Cams FC Resto

[camxsmith]

Hi all has any one tried using a fuel link module, It transform's the ohm of any fuel sender to match your fuel gauge... I got one to match my tank to a smiths fuel gauge.  Hope it works.

 

Also has any one seen or tried to convert a speedo to a tacho , or done any alterations to the dash panel ..  would love to see pics if you have ..  Im think of doing the following to my dash to have a speedo and tacho, wiper switch and light switch .. Fuel gauge move to guage pod ... i will move the ignition switch to right of the panel. Choke will be auto, high beam light to stay will make the tacho light be like ignition light (If that makes sense) and then add the indicator lights.. See what I can find.  Photoshop picture below

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

I used to have a Tacho mounted to the A pillar.
Ed Ho had similar dash to your design but extended through to the centre grille, couldn't find any photos though.

[JOX515]

That's a good looking dash you are designing there Cam

The dash in Glenn's pic looks pretty neat as well

[ardiesse]

A speedo is a nothing more than a tachometer, calibrated in miles per hour.
To convert one to a tacho, you'd need all the bits normally associated with a cable-drive tacho, and drive it from the engine instead of the gearbox mainshaft.  The most important part would be the distributor drive adapter.

I'm assuming you'd be custom-making a lot of these parts.  A Holden speedo turns clockwise when viewed from the rear, i.e. the same direction as the crankshaft, and the same direction as the distributor.  If you used a gear-drive, it would have to be set up to rotate in the same direction.

The next problem to consider would be what engine speed you wanted full-scale, and what angular sweep of the needle would correspond to that (270 degrees, for example).  Once you decided on those quantities, then the hairspring in the speedo would have to be changed or adjusted to give so many degrees of deflection at so many input rpm.

The more difficult part will be custom-making the glass and bezel to suit the tacho calibration.

And you could chuck the odometer out.

Or: go an electronic drive.  Sample the low-tension ignition pulses, scale the frequency to something suitable, feed the scaled frequency into a stepping motor driver, and adapt the stepping motor to drive the "tacho".  If you got the scaling factor right, you wouldn't need to modify the hairspring.  The glass and bezel would still have to be custom-made as in the cable-drive example.

All in all, I reckon it'd be an interesting instrumentation challenge.  Difficult, but nowhere near impossible.

Rob

[camxsmith]

I used to have a Tacho mounted to the A pillar.
Ed Ho had similar dash to your design but extended through to the centre grille, couldn't find any photos though.

Nice Glenn   That speedo fits well..  I like it thanks for the inspiration

[camxsmith]

That's a good looking dash you are designing there Cam

The dash in Glenn's pic looks pretty neat as well

Thanks Graeme  how the move going and the car..  your 28 day target must be closing in ...   did you need any help ?

[camxsmith]

A speedo is a nothing more than a tachometer, calibrated in miles per hour.
To convert one to a tacho, you'd need all the bits normally associated with a cable-drive tacho, and drive it from the engine instead of the gearbox mainshaft.  The most important part would be the distributor drive adapter.

I'm assuming you'd be custom-making a lot of these parts.  A Holden speedo turns clockwise when viewed from the rear, i.e. the same direction as the crankshaft, and the same direction as the distributor.  If you used a gear-drive, it would have to be set up to rotate in the same direction.

The next problem to consider would be what engine speed you wanted full-scale, and what angular sweep of the needle would correspond to that (270 degrees, for example).  Once you decided on those quantities, then the hairspring in the speedo would have to be changed or adjusted to give so many degrees of deflection at so many input rpm.

The more difficult part will be custom-making the glass and bezel to suit the tacho calibration.

And you could chuck the odometer out.

Or: go an electronic drive.  Sample the low-tension ignition pulses, scale the frequency to something suitable, feed the scaled frequency into a stepping motor driver, and adapt the stepping motor to drive the "tacho".  If you got the scaling factor right, you wouldn't need to modify the hairspring.  The glass and bezel would still have to be custom-made as in the cable-drive example.

All in all, I reckon it'd be an interesting instrumentation challenge.  Difficult, but nowhere near impossible.

