Dashboard

[Lance]

I took a couple of photos of my dash a couple of days ago and thought I’d post one. My car is a contemporary version of a GT40, rather than a strict replica, and so the dash is a bit of a cross between the original GT40 and the current GT. To me, dashes are the biggest letdown in homebuilt cars. I reviewed various car dashboard layouts and decided that the dash needed to be ‘busy’. Race cars are usually busy and messy. Mine had to be busy and neat.
I’ve gone with Smiths Telemetrix gauges. They were the only ones that did what I wanted in white. I still had a couple custom faces printed. I’m using an ‘engine start’ button sourced from Demon Tweeks, UK and I’ve purchased knobs to match for the other non-toggle switches. I’ll have to machine them down a bit to match the proportions correctly. I’m replacing the standard toggle switch blades with the ones from a MkII Jaguar. I’m making labels for the switches and dash lights in silver plastic, to match the instrument bezels, with the engraved lettering showing through in black. All dash items should then come together visually. That’s the theory anyway.
I drew the dash setout up in CAD, then stuck it to the dash to review the look (refer attached). The crosshairs were then drilled out with a pilot hole before the final holes were drilled.
It’s working out well. A bit different, but I like it.

[Craig White]

Now that is one loaded dash.

You can see the time & effort spent planning, very well laid out.

Certainly a credit to you lance, it looks fantastic.

Have you got some closer shots so we can see detail.

My dash also uses white guages, just plain VDO ones, it looks sick & pale in comparison to your beauty.

[JackW]

Nice one Lance. I agree with your summation that the Dash often lets the cars down. IT was one thing I really liked about the Roaring Forties cars (and I am sure will like again) is they had a classy looking dash. When I dream of my GT40 the intrior is something I will be paying extra attention to. Your dash looks great by the way. I second Craigs motion for a bit more detail as to what all those switches and knobs do. Based on your dash, I can't wait to see your whole car!

Cheers

Jack

[CliffBeer]

Another thing that makes the dash of a gt40 replica look better is a nice leather covering. The hard plastic shiney finish can definitely look kit car-ish. The nice leather covered dash was one thing that attracted me to my CAV. Hats off to the leather artisans at CAV back in 2002 because that's a tough dash to cover with all those contorted curves and bumps.

[Pete.]

Really looks cool Lance. One thing I notice the speedo is placed on the left hand side. To pass rego in QLD the speedo has to be in front of the driver. Rules might be different in W.A. But it would be a good idea to check it out.

[Lance]

Thanks for your support and kind words. I will post some more photos and switch allocations, etc in the near future. There’s no shortage of switches certainly. It has an aircraft cockpit quality about it which I like. It’s amazing though, just how many functions you have to take care of once you start looking at things in detail.

I’m having two rally style map lights laid across the top of the windscreen for internal lighting, each with its own switch on the dash. Engine bay work lights will be switched on from the dash also. I’m still working on the rest.

In addition to the usual idiot lights, these days we have to have handbrake on and brake fail indicators. I also have engine oil pressure and scavenge oil pressure lights for the dry sump system. I have both spotlight and high beam warning lights. I’m looking at a jacking system to raise the suspension around 75 mm for speed humps, so there’s a lift warning light allocated. One of the warning lights has been hollowed out. It contains the infra red repeater for the sound system. The head unit is to be mounted in the door where it can’t seen, but can be controlled by the hand held remote via the dash repeater.

Cliff, I agree fully with your comments regarding leather. I’m going with leather dash, seats and door inners.

Pete, I believe the requirement to have the speedo located directly in front of the driver is Australia wide. It’s certainly a requirement here in WA. All my instruments are electric, excepting the boost gauge. The tails on the Tacho and Speedo are long enough that they are interchangeable.

Best Regards to Everyone,

Lance

[Peter D]

Beautiful setup with dash, Lance.

Re the handbrake & brake-fail lights, I managed to get away with the one light that did both. I wired the handbrake light from a permanent positive after the battery cut-off switch so that it worked even when the ignition was off - this reminds me to turn off the cut-off switch & take the big red key with me !

Another dumb requirement was for a "seat belt warning light". This had to come on with the ignition, & stay on for around 6-10 seconds. A simple DIY timer kit from Jaycar solved this one.

