Having now sorted the overcharging issue and carrying out the MAD Electical Ammeter bypass i decided i'd like a voltmeter inside the car so i can keep an eye on whats happening whilst driving!
One of the common aftermarket 'factory look' upgrades is to remove the ammeter gauge from the dash and replace it with a voltmeter. This way the dash looks stock and you get the voltage info.
So lots of FABO reccomend grabbing the Sunpro Styleline 1.5" gauge, tearing it down slotting it in. There is only minor modification to the back of the dash wiring panel and going by the post installed look, it really does look like its meant to be there as factory.
So grabbed a triple gauge pack from the states for the voltmeter......All this was a whole £30 delivered from Amazon USA:
Already had the dash out, but as i'd spent quite a while earlier doing a teardown, clean and rebuild................I couldnt quite bring myself to break the 42 year old factory original dash and mod it!
So.............. I decided to install the gauges as per the instructions.
Problem is that at 1.5" and positioned under the dash, they are hard to glance and see whilst sat in the drivers seat.
One of the previous yank owners had bodged the dash for an aftermarket radio install......
Ugly cutting of both metal and the plastic facing panel...........My main gripe is you can see all the wiring running behind. Kinda lets the sunfaded, ripped and cracked interior down!
As i've got mint condition dash panels, radio etc to fit when i do the proper resto, i decided i wanted something to bridge the gap and tidy it up whilst i save money.
The Sunpro gauge holder looked good, but due to my ideas was not really fit for purpose.
I found a company on Ebay that would cut 2mm thk mild steel to size, so gave them the dims and a whole £9 later had two identical plates :-
Measured up the appeture onto the plate and spaced the holes out within it. Cleaned up the edges of the dash and front plastic panel and located it in the dash!
Original panels have a black line running on the underside, so decided to paint the gauge pod holder matt black. This was in hope that the panel will disguise itself a bit when in place and not stand out so much.
Installed it this weekend.....Quite happy at the outcome for a £39 temporary tidying solution.......
