Some Dash Panel Work

[BigJohnny]

This will be a bit of an ongoing project, but I figured I would post the progress here for everyone to follow along with.

While I was cleaning my car today, I was looking at installing a panel mount for my Kenwood KDC-MP538U USB port and line-in port, which involved removing a single panel in the middle of my dash. This happened to require removing all of the trim panels on my dash, and the idiot lights which for some dumbass reason aren't with the rest of the instrument panel. This opens up a few possibilities, such as moving those damn lights, and painting my panels a nice black.

being the kind of guy I am this gets my gears turning. I recently purchased a couple of PC Case Temperature Displays for another side project I'm working on (Temp. controlled heater in my trunk.... thats another post though) and I needed a place to mount them. I don't use the vent above the climate controls, so I figured that would be a perfect place to install the two little displays. They will fit perfectly, and leave room for some other stuff, possibly my USB port (I never did find a place to put it.... end of USB story)

The picture below is NOT MY CAR but I didn't have a pic of my interior before I took it apart. You can see where the vent is that I'll be removing.

I was worried about removing the gauges, but they actually just pulled out fairly easily, as long as you don't remove the needles you should be good to go.... I was They are only held in with pins.

The hardest part was removing the white housing, it didn't pull out very far because the wires behind it were tucked in really tight. They needed to be unclipped from the front by releasing the clips on the side of the wiring harness. You can see the tiny little grey piece just above and to the right of the coolant temp gauge assembly. There is another behind the tach. they are just barely visible but will pop the harness right out when they are released.

Interior with the panels removed.

The panels as they sit on my couch.

Here is the vent box that I removed from the center trim panel, I also emptied out the vent components. I'll reuse this box later to house the guts of the displays and switches or whatever else I put in there.

Here is the module that housed the idiot lights. This came apart pretty easily too by just releasing more clips, and sliding the circuit board out. I can't tell you how happy I was to see how easily this unit was assembled, and how easy it will be to modify.

Now this little circuit comes in handy, these lights can be moved very easily. By purchasing the MLED PCB I can just solder wires onto the PCB and plug it into the existing sockets.

The wires will then run to LW-12VDC Wired LED in various colours for the different lights. They will be moved to the location circled in red, or maybe same spot other side.

I had to modify the oil pressure gauge a little bit as well as the white housing so I could run wires through them, and not have the LED leads getting all bunched together in there. This giant hole will also let me pull all of the LEDs together through there if I ever need to.

With the idiot lights relocated this frees up a DIN sized spot below my radio for an LCD Amp Meter and LCD Voltmeter which I haven't purchased yet due to financial restraints.

With the vent removed, I need to block off the duct, at a future date I will remove the dash and completely cut the unused piece of duct right back to the main duct, which will clear up a TON of room behind the HU and stuff.

I'll block off the duct for the time being by using a piece of Lexan to just cover it up, and glue it in place.

That's as far as I am now. I'll post more and update as need be. I'm waiting for the LEDs and PCBs to arrive, when they do I can proceed further

[BigJohnny]

My LEDs arrived the other day. I didn't take pics of them before I assembled them, But they were already wired including resistors. All I needed to do was solder them to the PCBs.

Here are the PCBs I purchased, they were way longer than the actual "MLED bulbs" they sell. So they needed to be cut..... I actually used a grinder.

Once they were cut, they are more reasonable in size. I'll be able to plug these directly into the existing idiot light sockets, and simply move the LEDs.

All soldered. You can see they also included some nice little mounting bezels for these. It will make them look right at home.

I'm actually going to put the LEDs in the "Data Panel" I'm working on to cover the vent.

I wanted to have the panel removable, but I think I'm going to just have to bite the bullet and just make it permanent , blend it all in with body filler.

that's it for now. I'll get some more pics as time allows. I still need to get some pics of the thermometers, and the voltage regular I built for them, as well as the cover panel and work on that..... I'm quite broke right now though so I can't even afford to buy a $3 piece of ABS plastic, it will have to wait a bit.

[BigJohnny]

More pics.

I've got the panel made that will house the temp. displays, Idiot lights, USB port and line in port. Pretty self explanatory, Just test fitting some stuff.

All I need to do now is to blend it all in with some body filler (any better ideas??) sand, and paint it all. I've also got to remove the rubberized coating on the bezel before I paint it.

I'm looking into frosting the LEDs as well, since they are super brights and I need them to be frosted so they don't just shine light in the car but act as more of a warning light.

Something to mention here, Once I had all the lines drawn, I carefully used a knife to score the places I needed to cut. This way I can wipe off the marker and have just nice thin accurate lines to follow.

Component fitment, everything looks good in the panel so far, though you may notice where it's cracked. This is lexan, it was actually cracked by the Activator for the crazy glue I was using. Apparently the activator reacts badly with the plastic.... crazy glue seems to fixed the problem, and should hold well enough to not crack again.

Checking to see if it fits in the opening where the vent was..... it fits a little snugly, so I'll need to shave just a hair off of it so it will still fit snugly without bending.

And this is with the empty vent box put back on, this will house the voltage regulator circuit for the displays, as well as the circuit for the sound activated lights I'll be installing later on. 've dubbed this unit, the "Brain Box" since it will basically be the controller hub for the other stuff.

Anyone got any ideas on how I could frost the LEDs with an even frost, not just sanded?

[stereomayhem]

Looks pretty cool so far.

[BigJohnny]

Added a couple pics. More to come on the weekend I think.

[BigJohnny]

More pics added.

This is coming along well so far *crosses fingers*

[vexproductions]

sweet man i have a 95 t bird ...

[BigJohnny]

sweet man i have a 95 t bird ...

you know, im not a ford guy, but these MN12's are some kickass cars man.

[BigJohnny]

I didn't like the way the first panel turned out, so I made another one....... On both panels the holes have been off just flighty, enough to be noticeable and bothersome.

I can't seem to get the damn holes in a perfectly straight line. even though I've spent shitloads of time just measuring, and marking the holes

[BigJohnny]

Well, I was unhappy with the alignment of the LED holes on the first 3 panels, I finally managed to get the holes to line up properly after painstakingly measuring, scoring with a scribe and marking with a center punch.

I ended up having to bevel the LED holes from the back so the bezels would flex and let the LED fit in the way it's supposed to. This means the bezels move around, but they have rings that snug up over the back to lock them in and keep them in place. I'm going to end up adding a small drop of krazy glue anyway to make sure they don't move, because I will have to remove all my dash panels again just to get at this one.

I didn't want the panel sitting recessed like the rest of the stuff, it just looked out of place that way, So I ground it a little larger and with an angle around the edge so it would sort of "wedge" into the hole, even though it doesn't "wedge" in there, it sits flush with the rest of the panel, and will look really good when it's all filled in with body filler and sanded/painted.

Another test fit of the final devices to see how everything aligns. It all looks good though I think I might need to move the left temp display down about 1/64" on the right side.

this is the thing I'm most pleased with. It's hard to see here, but the plastic was too thick to allow the aux-in jack to be screwed into place. I was going to just thread the hole, but figured I would just recess it. Well this was done by hand with a dremel, and a spherical bit to start, then a cylindrical bit to do the flat recess. The dremel ended up vibrating around and sort of ruined the circle, so I couldn't rely on using the shape/size of the bit alone for the hole. I had to do it by hand and eye now. I fixed the fucker to a perfect circle and flat recess all by eye with a dremel.......it's blowing even my mind.

I think that's it for now. I'll post more when I get it filled in, sanded and painted