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I mentioned it in another thread, but I think a cool mod for our trucks would be to find a '73-'79 F600. Those kept the Bump Side era dash assembly, and also had the big-truck round individual gauges. You'd have to get used to your ignition switch being to the left of the steering wheel though... Also not sure about integrating the dent <F350 column.
[QUOTE=ChaseTruck754;17036621]This looks good so I need to hear more on this! Did you do the forming?
I'm just playing Mr. Roger's neighborhood over hear on mine & living i the world of make believe.
Final material will be aluminum. Actual gauge layout is yet to be fully decided (hence the make believe).[QUOTE]
Yes, I built the tooling from sheet metal and then pulled vacuum with a pair of shop vacs. I used 3/32 abs. I was never able to get it to form right being all negative but the stereo area being positive so I ended up making the stereo part separately and bonding it onto the main form. Being abs, abs plumbing adhesive works great. It actually came out pretty good but I will try again some day to get a one piece bezel.
If I get to the shop today I'll post up some pics of the tool used to make this
I mentioned it in another thread, but I think a cool mod for our trucks would be to find a '73-'79 F600. Those kept the Bump Side era dash assembly, and also had the big-truck round individual gauges. You'd have to get used to your ignition switch being to the left of the steering wheel though... Also not sure about integrating the dent <F350 column.
I've liked this idea too. Tricky part if the big truck dashes like this were welded in vs. bolt in like ours = a bit of work to do the swap
Originally Posted by buckin69bronco
Originally Posted by ChaseTruck754
This looks good so I need to hear more on this! Did you do the forming?
I'm just playing Mr. Roger's neighborhood over hear on mine & living i the world of make believe.
Final material will be aluminum. Actual gauge layout is yet to be fully decided (hence the make believe).
Yes, I built the tooling from sheet metal and then pulled vacuum with a pair of shop vacs. I used 3/32 abs. I was never able to get it to form right being all negative but the stereo area being positive so I ended up making the stereo part separately and bonding it onto the main form. Being abs, abs plumbing adhesive works great. It actually came out pretty good but I will try again some day to get a one piece bezel.
If I get to the shop today I'll post up some pics of the tool used to make this
Very cool. I've never messed with vacuum forming before. I do like the looks of what you came up with though!
This looks good so I need to hear more on this! Did you do the forming?
Yes, I built the tooling from sheet metal and then pulled vacuum with a pair of shop vacs. I used 3/32 abs. I was never able to get it to form right being all negative but the stereo area being positive so I ended up making the stereo part separately and bonding it onto the main form. Being abs, abs plumbing adhesive works great. It actually came out pretty good but I will try again some day to get a one piece bezel.
If I get to the shop today I'll post up some pics of the tool used to make this
I'm kinda surprised that the subject of an A pillar pod hasn't come up yet in this thread. A couple of people in years past have started threads about making them out of fiberglass ect., promising that they produce a great product and offer them to fellow FTEers. They all fizzled out. This sounds like a good way to go about it, of course I know less than nothing about ABS vacuum forming. I assume that's how commercially available pods for other vehicles are produced. It would be cool if someone finally delivered.
Totally agree. I was just talking with Meatloaf CC on this after a couple posts in my build thread. Lots of talk of the pillar pod, but nothing ever came to light.
On a side note - the 92-96 pillar pods can fit our trucks with a little trimming. I sent Meatloaf the pics I have of another members bumpside with the pillar pod in it. The gauges point up a bit in out truck since the windshield seems to be slightly more vertical than the 92-96, but it is still better than nothing.
As I was reading through this thread I was wondering if anybody had tried a different thermoplastic than ABS...specifically Kydex.
I don't personally have the wherewithal to try this, but I know that Kydex sheets are available in many thicknesses and colors. A lot of small start-ups have begun producing holsters and knife sheaths from home shops and become pretty successful. Just throwing it out there for any of you ambitious-types.
On a different note: I've bought or made a radio delete panel for just about every (older) vehicle I've ever owned and put 3 aux gauges in it. I alway run a water temp, oil pressure, and vacuum gauge (seems more useful than an ammeter, and you can get an ammeter that plugs into the lighter).
Remote-mount head units are pretty common now thanks to the street rod geezers. You can even get a relatively cheap "regular" unit w a remote control... put it under the seat or in the glove box. Sometimes I skip the radio altogether...cuz headers.
Totally agree. I was just talking with Meatloaf CC on this after a couple posts in my build thread. Lots of talk of the pillar pod, but nothing ever came to light.
On a side note - the 92-96 pillar pods can fit our trucks with a little trimming. I sent Meatloaf the pics I have of another members bumpside with the pillar pod in it. The gauges point up a bit in out truck since the windshield seems to be slightly more vertical than the 92-96, but it is still better than nothing.