Another lighting trap that I fell into was that all my indicator lights are LEDs - great for saving on battery power, but the Alternator one didn't draw enough current to kick in the alt. A 5W incandescent light in the engine bay solved that one.

On the subject of LEDs, I was looking at replacing the parking/stop/indicator lamps with direct replacement LED versions. (Not cheap at $18 ea, but never need replacing). No problem with this except for indicators - not enough current draw to operate a normal flasher unit, so a special LED-compatible on is required. When I added up the overall upgrade cost, it came out to something over $240 (& that was ignoring side markers & number plate lamps). At that price, I figured that I could happily live with replacing the odd $2 globe every year or so !!

Kind Regards,

Peter D.

[Craig White]

About having speedo's in front of the driver, this is another falacy now.

Which new cars here now features a speedo in the centre(middle) of the dash. Mini, what else?

Once manufacturer does it and gets it ADR approved we can all copy.

I know they can now have centre speedo's in Cobra replica's. GT40 speedo's are placed a little wider, but at least tilted towards the driver. Be worth asking about, quoting examples.

This has happened many times in the past. The most stupid rule we had was not being able to mount a single reverse light in centre of rear of vehicle, it had to be offset...until manufacturers starting getting vehicles approved with centre mounted reverse lights, now of course we can do the same.

Transport authorities can't have it both ways, if we have to comply with ADR's, then we can use/do anything that is ADR compliant or has become/made ADR compliant.

After getting 2 x Cobra's approved, you can see I'm a little touchy about ADR's.

[Pete.]

You are probably right Craig, but after experiencing the tyranny of the bureaucracy I think it would be easier to put the speedo where they want it and change it back afterwards rather than promote a blue with the bastards.

[Julian]

That's some nice work with the dash there Lance. Must catch up sometime and see how the car is coming along. Next time you ask, I hope to be in Perth to take you up on the offer!

Regarding speedo placement. Well, the ADR says it can be a maximum of 30 deg to the left of the drivers eyes. So sit in the car with a big protractor set to 30 deg and see if the centre mount speedo fits in that arc. If so, beauty, if not, relocate it for rego at least...

I'm still undecided as to which way to go for instruments in my dash. I keep getting these evil ideas to go for a Haltech MXL electronic dash (very much like a MoTeC dash), but not convinced the extra outlay will be worth it or even suit the car.

Cheers,

Julian
DRB #67

[Dave S]

Nice Dash layout Lance.
How did you go with cutting the holes for the gauges in regards to
not tearing the material covering? I am coming up soon to doing my
dash and could do with any tips anyone has to offer.

[Lee]

Hi Dave
I have cut one hole so far, which seems to have been successful. I cut the material on the front with a modelling knife, and then cut the fibreglass from the rear with holesaw.

[Lance]

Chaps,

Further to my previous posts, I've mocked up the labels to check the look before I went to the expense of having the plastic final versions cut and engraved. I was worried it might look a bit 'toothy'. I wanted the instruments across the top to present a 'band' of white / silver and similarly with the switches across the bottom.

The photos don't do it complete justice, but it looks OK to me. It not the traditional look, of course, but what are the opinions from out there? Not too much?

Dave, the sparky actually cut the instrument holes. He cut the vinyl with a scalpel and carefully used a sharp hole saw from the front for the small ones. The big ones were the same, except a small handheld jigsaw type tool was used.

Regards,

Lance

[Sammie]

Lance, I think it looks fabulous! Kudos for a really fine and well-thought-out gauge layout. I also am considering a "contemporary" look rather than strict replication(when I actually get a kit in my hands and start the build). I was even thinking round gauges from Dakota Digital(although that may be too cheesy for some purists). As others have stated....your entire build must be something to see! More Pictures!

Sam

[Bill Musarra]

An I thought my dash was busy. Really good job of balancing all the stuff.

Bill

[Pantera1889]

It looks very nice but my wife says it looks just like a piano...

[Chris_K]

Am I the only one who noticed the "Boost" and "bar" gauges? What's your plan Lance?

Chris

[John W]

I think it looks great.

The lucas switches look great with the white/silver dials too, much better than a rocker style alternative.