Just Another 69 Build... with a long story and pictures

[69*F5*SE]

Thanks, I appreciate it.  I guess I'll have to go the epoxy route also.

[suburbanfireman]

Dash looks great.  I do not know if you noticed, but your custom dash looks like a speedboat dash - tribute to your dad's boat engine???  I appreciate the detail that guys put into their cars to keep things original, but there is something to be said for "doing it your way".  You are the guy who will be looking at the dash, so why not do what you want?  Keep up the great work.

[Long Island RT]

Dash looks great.  I do not know if you noticed, but your custom dash looks like a speedboat dash - tribute to your dad's boat engine???  I appreciate the detail that guys put into their cars to keep things original, but there is something to be said for "doing it your way".  You are the guy who will be looking at the dash, so why not do what you want?  Keep up the great work.

I couldn't agree with you more!
Thanks - it's always nice to get feeedback on your work 

[Hemidog]

Nice dash, did you put the speedo to the left and the tach to the right for a reason?

[Long Island RT]

Nice dash, did you put the speedo to the left and the tach to the right for a reason?

Which ever gauge ends up at the far left will be partially blocked by the steering will when doing a quick glance.  In a "quick glance" situation, I'd rather look down and get a full view of the tach.  It's not to difficult to swap them after everything is installed.  I'll have to wait until then to decide.

Thanks

BTW -I started laying out my original dash harness that will be sacrificed.  What a mess it is  .  The firwall "plug" is all melted in spots and so is the plug that attaches to the ignition key.  I can't believe my car was actually running with this thing.  In fact - if I could find a new fusebox - I could practically eliminate the whole thing.

Does anybody know where or if I could get just a new fusebox?

Thanks

[Hemidog]

When you're that good at fabricating, and the old harness is in that poor condition, why not replace the whole thing? I replaced my old harness with a new Painless harness, the best thing I've ever done to the car 
YearOne sells a stock plug-in harness.
Ron Francis and Painless sells newer harnesses (new fuses,relays ect.)

[Long Island RT]

I'll check it out - thanks!

Do you know if any of those kits have a fuse box that fits in the stock location?

[FLG]

You will prob need to find a spot for the box. I was looking at the Ron Francis stuff and it looks great. They even have one with a pull out fuse box so your not stuck crawling under the dash when you need to do something.

[Hemidog]

On the Ron Francis you probably have to relocate the fusebox, the YearOne box is OEM.
My Painless box was the same size as OEM, so I bent a piece of metal, bolted it to the dash, and stuck the box in the original location! looks great! 

I'll take some pictures of it if you want.

[Long Island RT]

On the Ron Francis you probably have to relocate the fusebox, the YearOne box is OEM.
My Painless box was the same size as OEM, so I bent a piece of metal, bolted it to the dash, and stuck the box in the original location! looks great! 

I'll take some pictures of it if you want.

That would be great!
I was just on the Painless site - seems they have many different fuse boxes - which model did you use?

Thanks

[Hemidog]

Bought the mopar kit(10127) from summitracing:
http://www.painlessperformance.com/webcatalog/largeview.php?SearchField=10127&SearchAll=Classic%20Cars

[chargerkid01]

hey hemidog how much did that kit cost? how hard is it to wire up??

[Hemidog]

hey hemidog how much did that kit cost? how hard is it to wire up??

It costs $450 on Summitracing, and is one of the best things you can do for your Mopar(these cars are known for their electrical issues). It's easy to install if you have some basic knowledge of electrics. I had my dash out this winter, and installed everything onto it before I installed it again, and just wired the engine bay and rear after that. Take your TIME, study the diagrams, and get a proper crimping tool!

[Rolling_Thunder]

yep - just finishing my dash up myself with a universal painless kit...      I try to re-use all the factory molded connectors so I crimp new terminals on (not the universal insulated ones provided in the kit) then solder every connector.  Every wiring job I do - crimp and solder....     I am indeed the king of overkill...     but i'm OK with that.

I mounted my fuse block in the stock location but it can be checked by looking up under the dash rather easily...      not rocket science there.

The painless kit really isnt that bad to put in - it takes me forever because I am severely anal about detail stuff...     

[Hemidog]

yep - just finishing my dash up myself with a universal painless kit...      I try to re-use all the factory molded connectors so I crimp new terminals on (not the universal insulated ones provided in the kit) then solder every connector.  Every wiring job I do - crimp and solder....     I am indeed the king of overkill...     but i'm OK with that.

I mounted my fuse block in the stock location but it can be checked by looking up under the dash rather easily...      not rocket science there.

The painless kit really isnt that bad to put in - it takes me forever because I am severely anal about detail stuff...     

I used all the original plastic connectors too, it's MUCH better to use them than that crap that's provided, only thing I used from that were the original cable shoes for the steering column plug, and the lamp socket shoes.
If I had to reuse a old connector (ECU, distributor ect) I always solder and heat shrink 

[Hemidog]

Well, off course I forgot my camera today 
Snapped these with my phone.
3rd pic you see the bracket that holds the fusebox attached to the dash.

