Project Frog Princess

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I had to think about this one for a while. Was not sure I wanted the plastics. It will need modification of course for the 4 speed.

I may carry the modern look further to the dash. Not sure how yet. Not sure what it would take to splice in a modern cluster.

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Same car as the seats - Cadillac CTS. I have not tried it in the car yet.
 
What year CTS was it from? Have you thought of something like the digital cluster from a 1999 CTS? or similar?
 
2005 CTS. I had not looked at the CTS dash... seems silly I know, but I've been thinking in terms of shapes/arrangements that will suit the limited space in the Dart dash. Some dash modification is however not out of the question.

This one from 2010 is actually very attractive. I like the separated guages rather than multiple needles on one flat face. Back to 2005 is similar. If I could make those work it would be a go, but I may be better off looking in the mid 90s like you had suggested.

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If you go for something in the early 90's it would be easy to swap a more "modern" dash in. For example a 1991 or so Honda Accord has a huge boxy dash, and could be cut and shortened to fit on the stock metal frame (with some alterations) but you would have a lot of plastic to cut off. I think you need to just find something BIG so it can be trimmed down. That way you don't have to add parts to it or make adjustments to the edges. You can just terminate it, and reroute all your stuff.


I think what would be awesome though, would be a 1989 or 90 cadillac deville dashboard with a digital dash. It's still square and would not make it out of place with the rest of the car.

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They also made a standard gauge set for it. And if you're lucky it may even use a speedo cable, rather than vss, but I'm not sure. It would also match the seats and seem completely in place in an older car. The problem with newer dashes like the one you pictured is that the door panels match it to make up a lot of the shape. If you remove those it will seem random in the interior with your flat door panels.
 
Another thought. This one from 03 does not have all the gauges but those could be done separately with old school gauges. Might make the whole thing easier just dealing with speedo tach and fuel. Might be hard to match anything with this though.

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You could get rid of the clock and probably fit a guage in there, but if you go with a route like this, I think you'd have an easier time just buying a few gauges and mounting them to a board. It'd be hard to center and build a dash around a shape like that.
 
Perhaps. I'll keep looking. I guess you can tell, I like needles and round gauges. I don't care for digital numbers at all.
I might do a dash mod that includes a curved "pod" for gauges.
 
An early 90's car may have round gauges and will be a lot easier to convert.
1992 accord dash and cluster maybe? 1990 through 1992 will be the same, and there is still white face and different color dress up kits available for the cluster

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The only real mod you'd need to do would be to shave the gauge cluster hood down so you could see maybe, otherwise it may not even be an issue, and the dash is plenty big to cut and fit.
 
That is nice. If I do an entire dash not just a cluster I'd have to work out heater controls as well.
 
Hey thanks. I think I like my console but haven't done a test fit so we'll see. The leather matching the seats is nice and I will need to modify the front of any console regardless.

I was trying to find a pic of the dash you were going to use in your mega thread - failed. Weren't you going to transplant the whole 200 dash? The 200 dash is very nice.

The more I consider it, the I like the idea of a complete modern dash.

Oh boy, "what have I got myself into????????????????????????????????????"

:colors::colors:
 
Idaho said:
Hey thanks. I think I like my console but haven't done a test fit so we'll see. The leather matching the seats is nice and I will need to modify the front of any console regardless.

I was trying to find a pic of the dash you were going to use in your mega thread - failed. Weren't you going to transplant the whole 200 dash? The 200 dash is very nice.

The more I consider it, the I like the idea of a complete modern dash.

Oh boy, "what have I got myself into????????????????????????????????????"

:colors::colors:
Click to expand...
I modified the stock dash to blend the lines into the console. Yes what have you got yourself into?
 
OK, I remember now. I've had that notion as well, deleting the factory dash pad, and reworking the metal. Perhaps a little texture under the paint.

I think a nice instrument pod could be blended in like the 200, or the Honda, maybe with fiberglass, and incorporate one of the clusters, or just arrange some old school gauges to replicate the look.

Do you have a plan for gauges?
 
Idaho said:
OK, I remember now. I've had that notion as well, deleting the factory dash pad, and reworking the metal. Perhaps a little texture under the paint.

I think a nice instrument pod could be blended in like the 200, or the Honda, maybe with fiberglass, and incorporate one of the clusters, or just arrange some old school gauges to replicate the look.

Do you have a plan for gauges?
Click to expand...

I do, but, it's my secret right now.
 
Too bad. I thought you could show me how :)
 
This is a Miata cluster from 94-97. The bezel has been customized with led indicators which I like. I looked at service manuals but could not determine what gauge type is used.

I may be able to find a gauge set in this size and utilize the Miata bezel. It could be incorporated in a total dash makeover. I just have my doubts about getting a complete dash to go in and look right.

I need to figure out what size those gauges are.

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Still working on that Miata conversion for ya Idaho. Looks like 1992 is the year to be for it. Cluster looks nice on it as well. I'm working a way to adapt the speedo cable. I have also converted a few wires. There's 3 harnesses on the cluster to go through, since the cluster show a bunch of stuff you won't use, like washer fluid level... but it may be possible to use it. Still working. But the 1992 still looks the same as the later models cluster, it just uses a speedo cable instead of a VSS wire. I think it will work for you.
 
I got the gauge sizes and this set will work. There are others to choose from, the sizes are common. The speedo and tach are slightly smaller than the miata gauges. I think I can trigger the speedo with the ABS sensor in my 8.8 diff.

Not sure which way I'll go yet. This set would make things easy. Please don't spend too much time on it in case I go this way. It may be that others will do the same thing though so you may be helping more than me.

6 Gauge set with senders,full sweep,Speedo,Tacho,minors,black/chrome, 001BC-S | eBay

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No worries, it's something I do in my spare time anyway because I can't leave stock cars alone. :glasses7:
 
Got the K member back in and did a test fit with the front wheels and tires. Not real happy. The pics show full travel without torsion bars installed.

I was hoping the tires would be tucked in a little more but with a fender rolling I think they'll be OK in terms of the backspace. There's a lot of room for more backspace but this was the max I could order in these wheels.

The bigger problem is I would like the tire even with the fender at ride height. I'm not there even at full up travel. I can use a somewhat taller tire but that's not going to be enough. I either need 2" drop spindles (the likely choice due to cost but still not cheap) or go to something like a HemiDenny coil over. :banghead:

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Call Denny and become the newest member of the HemiDenny K-Car club. You won't be disappointed.
 
I'd like to but at around $3500 that's a pretty expensive call.

Here's a test I just did using modelling clay. Looks like drop spindles won't work without wheel spacers. Don't wanna do that. :banghead:

Maybe custom upper control arms. The contact is on the lip of the UCA. I'll look at Dillinger's stuff.

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