Well I first wanted to thank all the people who have made theads on projects they have going . I did not show pics of installing the dash because others have and what they have done works for me . I also would like to say I have never played with fiberglass until now and I am sure it shows in my work . The good news is that I plan on covering the the center console with a thin foam and some kind of material. The dash is from a 93 mitsubishi.



I have all the vents working except I didnt run the duct work for the side windows defoggers and the little one below the steering wheel . I dont plan on making these work as its a small compartment and have no plans of winter driving.
The mounting bracket in the glove compartment area is only temporary. I am still deciding the best way to mount that .



I am looking for any ideas or comments that you guys might have on anything that I am doing.



My plans also for the car is to fill in the holes for the rear spoiler and to mount the antenna under the fender and fill that hole also. I also would like to get black carpeting for the interior, the headlight buckets that Fiero1Fan is offering a couple of body mods and then sand and prep for paint. Chris

You didn't think I was gonna missed this thread, did ya? Looks good.

------------------

"Anyone can make a copy of something, it may look good but it ever is the real car. Make something from your imagination, something unique, something nobody has, anything is possible and, ideas can be a reality."

sweet looking forward to your progress

What is that piece under the Fiero HVAC controller?

quote Originally posted by Toaster_Man: What is that piece under the Fiero HVAC controller?

That is a dvd screen . I dont really have the money to do a navigational system at this time.

So I have figured out the headlight switch .

You need to get a year that the car came with pop up headlights. I have one from a 93 and one form a 95. The 93 must have came with pop ups.






new harness: factory harness:
red/black stripe .............orange
green ...............................Red
green/red stripe.......................yellow
green/orange stripe......................brown
green/orange stripe.................white

The one green orange lowers the headlights, if its crossed with the other one it will not lower the buckets but just turns them off.
I have it now where the running lights work off the running light switch and the headlights work off the headlight switch. I had them on for about an hour and none of the wires felt hot . The only real difference in wire gauge is the factory red. I will be looking in the book to see what all it feeds and to see if there is any fire hazard.

Looking forward to following this project !

Corners, you mentioned them but what type of body mods are you considering ?

Im going to mount the antenna to the frame , I plan on ordering the rectangular buckets when they come out from Fiero1fan.
I will be getting different quarter panles and change out the tail lights to the corvette rounds. Possibly doing a hood scoop as well. , Chris

Well I had to build up the inside of the right side so I could sand down the outside to match it up to what was coming down . I then used fiberglass filler and then sanded it all down . Fiberglass is some amazing stuff . I could only imagine what I could do with it if I really new what I was doing . This is where it is now . I dont see a need to make it perfect seeing that I am going to be covering it all anyways.





Any comments or suggestions is always appreciated, Chris

Well it looks like this thread is turning into a personal diary for myself....lol. I went and picked up my gauges today after seeing that they sat on a truck for a couple of days undelivered.



I took a piece of 16 gauge steel and went to work on it by drawing out the shape of the cluster housing,
and started cutting.







After making all the cuts I took the dremel and started cleaning everything up so I could get the gauges to fit.

This is not quite finished yet . I still need to add my turn signals and check engine etc. The two center gauges obviously will be replace with fuel and water temp,but here is what its starting to look like.



I dont think I will be able to enclose it all due to the rings on the gauges but I am going to try.

Damn, much further than I ever got! Nice work, should look even better when done!

------------------
Bob Williams
Working on the next 3800 swap.. Missing the one that worked!

What kind of mitsubishi dash is that? like it and to enclose it take a 1/2" strip of sheetmetal and follow it around rim crimp together with notched tabs and add plexi cover.... to seal gauges just a thought BTW nice fiberglassing

chris

[This message has been edited by jack_ink (edited 12-24-2006).]

Nice.....

.

quote Originally posted by jack_ink: What kind of mitsubishi dash is that? like it and to enclose it take a 1/2" strip of sheetmetal and follow it around rim crimp together with notched tabs and add plexi cover.... to seal gauges just a thought BTW nice fiberglassing chris

Thanks for the tip I was wondering about how to do that . The dash is out of a 93 mitsubishi 3000gt.

