The Great Pumpkin - '71 Duster
So my new command center has been mocked up. Also got some more electrical trinkets including a Ron Francis Bare Bonz fuse panel and a cool-guy dash panel from Fast Lane West with all-new Autometer Traditional Chrome gauges. My money tree is starting to look a little bare, hopefully these will be the last major purchases for a long time.
So first order of business was to make a new mounting plate for the fuse panel and MSD as the previous one was too small. Everything fits nicely on the panel now using all existing fasteners on the back of the firewall. It's all pretty accessible too so getting to it will be easy. The panel is a little crude right now, might clean it up a little and possibly paint it flat black to have it blend in a little better.
Here's the aforementioned dash panel with the fancy gauges. I kept the SW mechanical tach instead of matching it to the other gauges. I think it fits in OK. The gauges are crooked because they are just there for layout purposes. Note shift light on lower right in place of the wiper switch.
If there was any real rationale for doing this I suppose I could it explain it like this; the only thing being used on the OE panel was the speedometer, fuel level gauge and turn signal indicators. The ammeter was bypassed and I had aftermarket oil pressure, water temp and volt meter gauges. The extra stuff only added complexity and extra weight, not to mention all extra wiring and mounting panels. Besides, I was never a fan of the old faux wood grain and my original is pretty beat. So, out with old...
One issue I ran into was a little unexpected. I'm guessing that most people that use these panels choose to use electronic speedometers and tachometers so there are no large cables coming out the backs of the gauges. The placement of the speedo and tach on this particular panel necessitated drilling some holes in the column support to make room for the speedo and tach cables. Kind of a P.I.T.A. but I hadda do it.
Additionally, the AM speedo will not mate up with the existing OE speedo cable. The OE one is a clip on type with the AM speedo is a 5/18" x 18 thread. I had to get an adapter to make it work. Didn't really feel like getting a new speedo cable, they are a pain to deal with. Hope this adapter actually works.
So in the interest of making things nicey-nice, I 're-did' the connectors coming out of the steering column. Rather than splicing new wires into the existing harness, I decided to change out the old bullet connectors for Packard 56 terminals that install into a gang connector. I would have used new bullet terminals but you can't find them anywhere. It was a lot of work for minimal gain but it will be helpful when I tie in these systems to the new fuse box.
So in effect, I am still using parts of the OE harness but I am re-configuring it to only use what's necessary. Would it have been easier to get an aftermarket harness? Probably. Most of the AM harnesses come with a lot of extra stuff that I didn't need or want and that's the impetus for for this project in the first place. So of course, I am left to make something work the way I want it to by coming up with my own solutions. We'll see how it turns out!
Here's all the excess wiring that was along for the ride.
I feel better about the wiring now that it's all cleaned out. Working under the dash was a depressing proposition with all this extraneous stuff hanging out in there. But, I have a long way to go and as anyone who has been reading my posts knows, I like to do things the hard way.
More to come.
So my new command center has been mocked up. Also got some more electrical trinkets including a Ron Francis Bare Bonz fuse panel and a cool-guy dash panel from Fast Lane West with all-new Autometer Traditional Chrome gauges. My money tree is starting to look a little bare, hopefully these will be the last major purchases for a long time.
So first order of business was to make a new mounting plate for the fuse panel and MSD as the previous one was too small. Everything fits nicely on the panel now using all existing fasteners on the back of the firewall. It's all pretty accessible too so getting to it will be easy. The panel is a little crude right now, might clean it up a little and possibly paint it flat black to have it blend in a little better.
Here's the aforementioned dash panel with the fancy gauges. I kept the SW mechanical tach instead of matching it to the other gauges. I think it fits in OK. The gauges are crooked because they are just there for layout purposes. Note shift light on lower right in place of the wiper switch.
If there was any real rationale for doing this I suppose I could it explain it like this; the only thing being used on the OE panel was the speedometer, fuel level gauge and turn signal indicators. The ammeter was bypassed and I had aftermarket oil pressure, water temp and volt meter gauges. The extra stuff only added complexity and extra weight, not to mention all extra wiring and mounting panels. Besides, I was never a fan of the old faux wood grain and my original is pretty beat. So, out with old...
One issue I ran into was a little unexpected. I'm guessing that most people that use these panels choose to use electronic speedometers and tachometers so there are no large cables coming out the backs of the gauges. The placement of the speedo and tach on this particular panel necessitated drilling some holes in the column support to make room for the speedo and tach cables. Kind of a P.I.T.A. but I hadda do it.
Additionally, the AM speedo will not mate up with the existing OE speedo cable. The OE one is a clip on type with the AM speedo is a 5/18" x 18 thread. I had to get an adapter to make it work. Didn't really feel like getting a new speedo cable, they are a pain to deal with. Hope this adapter actually works.
So in the interest of making things nicey-nice, I 're-did' the connectors coming out of the steering column. Rather than splicing new wires into the existing harness, I decided to change out the old bullet connectors for Packard 56 terminals that install into a gang connector. I would have used new bullet terminals but you can't find them anywhere. It was a lot of work for minimal gain but it will be helpful when I tie in these systems to the new fuse box.
So in effect, I am still using parts of the OE harness but I am re-configuring it to only use what's necessary. Would it have been easier to get an aftermarket harness? Probably. Most of the AM harnesses come with a lot of extra stuff that I didn't need or want and that's the impetus for for this project in the first place. So of course, I am left to make something work the way I want it to by coming up with my own solutions. We'll see how it turns out!
Here's all the excess wiring that was along for the ride.
I feel better about the wiring now that it's all cleaned out. Working under the dash was a depressing proposition with all this extraneous stuff hanging out in there. But, I have a long way to go and as anyone who has been reading my posts knows, I like to do things the hard way.
More to come.