Rob

Hi Rob   I was thinking of cheating and buying a electronic Tacho, mounting it onto the FC Speedo face and retro fitting the needle..  To change the location of the numbers was think of maybe some sort of clear perspex maybe molded to the shape and then vinyl sticks in the right locations. Do the same to the speedo to KM's ... Just as a rough Idea at the moment..  Make it look like it was made in the late 50's is the idea..  like it came on the car ...

[JOX515]

G'day Cam,

28 day target is not going to happen... House is now sold, new place is organised, settlement will be mid July, now to start packing the house up.

Waiting on a panel beater/painter to come and have a look at the car and hopefully that will happen this weekend. Got an electrics issue at the moment. Was looking for the reason for no indicators working and I think I have tripped the security system - got nothing at all when I turn the key. Hopefully the auto sparky will call over soon and perform his black magic.

What I did with my dash was graft new electronic gauges into the old instrument housings and a VL speedo assembly behind the FC dial and glass.

Will give you a yell if I need an extra pair of hands....

Cheers, Graeme

[camxsmith]

G'day Cam,

28 day target is not going to happen... House is now sold, new place is organised, settlement will be mid July, now to start packing the house up.

Waiting on a panel beater/painter to come and have a look at the car and hopefully that will happen this weekend. Got an electrics issue at the moment. Was looking for the reason for no indicators working and I think I have tripped the security system - got nothing at all when I turn the key. Hopefully the auto sparky will call over soon and perform his black magic.

What I did with my dash was graft new electronic gauges into the old instrument housings and a VL speedo assembly behind the FC dial and glass.

Will give you a yell if I need an extra pair of hands....

Cheers, Graeme

Yes I. An remember that dash in the wagon.. it’s in your posts as well   That was a nice dash

[freddyc]

graham, one of the keys has a proximity security system. It has to be near the car. There is a circle thing in the steering column I think that what that is.
fred.
PS I never tested it

[camxsmith]

Found some great pictures in the forum under . http://forum.fefcholden.club/index.php?topic=12527.0

I seem to find these post after I talk about them.   

[fcwrangler]

Hi Cam, I adapted a GTR dash into the FC panel but lost room for the switches. This would have meant putting a panel under the dash for them. I wasn’t happy with the end look so I am now playing with an oval cluster from Dakota Digital which will allow me to relocate the switches diagonally on both lower ends and still maintain the size dash.

[camxsmith]

this weekend played with the gauge pod in the center dash....


First shortened an eh gauge pod and added the dash contour .


The made a frame for it to sit in.



Tacked the frame in to the center of the dash and trimmed the dash back to the frame..


It looks better then I thought it would  .. Will clean it up some more try making all gaps even

[camxsmith]

Also picked up one of the reproduction manual and cover..  going to be a nice item in the glove box.. amazed how close to the original it is..

[camxsmith]

Before I finish off the left rear quarter, I wanted to make my battery box holder. Much easier to make and tack weld when the out side is missing...  Included on the battery box holder is the isolation switch and a circuit breaker.

[camxsmith]

Hi All
       I picked up a rack and pinion off a HR front end. Just hoping some one could Identify which company kit it came from.  Im think its a commodore shortened. I could be wrong. And looks to be an after market TWR branded rack. But thats about all the info I have. lots of different numbers stamped into it.



the housing looks to be 355mm long

[Longman]

Hard to tell in those pics, but looks like a Rodtech kit. Workmanship looks too good to be a V6 conversions one.

Hi All
       I picked up a rack and pinion off a HR front end. Just hoping some one could Identify which company kit it came from.  Im think its a commodore shortened. I could be wrong. And looks to be an after market TWR branded rack. But thats about all the info I have. lots of different numbers stamped into it.



the housing looks to be 355mm long

[camxsmith]

Thanks Longman

Hard to tell in those pics, but looks like a Rodtech kit. Workmanship looks too good to be a V6 conversions one.

[fcwrangler]

You could try ringing TRW and give them the numbers, they maybe able to track it down for you.

[FireKraka]

Hey mate looks like a V6 conversions one to me I have fitted 2 of theirs one to my FC and one to the ek ute I'm finishing they use a VH manual rack that is shortened and Im pretty sure both of my raks had TRW on them.

I have other photos of the fitup if you like Cam
regards
Neil