I know this is a thread about your dash, but i am sure there are some people who do not know (besides the tiny signature picture hehehe) what your bad ride looks like sooooooo,.........

[This message has been edited by exoticse (edited 12-24-2006).]

no prob I am full of ideas but just not motivated anymore to do em... I'll share em with anyone that wants to know though... I'd take styrofoam (sp?) and cut it out to match the shape of the dvd screen and all the gadgets there, make it a little small, and then wrap it in fabric and use the resin to make a nice fitted dash insert then paint and/or wrap it...


was the wiring in this project hard? I have been thinking about doing it, and whats the cost like?

quote Originally posted by jack_ink: no prob I am full of ideas but just not motivated anymore to do em... I'll share em with anyone that wants to know though... I'd take styrofoam (sp?) and cut it out to match the shape of the dvd screen and all the gadgets there, make it a little small, and then wrap it in fabric and use the resin to make a nice fitted dash insert then paint and/or wrap it... was the wiring in this project hard? I have been thinking about doing it, and whats the cost like?

Thanks for the ideas I really appreciate it. So far the wiring doesnt seem to be that difficult. I will be getting involved in more of the wiring very soon . I picked up the dash at a junk yard for 100.00 . I just had to take it all out . I seen a guy in a town a way with a wrecked mitsubishi and he is trying to get 50.00 for the dash .

Well I just did a couple of rough cuts just to see where I am going with the turn signals etc. This is where I got for the day . I will have to shave a little here and there though.



and with a little light behind it ...

looks amazing keep up the good work

Wow Chris for someone has never fooled with this stuff before --your doing an absolutley great job--keep up the good work---I`ll be following this one...

Well I havent gotten as far today as I would like to have but I did manage to get the three center gauges working.
1st I had to put a few holes in the original housing so I could pull wires and have something to mount to.



Then I got the gauges in and wired ..........

factory harness: The brown wired goes no where so just eliminate it .
Then you have pink/red ...........power
black...........ground
tan ...............is from oil sending unit
grey..................is lighting







I will be adjusting them for a better fit.

[This message has been edited by cornersonrails (edited 12-25-2006).]

Good stuff !!

quote Originally posted by cornersonrails: Any comments or suggestions is always appreciated, Chris

Why not use a carbon fiber overlay over the alumunum cut-out you've made? That'll give it the needed "pop" or contrast. The carbon material is just a sticky paper like material that can be cut and pasted onto the part. You can find it at a graphic shop.

ooo that would be pretty cool! Or maybe photoshop something of your own and print it out on some sticky paper? LOOKS AWESOME!

quote Originally posted by Chris Hodson: photoshop something of your own and print it out on some sticky paper? LOOKS AWESOME!

You can do that?! How?!

quote Originally posted by domesticgal: You can do that?! How?!

You can get sticker paper at most stores that sell printer paper. I wouldn't recommend using it in the car though, especially on top of aluminum. It will get hot, bubble up, and even shrink a bit. I had the problem with a set of white gauge faces I had in my previous car. The edges started to peel up and shrink just before I sold it. They were vinyl cutouts on top of little transparent plastic cutouts.

If you want a carbon fiber or some other look, I would recommend doing it with actual carbon fiber, or fiberglass or plastic, and painting that.

I'd recommend using the same type that is found at your local graphic shops. You know, the ones that apply those silly graphic prints on those import tuners (like mine, hehe). There should be one in your town? Does it stick? I've had mine for nearly 7 yrs but it has faded due to it being outside the car.

quote Originally posted by madcurl: I'd recommend using the same type that is found at your local graphic shops. You know, the ones that apply those silly graphic prints on those import tuners (like mine, hehe). There should be one in your town? Does it stick? I've had mine for nearly 7 yrs but it has faded due to it being outside the car.

