I needed a mount for some gauges I bought and am going to buy, so I made a panel mount that goes on the dash. I was inspired by a picture or was in a link that Mot sent me a couple of years ago that showed a dash gauge mount for RHD vehicles that went up against the combination meter hump. The design I came up with is for 5 gauges and is about 3 ½ inches high. In the pics it looks higher, but the gauges are 2 1/16 inch so can be judged from that. First, I worked out a pattern and traced it on a piece on tin. (1st pic). That tin proved to be too thin, so I cut it out some scrap stuff that was a little thicker. (2nd pic). I cut and welded in some pieces of 2 ¼ inch exhaust pipe, slanted and tilted toward the driver. (3rd pic). I bent up some tin for the back, welded on a piano hinge and some 3/16 inch rod stock to give the front a little class, and went to work with the bondo. (4th pic). The hinge is for a piece of black plastic that can be flipped down to cover the gauges. (5th pic). The 3 gauges I have now for this panel is a 2 stage intake temp gauge for before and after the intercooler temps, an oil pressure gauge, and a trans temp gauge. For several years I have had three other gauges on the DS A pillar. One other gauge for the panel that I will get is a fuel level gauge for a Methanol/water tank. The fifth gauge is undecided. I tried to match the color of the dash with an Acrylic Urethane interior paint for the body of the gauge panel, and used a gloss black for the front. I am going to change this to a flat black to reduce gauge reflections. The gauge panel will be mounted with double back tape. It is not mounted or gauges wired now. Wires hopefully will be run around the back of the dash. Last pic shows plastic flipped up and the angle of the gauges from the driver’s seat. I may add some toggle switches and indicator lights to the panel as I don’t like to waste space.
Bill
Bill