Chase........since I own a couple of OBS's, Ive wondered about the possibility of using an OBS A pillar pod........If ya get a chance....post the pics up here.....would love to see the amount of trimming and the final result......I'm still trying to figure out the guage situation on my 4BT swap.....I want at minimum a pyro, fuel pressure and manifold pressure guage.........hopefully a tach.......In addition to the stock cluster gauges....
Thanks Chase.......it does kinda point the gauges at a wonky angle........guess maybe the best way to see if I could live with it is find a cheap pod on Ebay and start hacking........
Thanks Chase.......it does kinda point the gauges at a wonky angle........guess maybe the best way to see if I could live with it is find a cheap pod on Ebay and start hacking........
That was about my plan. Amazon has some cheap ones. Here's what I have saved from my searching:
Amazon: GlowShift 92-97 Ford F-150 QUAD Pillar Gauge Pod (cheapest at $40 + free ship as of January 2017)
Very basic but should work just fine. The top cluster was about $30 off eBay using cheap Chinese gauges and a 3-gauge cluster, and the bottom one is a fairly cheap air/fuel gauge that I tested using a CB radio NiMh battery pack.
Gauge cluster mounted in the E350 bezel. Gauge face angle is identical to the factory panel.
Close-up of the gauge panel, showing the pilot warning lights integrated into the display.
I apologize for reviving this elder thread and for posting about my modifications to my 1982 E350, but I couldn't help myself. I discovered this thread while searching on FTE for other cases of Custom Dash Clusters. As many of you know, the dash cluster of the 73-79 F-series trucks is essentially identical to that of the 78-91 E-series vans. From the point I first purchased my '82 E350 based motorhome, I have disliked the design of the dash cluster. Initially, I tried to compensate by adding a 4-pod gauge set to the driver's side windshield pillar. I fabricated it (nothing that would directly fit was available) from an aftermarket 4-pod unit made for the F150 with some judicious cutting and fancy hand work with a heat gun. I mounted a wideband air/fuel gauge, a water temperature gauge, a tachometer and a vacuum gauge. Unfortunately, this solution wasn't satisfactory because it interfered with full lowering of the sun visor and the sight line was off from a comfortable straight ahead position, requiring peripheral vision to respond to the first sign of trouble. So, I decided to generate a custom dash gauge panel with exactly the high accuracy gauges I needed for my motorhome tours of the country. My motorhome is equipped with the carbureted 460, a C6 automatic with a Gear Vendors overdrive. The motorhome is 24 ft. long and weighs 12,500 pounds when underway. This translates to speeds never over 80 and engine rpm almost always under 4500.
I generated a CAD drawing of the factory instrument cluster after careful measurement of all dimensions, angles and mounting holes. I then generated several mock-ups using 0.250 foam board until I was satisfied with the view and fit to the stock bezel trim of my E350. Then, I searched the Speedhut.com site for the gauge set I wanted. I chose five of their standard 2-1/16 gauges and a 4.625" Combo GPS speedometer calibrated for 0-80 mph with an imbedded 0-4K rpm tachometer. I also had Speedhut set the odometer to my current odo reading for maintenance consistency. I designed the instrument cluster for 6 2-1/16 gauges including the basic four (water temp with warning light, fuel level with warning, oil pressure and voltage). These four are complemented with an AEM wideband Air/Fuel ratio gauge and a custom dial vacuum gauge from Speedhut. After careful perusal of FTE, I realized that I could have my CAD drawings turned into real parts by using a Laser Cutting service. I chose Pololu Robotics and Electronics (www.pololu.com) and had the CAD file implemented in 1/8" black acrylic plastic. The full mounting assembly turned out to be six components consisting of a base plate to screw to the E350 trim bezel, a gauge mounting plate, and a top and bottom rail with two trigonal side pieces to establish the desired cantilever. In seven days after transmitting the file electronically, and after transfer of $50, I had the parts in hand. I assembled the parts quickly using liquid plastic cement (acetone) which literally fused the components into one solid piece.
For the results, I'm enclosing two photos of the assembled system. The first is of the gauges mounted in the finished holder and fastened to the E350 trim bezel and the second shows the gauges in the gauge panel in a close-up. On the left of the speedo/tach combo are the Wideband AFR gauge and the vacuum gauge along with a LED pilot light with parking brake symbol to be illuminated with any brake failure problem. The speedo/tach has included LED lights for high beam and for left and right turn signals. The digital info display on this combo gauge gives the odometer reading, as well as distance traveled, elevation, time, etc. To the right are the water temp with settable warning light, fuel level with warning light, oil pressure and voltage. The fuel level gauge calibrates itself to the Ford OEM tank senders and works with the dual tank selector switch. I added a LED pilot light for a battery indicator idiot light to monitor the actual charging of the alternator as a complement to the voltage gauge. I also added a group of three smaller pilot lights to monitor the function of the dual electric fans I installed for radiator cooling. Of the three, the light furtherest to the right monitors the AC compressor on/off function and glows blue when the compressor clutch is energized. The center fan light glows green when the fans are at low speed, and the leftmost LED glows red when the fans are at full speed. Finally, I chose the Speedhut gauges because they are electrical, driven with a stepper motor and display a full 270 degree sweep.
