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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 21,197
I have no life
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I have no life
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 21,197 |
Originally posted by DARKONE:
did u do that urself??
His mom probably did it.
-'96 SE MTX 3L
-'98 SVT 1,173 of 6,535
-'05 Mazda 6s, loaded, g/f's ride
-Need a 96-00 manual on CD? PM or email me
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 17,248
CEG road warrior
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CEG road warrior
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 17,248 |
Clean! 
Hector
2003 Rally Red Mitsubishi Evolution VIII
257HP/259TQ
2005 Lapis Blue Mazda 6s
RET: 00 Cabernet Red Ford Contour Zetec ATX SUPERCHARGED
160HP/141TQ
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 55
CEG\'er
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OP
CEG\'er
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 55 |
Originally posted by todras:
Originally posted by DARKONE:
did u do that urself??
His mom probably did it.
LOL! Yes I did it!
Thanks for all the complements guys (and one girl  ). After all the frustration of getting that interior "where I want it", I REALLY do appreciate your kind words.
As for the install, I can tell you I went through alot of frustration trying to create a suitable mounting plate for the three gauges. First I tried high density foam. We build models with that stuff at school, and I thought it would work great...but after I carefully cut and sanded the overall shape, the 2" drill bit just tore it to shreds. (~tear~)
Then I tried 1/4" plexi-glass, again cutting the rectangle out with a band saw, and fitting it into the dash. Again, I started to drill the holes out, and the bit heated the plastic so much that they fused together as I was drilling.
(It started spinning wildly, and before I could get my hand off the trigger, the plexi gave a nice slash to the abs. Luckily their made of steel. 
Anyway, I was devastated, but decided to try a 1/2" piece wood. I've never worked with wood before, but wish I would have tried it in the first place. It cut out nicely, and the holes drilled through like butter. I sanded the surface smooth and painted it black with this chalk board paint I had lying around.
As for installing the gauges, the oil press. has yet to be done. I bought a bunch of wire first, and built a "wiring harness" for the + and - lights. I made it so I can unplug the whole assembly, should I ever need to. The route of those I just shoved into the back of the dimmer rheostat, so the bulbs dim with everything else.
Here�s a shot of the wood piece I made, and you can see where 2 wiring hubs where the + and - all run together, and then run to the dimmer switch from there...
The back of "thee apparatus"...
Here's the Vac. line commin' through the firewall. I still have to run the sender wire through there, and hook it up to the Oil press. sender, which has yet to be hooked up either...
And the "T" fitting on a vacuum line...
I tried to get a shot without glare, but the camera just kept picking it up, despite the car being in the shade, and no glare on the gauges. The needles are actually muuch more of a neon red in person. They are not orange, and match the stock gauges well...
And lastly, heres a sh*ty shot of what everything looks like at night...
Last edited by Scottster; 07/31/06 10:24 PM.
The relentless pursuit of unrealness
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2000 SVT Contour
-Toreador/Tan
-Build #363
-121ooo miles
-priceless
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Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 1,516
Hard-core CEG\'er
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Hard-core CEG\'er
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 1,516 |
Wow, good call on the wooden gauge panel. I was going to start making a fiberglass din gauge panel today, but [censored] that, this is so much easier 
Cameron
98 Black CSVT #2958
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 55
CEG\'er
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OP
CEG\'er
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 55 |
Yeah, wood works great. I guess it just didn't dawn on me at first cause wood just seems so,...so,.. old fashoned!
If you look really closely in person you can see the grain, but that is only because I didn't have a power/disk sander. I wish I were more patent after the fact, but I was just anxious to get them in at the time.
Actually the whole piece is just surrounded by double sided masking tape. At first it was just held in by tension, but it started poping out of the dash after a brisk 1-2 shift. That really shocked people in the car when the dash started comming at them! LOL
I'll take some more pics later this evening if you guys want. Maybe the lighting conditons will improve.
The relentless pursuit of unrealness
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2000 SVT Contour
-Toreador/Tan
-Build #363
-121ooo miles
-priceless
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 21,197
I have no life
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I have no life
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 21,197 |
Could have save yourself the trouble and just bought one for $20.  DIN panel
-'96 SE MTX 3L
-'98 SVT 1,173 of 6,535
-'05 Mazda 6s, loaded, g/f's ride
-Need a 96-00 manual on CD? PM or email me
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