[Long Island RT]

Wow - that looks great. 
Since you didn't use any of the supplied connectors, I wonder if I could just get the fuse box - and run my own wiring to it.  Maybe save myself a few hundred   

Thanks for the pics

[Rolling_Thunder]

wiring is the expensive part - I would not trust the 40 year old wiring itself...      get the kit and just use the old connectors - by the time you add up all the wiring you'd buy to rewire the car it is more expensive than the painless kit

HemiDog - That looks kick ass!

[Hemidog]

Thanks for the comments, I'm really satisfied with my job.

I would really recommend replace all the wires as well, the connectors me an R_T talk about that was included in this kit, is just a small box that comes with it, nothing special. Use some uninsulated connectors! they sit 100 times better than the insulated ones.  Then just plug them into the old original plastic plugs.

[1969chargerrtse]

Car looks great so far.  My car is pretty much at the same stage as yours - I sympathize with you about working in the garage this time of year.  It is currently 16 degrees & the wind is rattling my garage door!  I have one for you - how many times did your wife complain about parking her car outside?  Man, if I had a dollar for every time.......    Want to hear something really funny - I just removed my dash to do almost the same thing!  I scored a nice piece of polished aluminum from a fire truck manufacturer (they gave it to me - it was a cut off) last fall - I made the cardboard template, set out the (same size) gauges, and marked out all of the mounting screw holes.  I'm just waiting for a nice day to paint the dash frame and steering column.  I think your idea of using the woodgrain will look great - are you going to hide your radio in the glovebox?  Thanks for posting - it helps to motivate us on our projects! 

I remember your post - Did your get your $$'s worth out of the paint job.  What color?

What kind of gauges are you going with?  I too thought of doing an aluminum dash bezel.

I hear you on the garage situation.  Not only is my wife complaining but I have my own car out in the driveway and it's supposed to snow over one foot tonight

I'm still on the fence about the radio.  I'm leaning toward putting it in the original spot.  I don't have the original, and my dash is going to be custom anyway - so if nothing but for convenience sake.  My only issue is all these new radios are too fancy looking.  I want something simple looking that will still play MP3 CD's and run my Ipod.

Well while I'm here - I might as well post what I did this week.  I spent the week disassembling and polishing my rear tail lights.  The chrome bezels are shot.  I see B/E&A sells them for $375.  I'm going to check some local chrome platers and see what the damage will be to redo mine.



I used my dremel to polish the smooth part of the facing lens.  I used it a little on the ridges - and it worked great but a little too much pressure or not enough compound and I got a few burn marks  .  I also polished off the black paint on the inside of the right lens - you can see it in the picture.  I'm sure it's going to show up when I put on the parking lights - but I want to see how bad before I go and screw them both up by repainting.  I then taped it up and resprayed the silver line back in.  Probably not show quality but pretty awesome compared the mess they were when I started.  I'm still an amateur but love trying to do everything myself.

Check this out - My car has been so screwed with that the back half of my assemblies are different?  I vaguely remember this when I was taking them out.  They seem identical except the long eyelids on one?


They both have the 69 date on them?  I don't remember if I took one from the parts car I had used for my roof - but even so that was a 70?

Oh well - I hope they both fit under that plastic cover that goes over them in the trunk.

Wow, fantastic job.  What did you use to buff out those lens?  So shiny. 

[Long Island RT]

Thanks - the pictures don't even do them justice.
I used a cordless dremel with a little fine compound smeared on the lenses.  Be careful not to hit the black part of the lenses - took the paint right off!     That part I did lightly by hand and it looks like new!

[Long Island RT]

Well, it's been about a month so I figured I'd update the thread with my progress.  I've spent many hours wiring up my custom dash and re-coating the vinyl and mounting everything in.

Here's the latest shots:

It's amazing how it simply bolted in after months of working on it, it's nice when things go smooth.


Mounting my column took a couple of hours.  I installed the flaming river coupler.  I gotta say - it's a nice piece and very easy to put in. (forgot to take a shot of it - but if anybody wants - let me know)


I couldn't wait to see it from this view.   15+ years since I've seen this and I have to say - all of a sudden it feels like a car!     I thought about swapping the oil gauge and fuel gage, who needs to look down and see the fuel level so often?  I hope to see the tach at that spot often!


A shot showing the detail I put into the the simple things like the ashtray.  My pads are original and in decent shape.  Maybe someday I'll drop the $$$$$ to have Just Dashes recover them.  You can see the vinyl repair patch that was put on years ago.  Other than that and some slight warpage (and dust), the SEM vinyl paint I used makes them look almost new.

One last shot of the fuse panel I used.  It mounted fairly easily in the stock location.  I used this one: http://www.autowiringsolutions.com/item.php?item_id=260
Great product for the price.  It had more than enough circuits where I could eventually wire up cooling fans, high powered lights or whatever.

Thanks all - there hasn't been a question I've had that wasn't answered on this site. 

[Rolling_Thunder]

That looks amazing there....       I have dealt with about every wiring company out there (Painless, EZ, Ron) and I have to say that EZ wiring by far has the best price but the crappiest instructions          

All joking aside it looks killer

Keep up the good work.

[Hemidog]

Looking good! 

[69*F5*SE]

Dash turned out great.  Nice custom job.