More apologies for the length, but the E-series FTE forum has no interest in customization at this level, and I hoped this would help someone else with a similar need!
Gauge cluster mounted in the E350 bezel. Gauge face angle is identical to the factory panel.
Close-up of the gauge panel, showing the pilot warning lights integrated into the display.
I apologize for reviving this elder thread and for posting about my modifications to my 1982 E350, but I couldn't help myself. I discovered this thread while searching on FTE for other cases of Custom Dash Clusters. As many of you know, the dash cluster of the 73-79 F-series trucks is essentially identical to that of the 78-91 E-series vans. From the point I first purchased my '82 E350 based motorhome, I have disliked the design of the dash cluster. Initially, I tried to compensate by adding a 4-pod gauge set to the driver's side windshield pillar. I fabricated it (nothing that would directly fit was available) from an aftermarket 4-pod unit made for the F150 with some judicious cutting and fancy hand work with a heat gun. I mounted a wideband air/fuel gauge, a water temperature gauge, a tachometer and a vacuum gauge. Unfortunately, this solution wasn't satisfactory because it interfered with full lowering of the sun visor and the sight line was off from a comfortable straight ahead position, requiring peripheral vision to respond to the first sign of trouble. So, I decided to generate a custom dash gauge panel with exactly the high accuracy gauges I needed for my motorhome tours of the country. My motorhome is equipped with the carbureted 460, a C6 automatic with a Gear Vendors overdrive. The motorhome is 24 ft. long and weighs 12,500 pounds when underway. This translates to speeds never over 80 and engine rpm almost always under 4500.
I generated a CAD drawing of the factory instrument cluster after careful measurement of all dimensions, angles and mounting holes. I then generated several mock-ups using 0.250 foam board until I was satisfied with the view and fit to the stock bezel trim of my E350. Then, I searched the Speedhut.com site for the gauge set I wanted. I chose five of their standard 2-1/16 gauges and a 4.625" Combo GPS speedometer calibrated for 0-80 mph with an imbedded 0-4K rpm tachometer. I also had Speedhut set the odometer to my current odo reading for maintenance consistency. I designed the instrument cluster for 6 2-1/16 gauges including the basic four (water temp with warning light, fuel level with warning, oil pressure and voltage). These four are complemented with an AEM wideband Air/Fuel ratio gauge and a custom dial vacuum gauge from Speedhut. After careful perusal of FTE, I realized that I could have my CAD drawings turned into real parts by using a Laser Cutting service. I chose Pololu Robotics and Electronics (www.pololu.com) and had the CAD file implemented in 1/8" black acrylic plastic. The full mounting assembly turned out to be six components consisting of a base plate to screw to the E350 trim bezel, a gauge mounting plate, and a top and bottom rail with two trigonal side pieces to establish the desired cantilever. In seven days after transmitting the file electronically, and after transfer of $50, I had the parts in hand. I assembled the parts quickly using liquid plastic cement (acetone) which literally fused the components into one solid piece.
For the results, I'm enclosing two photos of the assembled system. The first is of the gauges mounted in the finished holder and fastened to the E350 trim bezel and the second shows the gauges in the gauge panel in a close-up. On the left of the speedo/tach combo are the Wideband AFR gauge and the vacuum gauge along with a LED pilot light with parking brake symbol to be illuminated with any brake failure problem. The speedo/tach has included LED lights for high beam and for left and right turn signals. The digital info display on this combo gauge gives the odometer reading, as well as distance traveled, elevation, time, etc. To the right are the water temp with settable warning light, fuel level with warning light, oil pressure and voltage. The fuel level gauge calibrates itself to the Ford OEM tank senders and works with the dual tank selector switch. I added a LED pilot light for a battery indicator idiot light to monitor the actual charging of the alternator as a complement to the voltage gauge. I also added a group of three smaller pilot lights to monitor the function of the dual electric fans I installed for radiator cooling. Of the three, the light furtherest to the right monitors the AC compressor on/off function and glows blue when the compressor clutch is energized. The center fan light glows green when the fans are at low speed, and the leftmost LED glows red when the fans are at full speed. Finally, I chose the Speedhut gauges because they are electrical, driven with a stepper motor and display a full 270 degree sweep.
More apologies for the length, but the E-series FTE forum has no interest in customization at this level, and I hoped this would help someone else with a similar need!
nice work-I like it. I especially like the little fan and battery symbols on the lamps. Great job and thanks for the thorough write-up and pictures
03-16-2017, 12:37 PM
