The Great Pumpkin - '71 Duster
Also been working on the gauges. The cheapo Auto Gage instruments and giant shift light that were in there when I got the car had to go. I think I had said back when I started this thread that the wiring was kind of a mess so I was looking forward to cleaning it up. I chose Stewart Warner deluxe gauges because of the simple, vintage look. I went with mechanical oil pressure and water temp. The voltmeter and 8K tach are electric.
The focal point of the new gauge set is the tach/oil pressure gauge bracket I got from SS/AFX. I really like this part, it speaks to me on several levels. It's simple yet purposeful and has a vintage speed part vibe. It's a subtle thing but it really changes the whole complexion of the dash. No belly button monster tach for me, thanks.
So naturally using this bracket presents a few challenges. Mounting the thing on the dash pad was a real pain in the ***. I did start taking the pad off - I got the thread cutting nuts off under it but it still didn't want to come loose. I must have missed one or another but I ended up abandoning that idea. I probably should have removed it because drilling holes through it while it was still installed was really difficult. The pad itself is toast. The material is brittle and crumbling. It also has a large crack in the middle of it so I didn't feel bad about making more holes in it. It incurred a little collateral damage during the process though. Guess it will have to come off at some point but I will have to live with it for now.
The oil pressure gauge is fed with a -3 Aeroquip PTFE braided hose and fittings. Its tapped into the galley on the back of the block by the distributor, run through a grommet in the firewall where the heater hoses used to be and up through the defroster vent to the back of the gauge. Looks tough.
The tach requires a tach adapter to work with the MSD 6. Took a little bit of thought to figure out where the adapter should go. I ended up putting it on top of the ash tray box thing. I put a longer bolt through the dash frame that holds the ash tray box to the lower dash to secure the adapter. it was tough to get my fingers in there and work the fasteners down but its in. Another PITA.
Under the dash the parts store Auto Gage panel have been replaced with with some better looking SW gauges and a flat black panel. The water temp and voltmeter are in but I need to wire up the lighting for them. The most involved step will be the A/F gauge. There's a lot of little wires to hook up but I hope to knock it out soon.
Here's the SS/AFX tach/oil pressure bracket installed.
Side view with PTFE hose. The purple wire is the signal for the tach adapter.
I've been saying this for a while but I am really hoping to wrap up this interior stuff soon. All these little custom things take forever to complete.
More to come.
Also been working on the gauges. The cheapo Auto Gage instruments and giant shift light that were in there when I got the car had to go. I think I had said back when I started this thread that the wiring was kind of a mess so I was looking forward to cleaning it up. I chose Stewart Warner deluxe gauges because of the simple, vintage look. I went with mechanical oil pressure and water temp. The voltmeter and 8K tach are electric.
The focal point of the new gauge set is the tach/oil pressure gauge bracket I got from SS/AFX. I really like this part, it speaks to me on several levels. It's simple yet purposeful and has a vintage speed part vibe. It's a subtle thing but it really changes the whole complexion of the dash. No belly button monster tach for me, thanks.
So naturally using this bracket presents a few challenges. Mounting the thing on the dash pad was a real pain in the ***. I did start taking the pad off - I got the thread cutting nuts off under it but it still didn't want to come loose. I must have missed one or another but I ended up abandoning that idea. I probably should have removed it because drilling holes through it while it was still installed was really difficult. The pad itself is toast. The material is brittle and crumbling. It also has a large crack in the middle of it so I didn't feel bad about making more holes in it. It incurred a little collateral damage during the process though. Guess it will have to come off at some point but I will have to live with it for now.
The oil pressure gauge is fed with a -3 Aeroquip PTFE braided hose and fittings. Its tapped into the galley on the back of the block by the distributor, run through a grommet in the firewall where the heater hoses used to be and up through the defroster vent to the back of the gauge. Looks tough.
The tach requires a tach adapter to work with the MSD 6. Took a little bit of thought to figure out where the adapter should go. I ended up putting it on top of the ash tray box thing. I put a longer bolt through the dash frame that holds the ash tray box to the lower dash to secure the adapter. it was tough to get my fingers in there and work the fasteners down but its in. Another PITA.
Under the dash the parts store Auto Gage panel have been replaced with with some better looking SW gauges and a flat black panel. The water temp and voltmeter are in but I need to wire up the lighting for them. The most involved step will be the A/F gauge. There's a lot of little wires to hook up but I hope to knock it out soon.
Here's the SS/AFX tach/oil pressure bracket installed.
Side view with PTFE hose. The purple wire is the signal for the tach adapter.
I've been saying this for a while but I am really hoping to wrap up this interior stuff soon. All these little custom things take forever to complete.
More to come.
