Time for a Major 2006 Avanti Dash Upgrade !

[ronmanfredi]

The 2001-2007 Firebird and Mustang based cars are so unique and appealing until you get inside the car and then you see either a GM or Ford car.  In 2006-2007 Avanti did make a custom dash that was reminiscent of the late 80’s cars, but that was about it.  I had recently sold our 1982 Avanti II which had a fantastic instrument cluster in the dash and as I look at the dash of our 2006 S197 Mustang based Convertible, it was easy to see that there could be some improvement of the gauge area.  In addition, I wanted to replace the Ford Shaker 500 radio with a more powerful and modern flat screen radio, move the A/C-Heater controls “up” in the dash and clean up the sides of the console.  The 2006 had 107,000 miles when purchased from the original owner and while he did a great job on maintenance, there was some normal wear and scuffing on the inside of the car which I am cleaning or covering up with carbon fiber wrap in addition to covering up all of the tired woodgrain. 

First, I looked hard at radio options and selected the Kenwood DMX908S Touch Screen radio.  It has all the bells and whistles that I want, plus it has more power than the Shaker 500 radio.  Crutchfield Audio sells the Kenwood radio and a wiring kit that connects it to the Mustang stock wiring which allows the 4 car speakers and 2 door mounted subwoofers to work correctly.  I had previously replaced the 4 car speakers with JL Audio speakers which was a good upgrade and let me tell you that this radio upgrade is a HUGE improvement over the radio. 

Next, I had to decide what to do with the gauge appearance.  In doing research for options on the Mustang itself, I found US SPEEDO, a company that make gauge cluster panels for all cars.  After checking out all of the options, I selected the Stainless-Steel Panel.  I also felt that the dash panel that covers the dash was missing 3 trim rings that could go around the gauges.  Now I’ll tell you this was not an easy thing to find since there was almost nothing available.  But I finally found a company called GAFFRIG which makes gauge trim rings for all sorts of companies.  They did have the 4” ID gauge rings for the speedo/tach and the 3 3/8” ID rings for the center cluster.  They were polished aluminum with some kind of clear coating added.  The ring edges are pretty wide and once the speedo/tach rings were set in place, the center ring wouldn’t fit flush since it overlapped the other two so I decide to modify the edges in 2 places so it would fit correctly.  Lastly, the plastic coating on the rings looked dull next to the chrome A/C vents in the dash so I decide to sand off the coating, repolish the rings and then put on a heavy coat of car wax to seal them off.  They look like chrome now.  Attached are photos of the project and I hope you like it!

[Randy Atkin]

Great article. Please keep them coming. I agree that raising the rotary knob controls makes for a much better layout.

Edited April 10 by Randy Atkin

[Stacey]

Very nice upgrades you did, makes the car look to me, more modern. 

[Desert Driver]

Well done. I agree with your assessment about the dash looking too Mustang for an Avanti. I also am not crazy about the shifter and the large steering wheel hub that houses an airbag. Having owned a 2006 Mustang GT, I wasn't too crazy about the latter two either! You did a great job 👍 👍