OK, got a bit more done over the weekend in between doing shite around the house...

It was back to wiring to sort out all of these gauges and get the dash organised. So as a result most of the work isn't actually visible.

First up I made a mounting board for the dash cluster and stuck the gauges in, so no more cardboard. The previous owner had been kind enough to completely butcher the white backing of the original dash cluster for their conversion, so rather than destroy another I decided to use it. Luckily enough, in the cutting they had done they had missed the two prongs that support the factory fuel gauge. I am nearly 100% sure this was not by design, but it saved me figuring out a way to custom mount it.



Anyway, once that was done a spent a bunch of time sitting by the drivers footwell tinning and soldering and heat-wrapping a bunch of connections. I have wired up pretty much everything except the fuel gauge, charge and check engine lights and the RPM feed to both the tacho and eboost. As for the RPM signal I didn't want to solder that in until I had a chance to check the resistor I am planning to use will work as a step up for the signal.

Then I mounted the gauge mounts on the side of the dash and started fitting gauges. I wasn't too worried about drilling holes as the dash is pretty cracked/modified anyway (and because racecar)

This lead me to this point:



Only a little bit of fiddling later and I had connected up the battery and was testing the illumination







I am really happy with how the gauges look, they are pretty much what I was picturing and look similar to the tacho, but are different enough that the eye is drawn to it.

It also meant that I got to see the pivot gauge showing off with it's little opening ceremony again, first time in a LONG time... probably around 8 years 0.o

Just in case you want to share in the (very short) moment:



So now that all the gauges are connected (and to the best of my knowledge working) I really just need to connect the inlet pipework up, bang on a dump pipe and I *Should* be able to start her up. Admittedly once that is done I still need to get the exhaust modified, fit a new LSD centre, get the car tuned, fit some harnesses, wheel alignment, sort out the rear brakes... the list goes on. So it's not exactly about to see the track for the first time any time in the next couple of weeks. To add to that there will be visits from both sets of parentals in the near future, so I am unlikely to be spending a bunch of time in the garage over the next few weeks as well. On the bright side, hopefully that will help me save up for more bits