprise' with the crash. There is crash damage footage at
www.youtube.com/websimple if anyone wants to look.
So we are going through the process of straightening the chassis, repairing panels, replacing steering, rebuilding bash plates, etc. We are taking the opportunity to improve the gear shift, rebuild the motor reinforce the steering, etc. All of which we are video taping, and will be happy to post. I ma putting together another restoration vide othat will take into account the original resto, races, rebuilds, crash, rebuild, etc! But that is taking some time ...
So thanks everyone for following us. Like I said, there is video footage on
www.youtube.com/websimple and the website is
www.targamustang.com which I try to keep up to date.
Cheers, Pete
(05-05-2011, 09:19 PM)rafaelpadro24 Wrote: Hey great looking dash mod, I have wondered if anyone has converted the original instruments cluster to aftermarket unit. How complicated was this mod and any hints on what to do and not to do. Did you use the original wiring harness? I sure like to do this mod on my car but a bit worried on the process, any information is greatly appreciated.
Here is a pic of the new-new gauge cluster partially finished. I have thrown in a pic of the partially finished spolier too.