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Anyone built a custom dash for a 70 Satellite?

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chattacuda

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I am going to build a custom dash for my Satellite but am looking for ideas. I have searched several days and have only found one, which is the Hammer from Fast and Furious. I have seen several, including a tech article in Mopar Muscle on B body cars, but they have room for 4 or 5" gages. The problem I have is the actual gauge area available on the Satty is only 2" tall. If it were a RR rally dash there would be plenty of room. I am sure I could fab something, but looking for someone who may have done it before. It is a factory ac car.
 
chattacuda said:
I am going to build a custom dash for my Satellite but am looking for ideas. I have searched several days and have only found one, which is the Hammer from Fast and Furious. I have seen several, including a tech article in Mopar Muscle on B body cars, but they have room for 4 or 5" gages. The problem I have is the actual gauge area available on the Satty is only 2" tall. If it were a RR rally dash there would be plenty of room. I am sure I could fab something, but looking for someone who may have done it before. It is a factory ac car.
Click to expand...
I swapped the dash frame in mine to the rallye.. works out better but you have to remove the windshield and thats a whole other nightmare..LOL
 
chattacuda said:
I am going to build a custom dash for my Satellite but am looking for ideas. I have searched several days and have only found one, which is the Hammer from Fast and Furious. I have seen several, including a tech article in Mopar Muscle on B body cars, but they have room for 4 or 5" gages. The problem I have is the actual gauge area available on the Satty is only 2" tall. If it were a RR rally dash there would be plenty of room. I am sure I could fab something, but looking for someone who may have done it before. It is a factory ac car.
Click to expand...

Are you looking for a complete custom dash or just a gauge cluster?

I just did a custom gauge cluster for my 69 RR. I used the original cluster frame, made a custom "faceplate" to mount to it and used 3-1/8 speedo and tach + 2-1/16 oil, water, fuel, volt and clock from auto meter. Came out better than I expected.
 
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I am looking for a gage cluster. Problem is on the Satty that the gage area available is only about 3" tall. I will try and post a pic tomorrow, but it appears lower dash panel that houses the light and wiper switches have to be cut out and that area used t
for gages too. I know it would be a lot easier if it had a rally dash but no such luck with a Satty!
 
chattacuda said:
I am looking for a gage cluster. Problem is on the Satty that the gage area available is only about 3" tall. I will try and post a pic tomorrow, but it appears lower dash panel that houses the light and wiper switches have to be cut out and that area used t
for gages too. I know it would be a lot easier if it had a rally dash but no such luck with a Satty!
Click to expand...

The cluster I posted the pic of is a direct bolt in to your satty I believe, Unless the lower dash pad comes up higher than the one on my 69 RR......with 2 caveats.....

1. It won't fit inside the chrome gauge surround, I am trying to figure out what to use in its place.

2. The lower dash pad just barely covers over the bottom of the 3 1/8 gauges. If I had used all 2 1/16 ones it would be direct bolt in and fit inside the chrome bezel.

No dash cutting needed.
 
GearAddict said:
The cluster I posted the pic of is a direct bolt in to your satty I believe, Unless the lower dash pad comes up higher than the one on my 69 RR......with 2 caveats.....

1. It won't fit inside the chrome gauge surround, I am trying to figure out what to use in its place.

2. The lower dash pad just barely covers over the bottom of the 3 1/8 gauges. If I had used all 2 1/16 ones it would be direct bolt in and fit inside the chrome bezel.

No dash cutting needed.
Click to expand...

I pulled mine out yesterday and it does look like yours would bolt right in! i will go recheck in a while and take some pics and measurements and see what I have. Thanks a lot!
 
I have seen a few gauge clusters here on the forum for real cheap ($10-$25) which would make great donors for the gauge frame, since you will have to cut off the back off the cluster to get the new gauges to fit depth wise.

I picked up a non functioning cluster for $30 and had a local machine shop bandsaw the back of the cluster off and grind it smooth for $25. I then stripped and painter it black to match the dash.

The faceplate is the real challenge. I used the cluster lens as the guide for the bolt hole pattern and exterior shape and then fabbed it with my limited tools (jig saw, bench grinder, drill). After that I figured out the gauge placement, hole sawed and painted.

I cut a corner that I am already thinking I may need to go back and correct.... Out of impatience I went ahead and just made a flat plate instead of having it bent to match the slope of the lens (lens is angled out at the bottom about .5"). You may want to do this so that they appear at the original angle.

Hope that all helps...li know I saw another forum member that had done something similar but entirely from scratch (not using the gauge frame) but the multiple planes and angles that all the mounting holes a on was driving me crazy in trying to reverse engineer it.
 
Here are some pics of the dash panel. I already removed the lower pad that has the headlight and wiper/ washer panel. I really want to put in a 5" inch speedo and tach, so the hard spot is what to do with the old lower pad with the switches and still make it look right and line up with the glove box, etc.

p204496840-4.jpg


p524191352-4.jpg


p16724004-4.jpg
 
That's going to be a tight fit with 5" gauges. Depending on the placement, I wonder if you could shave the lower dash pad so that it didn't interfere and then have someone re coat the vynl? I thought I had seen that there is a way to do that (almost like shrink wrapping it)

If you are willing to cut the dash and the dashpad, I have seen quite a few pictures here on the forum from people who have made entirely new panels that extend all the way down to the switches almost like a rally dash. I had considered going that route myself
 
Maybe you could use a 70 ralley dash lower and scallop it for the bottoms of the 5" center gauges??
It's hard plastic and you could easily make it look finished after cutting.
 
Hemirunner said:
Maybe you could use a 70 ralley dash lower and scallop it for the bottoms of the 5" center gauges??
It's hard plastic and you could easily make it look finished after cutting.
Click to expand...

hemirunner, that is what I am thinking too. I have seen an article on mopar muscle where they made a custom dash for a b body rally dash car with 5 inch gages. I guess i better see if I can find that rally lower dash part. I imagine it would marry up with mine over by the glove box. I am going to the mopar nats next month so maybe I can find one there. Thanks again.
 
The ralley lower is a two piece deal and will marry up to your glovebox just fine.
 
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