GT Dash Upgrade W/Modern Instruments

Ya gotta admit,the Autometers are a geat improvment over the stockers,!!!If you have the scratch and the time it's well worth the effort.

 

Very nice! And your white backing part hadn't crumbled?

 

The way I did it only the outer edges had to be good and for the most part they were OK, You pretty much remove the entire rear face of it during the project and I just had to handle it carefully... I did break off one screw mount on the bottom but a small piece of metal and a screw fixed that,, If I was to do it again I would shop around till I found a decent white backing piece and do it the same way.

 

When I put the Cobalt gages in mine I opened the back of the casing, set the gages in and shot the box full of foam.
It was quick and easy, but my gas gage broke afterward and getting it out will be a bear.

 

gauges

When you converted to new aftermarket gauges, I know everyone went to the electronic tach but did anyone covert to the electronic speedo or just keep the old cable/mechanical style. I don't know much about the electronic speedo and some of the questions I have is do you have to calibrate it everytime your battery dies or everytime you disconnect, or does it have memory battery backup.
tom

 

I went with the electronic speedo. (So I can capture speed readings along with the other data from the fuel injection system when tuning) You can calibrate it by changing the gears like you do with the mech one, get an adapter made if the right gear can't be found, or program the unit. The downside to programming is that if your battery is down long enough the programming goes away.

 

ribald1 wrote:

That's one reason I just used the White Housing but would recommend that folks look around for a good sound one to work with. I had to switch my H2O gage and it was a quick in and out

 

gauges

Thanks once again, now I have to decide on either the auto meters "American muscle gauges or their NV gauges. I have secured some bezels to monkey with and have a 76 cluster to modify for the gauge conversion so I'm on the way.
tom

 

I have an msd 6al ingnition control and the autometer tach has a single wire cookup to the control box which was very easy. The electronic speedo is also easy and has a easy install onto the transmission with optional cruise control addition.

 

Below shows the back wiring I did to install the cluster. I updated my wiring with a painless harness. It also shows the outer backing that had to be cut to make room for the gauge backing.

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/188544_522023656173_292200358_602140_2536687_n.jpg

 

Any chance that this style would fit into a 1970?

I would like to replace the old yellow plastic unit I currently have

 

I,ve never did a 70 but if you measure your openings you will get a rough idea of they will or not... The Speedo /Tach are 3 and 3/8" and the smaller gages are 2 and a 1/16. That's the actual hole mounting size, the bezels are a bit wider.. I had to do very little to get them in the 72 -79 dash set up,, Just cut out a pieces of the hole using a hole cutter.. Post a pic of your 71 panel with the existing opening size and it shoud be easy to tell from there. Theres a guy form Canada that drag races his 71 and I think he has Automenters in his stiock dash but I;m not absolutely sure

 

I found some info online that said that one is 26" wide. Mine is only 20

Here is a pic of my stuff out of the car (trying to clean up)

And a pic I found online showing it installed.

 

Nothing's impossible as they say. It appears that with the proper layout and attachment you could set up the dash with Autometers, I would try to find another set of used gage frames and try to visualize a layout plan <Other way would be to creat a completely new solid panel and mount the gauges within it. The issue I see you gotta work around is the fan and heater controls..Still very possible to do and leave them unmolested///Anything goes when doing this and any material that works is allowed.. I used aluminum sheet metal in a lot of mine to brace the gauges and stock instrunent panel after cutting;If you decide to go through with it keep up in the loop.. New ideas and suggestions are free and sometimes solve the tricky issues

 

Could you make me one for my 79 500

 

lookin good, cool idea had been wondering for a while what you did to make it

 

My VDO electronic speedo held its calibration for several years of no battery downtime.

 

when useing the foam,, first spray the gages with pam or a spray mold relase that way the foam wont glue it self to the gages an they will pop out when you need to.