I don't know how well it sticks to bare aluminum, but it sticks to plastic and clearcoat ok. You're also not driving gauges and screws through the stickers on the outside of the car, like you are on the dash. When you tighten down the gauges, and mount everything, the gauges and screws will put extra stress on the vinyl, at weird angles, causing it to bubble and added with the heat, will cause it to shrink a bit around the edges. I think it's worth the time to just fabricate something with fiberglass and paint it to look like CF, rather than sticking vinyl or something on top of the aluminum cutout. At that point, the fact that it's aluminum will be irrelevent anyway, since it will be covered.

quote Originally posted by dobey: I don't know how well it sticks to bare aluminum, but it sticks to plastic and clearcoat ok. You're also not driving gauges and screws through the stickers on the outside of the car, like you are on the dash. When you tighten down the gauges, and mount everything, the gauges and screws will put extra stress on the vinyl, at weird angles, causing it to bubble and added with the heat, will cause it to shrink a bit around the edges. I think it's worth the time to just fabricate something with fiberglass and paint it to look like CF, rather than sticking vinyl or something on top of the aluminum cutout. At that point, the fact that it's aluminum will be irrelevent anyway, since it will be covered.

Yes, you could use :

Carbon fiber treatment


As for the sticky material---it's pretty sticky. If the edges are cut w/o any interferance it shouldn't wrap or bubble especially if it has something to cling too? You'll find that the 3m sticky stuff is used on a lotta of those complete carbon sets that people lay over various dashes. However like you've stated, having it dipped or painted would be the best way to go.

Well on my way home from work I stopped at two different Office Maxs's . The 1st said they had some but just ran out . Hmmm...So then I went to another one and they showed me carbon paper for transfering. I said no . Its carbon fiber paper. Never heard of it . I then called a Michaels craft store and had no luck either. I see a company in the phone book that does graphite. I dont know what they do though............. What about mabye having it powder coated?

Here you go:
http://www.alsacorp.com/products/sheetingfx/sheetingfx.htm

The graphic person here in CA is at http://www.ugshowcase.com/mainmenu.htm. Her # is 661 323-7600

[This message has been edited by madcurl (edited 12-27-2006).]

quote Originally posted by troyboy: Here you go: http://www.alsacorp.com/products/sheetingfx/sheetingfx.htm

Thanks Curly for the suggestion and Thanks Troyboy Its on its way .

Well i had worked on the center console area today for a little while . I still might be following member Jack_Inks idea if this doesnt work out .
I took a piece of 22 gauge and started to get the shape going.


Then I basically just riveted it all together .



I am going to take it to a local machine shop I know and have them make me one like this . I dont have a welder nor the skills to make this pice look good with metal.



And a picture of my little helper Chewy.

I wanted to make an update of things to avoid having this thread archived before I get it done.
While I was waiting for the machine shop to make me a copy of what I had given them I started sanding.
I went with what I had laying around which was a 60 grit paper. I am basically taking off the blue paint the previous owner had done. Reading a couple of books , they mentioned of doing this to ensure what I am doing will be its best .



The "carbon fiber" piece I had ordered had arrived and looks cool . I cat wait to get around my gauges.



Also the pieces had come back form the machine shop.



I had the guy weld these small boxes on the back so I can get the bulbs in for the check engine, high beams , etc.



,and the remake of the center counsel area around the radio and shifter.

This set up is pretty interesting....I like how you used the 3 vent housing above the radio and put in gauges instead. I'm surprised how good that turned out! I'll be following this thead until it's finished. I'm anxiously awaiting, good luck and keep up the good work.

quote Originally posted by GT2efiero: This set up is pretty interesting....I like how you used the 3 vent housing above the radio and put in gauges instead. I'm surprised how good that turned out! I'll be following this thead until it's finished. I'm anxiously awaiting, good luck and keep up the good work.

Those were actually for the gauges , not vent housings. This dash is from a Mitsubishi 3000GT, This dash and the Stealth dash are the same . I think the Firebird dash might have that area as vent housing.

Oh ok well that would make sence...I'm not sure why i thought they were for vents. oh well my mistake. I really like those gagues ether way. thanks for the clarification. I'm interested and will continue to follow these posts.

Nice!

This is really turning out well.