Mopar Muscle Association UK

Whole car needs going through and I've been working on a lot in the background for the past 12 months or so taking it from occasional runner / non runner and overheating nightmare to back on the road most weekends. Sadly, never managed to get it done in time for the one journey I wanted it to make, but have decided it cant leave the family, so am committed to carrying on with it, sentimental old fool that I am.

Solved the majority of big issues over time that caused it to be laid up often unused for so many years, stuck a new shifter in, ally rad, new water pump, clutched fan, arsed about getting trans leaks fixed and stopped some bits falling off.

Driven it a lot more and got to know it intimately most weekends over the last 12 months, I have decided that during the warmer months I will only do weekend jobs on it and keep it moving, colder months I will do the bigger stuff. Enormous learning curve for me, as I've lost my researcher and supervisor, so no-one pointing and telling me what to do any more, so the last 12 months have been a lot of learning, reading, grazing knuckles, swearing and finally growing up, so here I am.

Thought I might as well have a stab at another workshop thread and at least give everyone a laugh at what happens when you stick an incompetent, non-mechanical Bananarama! in front of some tools and an old car. I was always the more creative one, not the practical one...

Keep on keeping on, you will get there..

Good to see the car out and about, that' the main thing.

Latest thing that's doing my head in and has been for some time, is the fact that I can't see any of the aftermarket gauges when driving. All of them really badly positioned, nightmare when driving and bloody dangerous when you have to keep your eye on them all the time, which was the case when I had all the overheating problems. Here's the view of the gauges and tach as they came from the former owner about 10 years ago. You can just about see the 3 additional gauges hidden behind the steering wheel spoke and the tach is half obscured by the rim.

I've long wondered if I could use the radio aperture to fit the gauges, as I'm a big fan of neat and tidy and easy to use, so I decided to measure up and move the tach to see how it would look. Made a cardboard template and printed some mini gauges and I like the way they fit, so have ordered some mini 1.5" gauges and will fabricate a plate shortly.

I quite like the idea of having the tach on the dash, but am a bit worried about sticking a hole in it... Mind, as a wise man said to me at the racing, what better place for a tach than straight in your line of vision.

Thinking I can probably route the cable up through the speaker grille. Might get a few shaken heads at cutting the grille, but it's been snapped and badly glued back together already and I'm not going to use the radio again, so I figure why not...

Mocked up tonight and happy with the mini gauges, still thinking about the tach position.

Pete wrote: ↑Wed Oct 06, 21 11:15 pm Keep on keeping on, you will get there..

Good to see the car out and about, that' the main thing.

I put the Tach on the Steering Column on my "E" Body, easy job, line of sight. Not perfect but a good compromise.
Mine has a Rallye Dash so not masking key gauges as your might be...

If the Dash is perfect and undamaged I would NOT be making any holes in it....

I'd considered steering column, but no crush can so space is tight and visibility of the other gauges isn't as good there, so not so keen.

I agree if it was mint, then I'd feel pretty rough about sticking a hole in the dash, but the pad is cracked anyway, so I'm not feeling too bad about it. I don't envisage ever letting the car go, so figure If I'm happy and it suits what I need, then I'm feeling pretty relaxed about that.

Besides, I'm expecting most of the flack for what I have planned for the ashtray...

We all have to learn and do things we have not done before, at some point in the classic car hobby.

So good that you are doing things and don't worry about if it doesn't work first time, try and try, till you are happy

Nice to see the car is being used, so keep at it and enjoy it, that is the main purpose of this hobby, "enjoy the car and the work".

Drop in next time you're local, I can give you some pointers on neat tach installations.

Cheers Blue, but have already chopped it out and planning to refit Saturday morning, as hoping to take the car out Saturday afternoon.

Any advice very gratefully received!

I had another look this morning and definitely don’t fancy the steering column as it obscures too much and defeats the object, so still thinking I can route the cable through the speaker grille with a bit of careful drilling. No speaker in there anyway and the pad is already cracked.

Great looking car, you have good taste!

Interesting to read about the work you're doing on it. Keep up the good work.

Can you make a Plate up that covers the Speaker hole and mount the Tach on that?

Cheers Mark

Pete wrote: ↑Thu Oct 07, 21 10:15 am Can you make a Plate up that covers the Speaker hole and mount the Tach on that?

Now that is an idea with great merit that I hadn’t considered…

Mini gauges just arrived, which was a nice surprise. Can get busy getting them out of their bracket and mocking up for the one to fit them into the radio aperture now.

I’d definitely make a thin ally cover for the speaker and wrinkle Bananarama! for no glare. I tend to use Tiger seal to glue on stuff like that which is what I did to block off these vents.