Boredom drives you to do silly or even possibly atrocious stuff like you will soon see below.
It's been a hell of a week here. The transmission on my mother's ZX2 died around mid-week. It sat at the dealership for a couple days before being looked over, just to find out on Friday that it needs a new one. Quoted around $3650 including labor to replace it. The fun part is that the extended warranty my mother purchased either is a scam, or the company went out of business.. so the household's going to be feeling this one for awhile.
Anyway, my '86 has become the taxi.. and I can't really do anything significant to it, because it's our only remaining functioning transportation. So all I'm left with is silly little stuff like changing out the TV rod grommet, spraying lube on the throttle linkages, and interior painting. That's where the picture comes in.
We saw this goofy color at AutoHole a couple days ago, and I decided I wanted to give it a try on the dash trim. I'm a mixture of amused, satisfied, and horrified by this.. but since I'll be removing some blue from the interior at a later date, (going to paint part of the seats black or dark charcoal, and maybe dye the carpet the same color) it's going to stay that way for awhile.
I don't expect anyone will like this.. so feel free to say nasty things about how ugly it is. :p As I was sitting at the dealer yesterday, the people in the next car were pointing through my window at the dash, and they had shocked looks on their faces. I got a kick out of it, so I'll probably get a kick out of the cringes this will elicit on here. :p
EDIT: BTW, this first pic doesn't quite capture the color.. it's a bit darker, it's a lot more intense, and its a metallic/metal flake color. It's like a really intense dark electric blue, with maybe just a tiny hint of purple in it. If you're in AutoHole anytime soon, look for a can of Dupli-Color with something like "Metallic Specks" as the name.. the dark blue one is what I used. (the second pic is slightly more accurate)
Wow. Very, how do I say... Blue.
I don't know, I'm like very :barf: :yuck: but at the same time :tg: :cheers:
I don't know :(
One of my art teachers calls that thing a kind of patina(sp?)
So instead of Funky Cold Medina, you should be Funky Blue Patina.
Boredom is dangerous.
Only if you let it be, bordem can be quite productive.
actually, I kinda sorta like it....
but ya know how opinions are, lol
dosent look to bad the more I look at it. But you should at the very least make everything else match. If the whole car was done up right using matching colors it would proly look okay.
Nothing else on the car is going to match that color. That's the only place, aside from the possibility of using those Auto-Meter gauges with the blue bezels, (and they're not my first choice) that that color will be used. It'll probably be muted a little bit when I clearcoat it. I don't know why, but I kinda like just that part of the dash popping out and near glowing, which is how it looks now.. but I didn't just blue it all out.. I taped off the fake brushed aluminum parts and left them intact.
The rest of the car will match itself, more or less. I need to find an interior paint/dye that comes very close to the gunmetal paint I put on the car as a two-tone. The paint I picked up for the mirrors and the door trim will sorta match, as well. It's all pretty much dark gray.
Man, now I'm thinking about gauges again.. and I'd be pulling my hair out if it was long enough to pull out.
My favorite set of AutoMeter gauges is the Street Rod Arctic White. I like the white-face/black-text gauges, I like that it uses a 7k tach and it's also a tach that's RPM x100, etc. But all the secondary gauges are short-sweep.. and I like full-sweep.
Thinking about going with the Cobalt series instead. It's black-face/white-text/blue-highlights, and blue illumination, but it has a LOT of full-sweep gauges. Speedo and tach ranges are much higher than I like, (160 mph speedo, 10k tach) but I could live with it.. I guess. Would also make for another weak justification for all this obnoxious blue in the dash, I suppose. :p
Heh, yeah...until you price the Cobalt gauges. Auto Meter has put the pricing for them out of the reach of your average hot-rodder. Hell, I paid well over $400 for all 6 of my relatively common AM silver Pro-Comp gauges, and that was WITH a 10% discount at Summit Racing. Believe me, I was thinking the same thing too...price-wise and availability-wise, they're a pipe dream. There are other brands *coughcoughVDOcoughcough* that offer blue-lit gauges and are probably more affordable. Don't get me wrong...I love the Auto Meters. I just believe some of their products are too expensive for your average builder.
EDIT: Quick pricing at Summit:
VOLTMETER 8-18 VOLTS - $54.95
FUEL LEVEL 73-10 OHMS FORD - $54.95
OIL PRESSURE 0-100 PSI - $60.95
WATER TEMPERATURE 100-250 - $60.96
Speedometer, Cobalt In-dash, 3 3/ 8 in., 0-160 Mph, Digital, Electric, Each - $249.95
Tachometer, Cobalt, 0-10,000 RPM, 3 3/ 8 in., buttstuffog, Electrical, In-Dash, Each - $169.95
Quick addition is about $650 without tax....OUCHY.
BTW...I think the dash would look nice with some blue neon lights in strategic areas.... ;)
Yeah, Auto-Meters are expensive.. but I'd probably be getting those only when I could afford to do a lot of work to that car. Boosted 300 swap, custom cluster, unusual gearing.. hell, maybe even that crazy-ass sedan delivery notion.
