Custom Dash For My Fairmont Squire

And again this morning! Wow quite the downpour.
That was really strong wind and rain, how'd your tent fare??

 

Excellent! Just flexible enough to ride those winds. Surfing in Winterpeg!

Just about dry enough to work in peace.

 

Done!!!

All that's left is wire testing. The storm just hit AGAIN!!!



Connect the battery, and start testing the circuits. That's IT!!! For now.

 

Congrats Norm, looks nice and shiney! I like your stearing wheel, I may have to find one..it is Ford, rite?. It would look alot better in the Stang for sure. My cruise is on the stearing wheel, but I could'nt care less if I disconected it. If I lived on flat land I mite use cruise.

 

Yep, from a Futura Sport Coupe that the donor car had on the floor in the back.

I think it looks a lot better in my FairStang!!! My cruise came with the donor car, on the column. Rostra aftermarket unit. Horn, signals, headlight dimmer all in one.

 

Ah, Futura SC, Good to know. That is one car I have not seen in a wreaker for a very long time.

 

I cranked her up and only had one wrong wire. The voltmeter had to go to a KEY-ON circuit. I had it on the KEY-OFF, so it was reading right away, before I started it.

Everything works like a charm! Goin' grocery-getting tomorrow!

 

I think I can speak for many of us...:dancingparty:
Way to go, bro!

 

Thanks Andy. It was worth it too. I can see what's going on under the hood at any speed. The Tach and Voltmeter and Vacuum gauges are awesome! The Oil and Temp gauges really help make the idiot lights, well idiots , and the Fuel gauge is much crisper and more accurate than the old one. I think the extra 3 grounds really help too. Can't wait to test the tripmeter button.

 

I'll draw up some better circuits and post them later next week. I've got them on paper. Get lots of Ford wires to match your year and model. AND Connectors. Two rolls of electrical tape, and 3 of those single wire heat shrink plastic boxes (6 pcs about 3 inches long and 2 of the 2 wire boxes. I also used 2 boxes of 18/20 (blue insulator) AWG bayonnette pairs (2 of each) and one pair of the 14/16 AWG. AND one large lug for the Starter Relay connection for the Ammeter Shunt wire. I took off the cheap plastic insulators and used the heat sink tubes instead.

A few extra Ground eyelets is optional but recommended for some extra grounds under the dash frame. You can usually get them from any Ford at the Junkyard. Most harnesses only have one or two under the dash, so chase them down from a few cars.

 

OYE, Hermano that very nice senor!!!! givin the cholos in the barrio something to shoot for in custom work eh???!!!
jejejeje
nice!

 

Si! Eso es!

Man! It's great, seeing all that action! It's a great little engine and I wanna make sure I know it stays that way.

 

Somehow, my turbo boost/vacuum gauge is feeding me a conjob. I'm getting Turbo Boost readings (I don't have a Turbo. )

Looks like I shouldn't have installed it between the Carb and the Distributor, on that vacuum line. M.I.C.K.E. WHY?

The carb controls the vacuum advance on that vacuum line. But I followed the bad instructions like a good boy, and then found this:
http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/186.cfm

AND THIS (better - it has pics too! )
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/econometer-vacuum-gauge-installation-guide-3428.html

Went looking further in my search list and found this Vacuum Reading Chart on the Early Valliant/Cuda site. This one has one interesting addition to reading the gauge needle - Item #14 - Choked Muffler? I haven't stuffed a potatoe in a tailpipe since 1958! Although I remember a buddy walking around with a bunch of condoms to put on tailpipes. Who needs firecrackers! :
http://www.earlycuda.org/tech/vacuum2.htm

And the reason I went through all this, in the first place:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/tach-vacuum-gauge-installed-6573.html

Some more reasons:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/if-you-dont-have-vacuum-gauge-youre-missing-6361.html

The last comment (May 25, 2009) in that thread (by azlar) says it all:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/if-you-dont-have-vacuum-gauge-youre-missing-6361-3.html

 

i guess thats a pretty nifty idear you got there norm...

 

For the most part there's no hills around here for 150 miles in any direction, so anything I can see on the gauges has to help me troubleshoot the car, before it becomes major. And since we know that gas prices won't go down, I might as well use all the tools I can to shave down fuel consumption. Either that or buy stocks in a shoe factory.