**UPDATE (with pics) on page 2** Marcquito's Dash Swap
07-11-2008, 11:58 PM
#47
No, not Mosquito!
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More pics! Woohoo!
Well, every night my father and I work on the car for only a couple of hours. Even so, we make a lot of progress. We have spent the past few nights getting the metal out of the way so we could actually fit the unit under the dash correctly. If you compare the sheet metal between early/late model 944s you can see a major difference which is necessary for the two dash styles. Since we do not have a donor car we're going to fabricate new sheet metal sometime in the next few nights to fit our needs.
The dash is mounted, but only as a reference to where the unit must sit in order to be tight against the vent bezel. It's not exactly right. When I put the center console in to see exactly where we are, it was about 1/4" off. Whatever, that can be fixed tomorrow.
Pics of our progress:
Here you can see the unit fit behind the dash.
Huge gaping hole.
Other a/c parts:
The dash is mounted, but only as a reference to where the unit must sit in order to be tight against the vent bezel. It's not exactly right. When I put the center console in to see exactly where we are, it was about 1/4" off. Whatever, that can be fixed tomorrow.
Pics of our progress:
Here you can see the unit fit behind the dash.
Huge gaping hole.
Other a/c parts:
07-12-2008, 02:25 AM
#50
No, not Mosquito!
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!
07-12-2008, 01:22 PM
#52
Drifting
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07-12-2008, 02:58 PM
#53
Race Car
I would be truly amazed if you can get the late HVAC to work. I have owned a converted dash car and they used the early HVAC. One tip to use the late instrument cluster and get the speed sensor to work is to use a mechanical to electrical signal generator (halls effect sensor I think) and you can attach it to the mechanical drive cable and caliberate it to the speedo. It will be extremely difficult to get the airbags to work safely so I wouldn't recommend it. Also, seal the cut metal surfaces as the body is galvanized so if you don't treat it properly, you will get rust.
Nothing is impossible to do with enough time and money. Marquito, if you had to do that conversion for a customer's car, would you do it parts and labor for less than $2k to $3k?
Nothing is impossible to do with enough time and money. Marquito, if you had to do that conversion for a customer's car, would you do it parts and labor for less than $2k to $3k?
07-12-2008, 06:42 PM
#56
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good progres so far...i`ve just finished cleaning the 84 944 interior .i`m making room for the new i wil start dismantle the early dash tommorow.MARC do you change the electric instalation ? and i have a question about the speed indicator..how will it work ? i have the 89 car al wirings but no gearbox.i`ve sell the trany..because mine is very good.
07-12-2008, 06:45 PM
#57
No, not Mosquito!
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I would be truly amazed if you can get the late HVAC to work. I have owned a converted dash car and they used the early HVAC. One tip to use the late instrument cluster and get the speed sensor to work is to use a mechanical to electrical signal generator (halls effect sensor I think) and you can attach it to the mechanical drive cable and caliberate it to the speedo. It will be extremely difficult to get the airbags to work safely so I wouldn't recommend it. Also, seal the cut metal surfaces as the body is galvanized so if you don't treat it properly, you will get rust.
Nothing is impossible to do with enough time and money. Marquito, if you had to do that conversion for a customer's car, would you do it parts and labor for less than $2k to $3k?
Nothing is impossible to do with enough time and money. Marquito, if you had to do that conversion for a customer's car, would you do it parts and labor for less than $2k to $3k?
I'm not going to get the airbags working. I couldn't find a decent enough dash with no airbag so I settled for this one. I recommend it for an early to late swap, though. you can surely see what you're doing thanks to the hole in the dash for the airbag. Without it I would have no idea how far or close to mount the entire dash. It could be done, but you'd be laying upside down on the floorpan to get a decent view. I'm going to buy an airbag (or the cover for the airbag if I can somehow purchase it by itself) and fill the hole in with the factory stuff.
The metal work is a slow process, but it will be welded properly and sealed with the same seam sealer the factory uses.
As for doing a swap for a customer- I have no idea what exactly could be charged if I considered doing this for other people. So far, it's not so bad. The only thing is PARTS. A donor car would be magnificent! I was going to try and put together some instructions or a "kit" of the sort to help others do this conversion if they wanted, but it's just not that easy. the metal work behind the dashboard and under the hood is just too extreme. You'll need to cut, trim, hammer, and re-weld the metal to fit. It sucks, but it's not as scary as it sounds.
07-12-2008, 08:45 PM
#58
Race Car
There was a thread way in the past about the speedo sensor and how to get one. I am not sure where one can be found. The airbag hole can be an area of creative thinking. If you can put gauges or flat panel displays there, I think it would be interesting.
I figure this conversion will take a very qualified mechanic 5 full days to finish from teardown to completion. Thats how I figure the labor alone would cost $2000 at $50 an hour. Let us know how many man-hours it takes with your dad. I just want to make sure people in the future can look on this thread as a realistic reference of someone who has actually done one right.
I figure this conversion will take a very qualified mechanic 5 full days to finish from teardown to completion. Thats how I figure the labor alone would cost $2000 at $50 an hour. Let us know how many man-hours it takes with your dad. I just want to make sure people in the future can look on this thread as a realistic reference of someone who has actually done one right.
07-12-2008, 09:36 PM
#59
No, not Mosquito!
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There was a thread way in the past about the speedo sensor and how to get one. I am not sure where one can be found. The airbag hole can be an area of creative thinking. If you can put gauges or flat panel displays there, I think it would be interesting.
I figure this conversion will take a very qualified mechanic 5 full days to finish from teardown to completion. Thats how I figure the labor alone would cost $2000 at $50 an hour. Let us know how many man-hours it takes with your dad. I just want to make sure people in the future can look on this thread as a realistic reference of someone who has actually done one right.
I figure this conversion will take a very qualified mechanic 5 full days to finish from teardown to completion. Thats how I figure the labor alone would cost $2000 at $50 an hour. Let us know how many man-hours it takes with your dad. I just want to make sure people in the future can look on this thread as a realistic reference of someone who has actually done one right.
Again, this is one of the reasons why I am doing this conversion- so one can see that it has been done. Too many people have doubted it and it's time to see how impossible it really is. As for man hours, those are being kept up with and will reveal it later when I look at my records and dates.
07-13-2008, 06:49 PM
#60
O/T: Hey Marc, I noticed that you have a GS-T. I used to have a 95 TSi. Does the dash mean its a boosted GS 420a or a GST? Either way, you should head over to DSMPurity.com. It's a great smaller dsm forum that quickly growing. Lots of knowledgeable guys over there.