Monte Carlo Breadbox - Switch and gauge ideas. - Complete

[565bbchevy]

3M panelbond would work well for gluing aluminum to the plastic.
I have 3 mounting screws in the front but my faceplate is thick and covers them once it is mounted.

 

[mikester]

I bought 1/8" plastic for the front. Do I need to screw the front or will the sides be enough ?

 

[fleming442]

Thanks,

You have a PM

 

[mikester]

So, a quick update. I got the second radio mount. Carefully opened up the opening with a Dremel and a small sanding drum. It looked great. I glued a few pieces of the extra plastic Im using for the face plate together using cyanoacrylate. Clamped them down and left them overnight.
Next day I took a small drill and tried to put in the holes for the screws and both pieces came apart as soon as the bit touched them. Needless to say I was pissed.
Yesterday I ran around looking for ABS plastic glue. Found it in a hardware store. I just got the new boxes from the place in CA. Another $20 spent on ebay. I wiped everything down with fast drying wax and grease remover before gluing the pieces but Im thinking I had the wrong glue. Im going to try the glue on one of the junked pieces this time to see if it will hold. As crazy as it sounds now Im on a mission ! Im pretty picky and I want it to look right inside and out. I'll have this stupid thing done by the end of the weekend. LOL

 

[565bbchevy]

I guess I have to take some of the blame for your frustration I probably should have documented it better but in my defense when I just have an idea for something I want to make I don't usually put a whole lot of thought into the step by step process to get it there besides most of what I make I consider a "one off" part specific for what I am doing on my own car so I am never thinking in the back of my head that someone might want to actually make one just like it.
I will say being on this forum has made me realize I need to take more pictures and not just ones of the final product.

 

[motorheadmike]

This is all well and good - but, how can you effectively read low mounted gauges and run your car at speed without taking your eyes off the road?

I suppose this is why the GP dash is preferred by getting the gauges up into your line of sight.

 

[mikester]

This is all well and good - but, how can you effectively read low mounted gauges and run your car at speed without taking your eyes off the road?

I suppose this is why the GP dash is preferred by getting the gauges up into your line of sight.

I dont think its going to be that hard to read the gauges mounted down there. Back in the day most guys with muscle cars had 3 gauge panels mounted under the dash. I dont constantly monitor the gauges in my vehicles when I drive. A glance every now and then. If I need to do constantly watch those gauges I think Ive done something wrong.

 

[565bbchevy]

This is all well and good - but, how can you effectively read low mounted gauges and run your car at speed without taking your eyes off the road?I suppose this is why the GP dash is preferred by getting the gauges up into your line of sight.

Being this for my Regal which is going to be just a cruiser it is more about having the information available at a glance versus having an idiot light and installs without modification to the original dash.
In my Monte all my critical information gauges are in my line of sight where they should be.
No argument on the GP dash having the best factory lay out for gauges.

 

[mikester]

I guess I have to take some of the blame for your frustration I probably should have documented it better but in my defense when I just have an idea for something I want to make I don't usually put a whole lot of thought into the step by step process to get it there besides most of what I make I consider a "one off" part specific for what I am doing on my own car so I am never thinking in the back of my head that someone might want to actually make one just like it.
I will say being on this forum has made me realize I need to take more pictures and not just ones of the final product.

Nah, no blame heading your way !! This is trial and error like anything else. Its not like we're doing normal things. Its a radio mount thats getting modified by a few knuckleheads to do something it wasnt designed to do. LOL
Think about it, if building car projects was easy everyone would be able to do it !

 

[motorheadmike]

I dont think its going to be that hard to read the gauges mounted down there. Back in the day most guys with muscle cars had 3 gauge panels mounted under the dash. I dont constantly monitor the gauges in my vehicles when I drive. A glance every now and then. If I need to do constantly watch those gauges I think Ive done something wrong.

Sure, I started out the same way too. Until I realized just how little use those gauges were... at one time my Buick had more gauges than the cockpit of a 747. Then it had none - everything went through the datalogger. I figured out that if something had failed it was too late to look at a gauge and do something about it. The datalogger would provide real information, in realtime, and could be used to determine trends over time.

Being this for my Regal which is going to be just a cruiser it is more about having the information available at a glance versus having an idiot light and installs without modification to the original dash.
In my Monte all my critical information gauges are in my line of sight where they should be.
No argument on the GP dash having the best factory lay out for gauges.

I am not poo-pooing on gauges, I love gauges - it was a guilty pleasure stuffing the dash of the Lemans with SpeedHut stuff. However, in my experience, if the gauge is below the centreline of the steering wheel it provides no benefit while racing. Our TBSS has two gauges, boost on the column and a WB02 in the pod to the right of the ignition switch - well within my peripheral vision.

The MCSS was set up like this:

Plus, there was a shift light in the old SES slot.