Sunday, October 19, 2008

Dash, Part I

This week I also started work on the dashboard. I need to rip just about the whole thing out to remove the old heater core and install the new ceramic heaters. So, I started disassembling it, removing the dash surround:


and the gauge bezel:


I needed to find a place for these three gauges (from left to right - the 12V voltmeter, the 12V ammeter, and the 200-400V voltmeter):


Also, for the ammeter:


Note that this ammeter does not use a typical shunt. Rather, it uses a Hall-effect sensor, which is much safer at the high 312V potential that the Electrojeep has:

The last thing I needed to find a place for on the dash was the fancy combo switch that Azure provided:


I used a hot knife (basically, a blade on a soldering iron) to enlarge the holes where the water temp warning light and oil pressure warning light had been:


I then used a hole saw to cut a circle in the old gas gauge - this holds the 200-400V voltmeter. I also used the hot knife to cut holes in the surround for the Hall-effect ammeter and the combo switch. Here it all is, test-fit in place:


Still to do on the dash:
  • Make room on the gauge backing for those deep gauges
  • Route 12V wiring from engine compartment to dash
  • Enlarge the holes behind the ammeter and the combo switch so the surround fits again
  • Finish disassembling the dash so I can get at the heater core
  • Reassemble everything
  • Profit!

3 comments:

Dave said...

I suppose the ol' StarTrek "exploding console" means that they had full-voltage shunts in their designs. "We can put a man on Ceti Alpha V, but we can't design a console that doesn't explode when the shields get overloaded..."

Joe said...

A quick cheat I used on my dash to cover up the old holes (and basically clean up the look) was putting down a layer of pressure laminate. Spray on the contact cement and you're done.
It's cheap, quick and if you use some that includes a texture. very professional looking.

Ross Cunniff said...

Heh - exploding consoles . Fortunately, I believe in fuses as well as non-conductive current sensors.

Joe, thanks for the tip - I'll keep that in mind as the rebuild progresses.