trailpimp33

Seriously Marc, that is looking great!! About the old dash, one mans trash is anothers treasure. I'll be sure to post up some photos of your OLD dash, after it is rehabbed.
I am really looking forward to seeing your dash project all done and hearing the nasayers proclaim silence.

Marcquito

Haha! Thanks for the kind words- I don't consider the old dash trash at all. I hope someone can love it and bring it back to life! I'm giving you ALL of the pieces so I don't have anything left. I wish you the best of luck with it!

Legoland951

Great job doing the switch as I am very impressed with your staying power and skills. I am sure you will agree by now that this project is not within the capability of 99.9 percent of 944 owners and if you were to do this job for someone else's car you would charge more than the cost of a complete running late model car just for the labor alone. Its pretty unbelievable the amount of dedication you put into this conversion. Heck, if you were closer I would give you a late 944 for much less work that I need done on my other 944s

Marcquito

Thanks for the kind words- My real goal is to have working a/c and heat with the swap. I will not be satisfied until that's all working fluidly. Now I think that would really impress people.

Oh nice, a late 944? My grandmother lives in Folsom, CA. I'm planning on a visit next month- will you deliver?

Pcar944

Absolutely beautiful. Those seats are delicious.

Now is it just me or the angle of the light but is there a slight color diff between the center console and the seats?

Spidey944

With your seats/console/carpet mock up, I can picture you sitting in the drivers seat, dreaming about it all installed already. LOL.

mark_uss

the seats are just ....deeaaamm.. sweeeet ..looking good ..my eyes are on you..

Marcquito

You're right - the dash and console have a very tough colour combo to match. It's pretty much Porsche only unless you are lucky. At the local upholstery shop, I picked the colour as closest that I could. I examined it in dark lighting, bright lighting, under tinted windows... everything. It's a pain, but it isn't perfect. As I said before, if it bothers me enough I'll just get the dash and console covered as well.

Funny how right you are. Sometimes I'll just go into the office, take a seat and dream.

Marcquito

^^ Yeah, what the title says.

I had a crazy idea to retrofit the early gauges into a late gauge cluster housing. I decided to do this really for two reasons - the most obvious ones:

1.) I already have the harness and senders for the gauges.
2.) ...I can't fit the early ones anywhere easily.

SO, I decided to take them apart and see what I could do.

We all know what early gauges look like, so I didn't bother to snap any pictures of how they look pieced together from the factory. Here are some pictures along with caption to let you know what I'm thinking:

Here we go first, the picture of the fuel/water temp gauge. You can't see from the back, but the circumference of the gauge face is larger than the random plastic pieces sticking out which do not allow it to sit flush. If I decide to even use this method (using the OEM face coming from the back) I'll have to file plastic bits away to achieve what I want. Also, you can see the gauges appear to be 'too tall' to go through the hole- but if enough room is created from the back, they will angle in and I will be able to fit them just fine.


Here you have an idea of what I'm going for. Luckily, the holes fit the early gauges PERFECTLY. I was happy to see them fit precisely, but I'm afraid this is not the clean look that I want. I do not like the gauges coming outwards, but moreso coming from the backside. (see next picture)


Here is a *blurry* shot of the look I'd like to get (to give you an idea):


Two more clear(er) shots:



And roughly how I'd like the gauges to be arranged:


A nasty blurry shot of the backside of the cluster with gauges:


And just for fun- a shot of two gauges set into the holes and into the dash to give an idea of how it may look:


ALSO:

The ugly early yellow 944 gauges I am using as test subjects. I will be using the black/white/red 924S gauges once I have the housing ready.

And if anyone has noticed- the early cars had 3 gauges (in the dash) and the late ones had four. -Did someone ask what I would use as the fourth hole?

Glad you asked:
The 911 dash-clock! Now how cool would that be?


To make a very clean look I may have to fabricate a piece of metal to overlay the existing holes with NEW holes cut for the gauges to fit. This will also perform the "!" light and signal light delete.

We'll see. I haven't thought this through 100% so I'm not entirely sure how I would like it to look in the end. I'm open to suggestions.

trailpimp33

How about cutting out the center of the housing and replacing it with some carbon fiber. You could cut and locate the gauges how you want and use the side lit 924 gauges as opposed to the front lit late gauges.
Oh by the way, got the dash and it is coming together!! Thanx!!!

pkt1213

I think replacing the center with carbon fiber would look pretty bad ***. Get some aluminium trim rings to go around the gauges to clean it up. Looking great man. Can't wait to see the final product.

Marcquito

Thanks for the ideas.
Be sure to show me pictures of the dash. I'd like to see it!

harrisonrick

what's the status on the paint?

alxdgr8

Project looks great!

And as Rick said...let's see the paint!

Relaxed90

Make sure you buy the high density rollers I told you about from Lowe's. The HD rollers from home depot are actually not high density, so make sure you get the good stuff for the paint.

I also found Ralph Lauren makes the best extension rods. The drip pan liner makes a difference too, make sure you get the non-stick stuff so dust does not stick to it.

Otherwise, looks good