The R2 Project, Instrument Cluster Upgrade

[ronmanfredi]

There were 2 gauges in the dash that were inoperative plus the lettering was a dirty yellow due to age when I bought the car.  I had done a SW gauge upgrade on an 82 that I had and wasn't satisfied with the night illumination on those new gauges, so I decided to go with AutoMeter this time.  They offer LED bulbs in several colors and I decided to add the Red ones to the new gauges as well. During this upgrade (which included a new dash pad among other improvements), I stripped the old paint off of the aluminum panel and installed a glossy carbon fiber wrap. (the wrap will be used in other dash/console related areas as well).  In the 2 photos below, you will see 4 other changes.  I replaced the amp meter with a volt meter.  I added an A/C vent to the left side of the dash and replaced the ignition switch with a modern push button start button.  The turn signal and high beam indicators are LED's too. To me, this modernized the dash yet also kept most of the original design elements.  There will be a forth coming A/C article among others in the near future.  We really like how the gauges turned out!

Edited 7 hours ago by ronmanfredi

[mfg]

Wow!!!… Really, really nice !!!!!

[AG-R3]

Sharp...  do you use a latching relay for the start/stop button?

[ronmanfredi]

2 hours ago, AG-R3 said:

Sharp...  do you use a latching relay for the start/stop button?

No, I bought a kit off of Amazon called "EASYGUARD EC004 Smart RFID Push Engine Start Button kit & Keyless Go System" for about $25.  There are a ton of these cheap systems available or you can buy some for a few hundred dollars.  I decided to go cheap with a kit that has a fairly high rating and see how it does.  These kits can interface with later model key fob cars also.