This:
(http://www.autometer.com/img_products/6114_d.jpg)
The Cobalt fuel gauge. It says it's programmable. I've seen mention before that it could be used with multiple senders, hence the programmable part. I also like it because it seems to be their only full-sweep fuel level gauge. (I like novelties like this)
EDIT: Oh yeah.. your pricing estimate is on the low side. (but understandable, for the "usual" gauges) I wouldn't just be buying four smaller gauges plus speedo and tach. My plan was to try to squeeze six 2 1/16" gauges plus a 3 3/8" speedo onto the main cluster, and put the 3 3/8" tach in the clock mounting. It *might* work, as my last crude drawing suggested, but it would be very tight. I was looking at: (E = electric, M = mechanical, but I'm sure most of you would've figured that out)
Full-sweep oil pressure (E or M)
Full-sweep water temperature (E or M)
Full-sweep voltmeter (yes, they have one) (E, obviously)
Full-sweep fuel level (ditto) (ditto again)
Full-sweep trans. temperature (E) ***
Full-sweep boost/vac (E or M, probably M)
The cluster hole is something like 13 5/8" wide or just a little less.. and not counting that little vertical part on the cluster where the trip and English/Metric buttons are, around 4 1/4" tall. (I think the button surface adds another 1/2" or so)
*** - This gauge might change, either to the new digital 0-250A ammeter in the Cobalt series, or something like a full-sweep oil temperature gauge.
EDIT #2: Here's a second crude mockup.. phear my mad MS Paint skillz.. :p
Now, behold the true power of boredom!
Speedo, $250
Tach, (not pictured) $170
Voltmeter, $100
Trans. temp, $131
Fuel level, $110
Boost/Vac, $69 (mech., 30 PSI vac, 20 PSI boost.. not the same as the pic I used)
Water temp, $131 (mech.)
Oil pressure, $61 (mech.)
All prices rounded up to the nearest dollar, which makes for a grand total of $1,022. Ouch. But I'll probably only do a project like this once. Stock gauges are fine for me, most of the time.. and when they're not, I don't mind stuff like my triple 1.5" gauge set.
looks like a tight fit.
Yeah.. I wish they made more decent 1 1/2" gauges. I'd buy 'em.
AutoMeter has a few, but they're mostly fuel pressure gauges or 3-gauge clusters like my SunPro 1 1/2" cluster.
Well this is my "dream" dash for whichever T-bird becomes the big project.. but I suppose I could always just rig one up with a couple more cheap SunPros to match what I have now.
SO.. boosted 300 I6 '86 T-bird sedan delivery w/ a thousand bucks worth of gauges and at least 6 forward gears.. heh.. I wonder what the previous owner would think..
Dash looks good.. Will the 4 LED's have any function? Its ashame these gauges are so pricey.
I was thinking about doing a digital version someday.. :hick:
On that note I came across this link
http://www.jupitere.com/k400_series.htm (http://www.jupitere.com/k400_series.htm)
.. Apparently there is a big following for the old Knight Rider show (especially in Europe) and people are converting cars to be like the one in the show, so some companies are providing digital dashes. They are not cheap either at $1400! And some of those LED lights are just there for show!
Yeah.. it would be turn signals, high beam, and some random warning light. Could do more, could do without the red one, I just put four for the illustration.
Yeah, I've run across a few of the Knight Rider conversion websites. Thought about making a replica of KARR instead of KITT, one of these days. (the "bad" car.. in the second appearance, it had a gray two-tone on the bottom and it had a yellow scanner instead of a red one)
I don't know whats with Fords extended warrenty the same thing happend to my Dad with his zx2 and my zx3. Ford basically said its our problem now.
I don't know that she purchased it right from the dealer. I think she said something about it coming in the mail, and listing her car specifically and all that, but didn't say anything about Ford on it. Pretty sure she got scammed outta $1400 or so.
They told my Dad that his trans died due to abuse. It only has 10,000 miles on it. It sent the shift fork through the the #4 gear.
My Focus trans died also but not as violent. I down shifted from forth to third, heard an bang, let off the clutch and there was nothing there.
I've actually SEEN one. It was an 82 Firebird just like in the show. The interior was a perfect replica and was spotless at that. The exterior was nice too, but something was missing and I can't figure out what.
The usual things missing from KITT replicas, from what I gather, are the funky steering wheel (not always legal) and the blacked-out taillights. (same, I think) Did they also have the "bowling ball" wheels on it?
We get the ZX2 back today. Suppose I'll get to hear about the "damage" ($$$) in a couple hours.
At least the rest of the household learned the value of having another functioning car around.. maybe even 2. (with the four of us here.. 2 working now and 2 looking for work) I should get more help getting these things in shape.
It was the taillights now that you mention it. He had the right steering wheel and rims.
happy birthday paul
Gee, just keep reminding me that I'm only a year away from the dreaded 30 now :yuck:
.....I'm old.....
SO WHAT"D YA GET ME? :D
Can we throw ya down the stairs 29 times?
Something to poop on, of course.