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I used an infinitely adjustable hole cutter in a piller drill to cut mine, if your covering your dash in leatherette you'll need to cut the holes ever so slightly bigger
What tool you need depends on what material you are using for the dash. Peter used carbon fibre - I seem to remember it was a bit of a bugg&r
If using ally, the holes for the smaller instruments are probably best cut with a hole saw. I have a 52mm bi=metalic jobby if you want to borrow it - but you will need a good drill. I also have a pillar drill that you are welcome to use but it's a bit big to post lol. Once you have made the 52mm hole it will just need cleaning up with a half round file.
The larger ones I would use chain drilling for, and clean up with a file after.
A tip that I had from another builder if you are using an ally dash was to bond it to a piece of ply first. (He used gripfast) Ally is very easy to accidentally bend once you have a large hole in the middle! He used 9mm but I recon 6mm is probably enough.
Thanks for the advice Robin - I will measure the exact dimensions of the clock cases and see what hole sizes I need. As Patrick mentioned, I need to be a bit over as I will be covering my ali dashboard blank.
I used a standard hole cutter, but as Robin says, back the ally onto a bit of ply. A pillar drill is also a good idea, as the hole cutter can slip on the ally. I found it is possible to do it with just a hand drill, you just have to concentrate
Good luck
Tim
I bonded the carbon fibre to the ali blank first.
I cut the holes for the warning lamps and smaller gauges with hole saws in a pillar drill. The holes for the smaller gauges were deliberately cut slightly over-size so that the bezels 'sank' in a bit to meet the SVA reqiuirement.
The larger gauge holes were cut with a battery operated jig saw with a fine metal cutting blade. This was much easier than I expected apart from the fact that the carbon fibre blunts the blades very quickly.
I also cut the curved dashboard shape with the jig saw as well. I used one of those 'flexicurve' thingies to mark out the shape. (if your as old as me, you probably had one at school for drawing graphs as we didn't have PC's :laugh
I used one of those 'flexicurve' thingies to mark out the shape. (if your as old as me, you probably had one at school for drawing graphs as we didn't have PC's :laugh
Fippin 'eck - That's a co-incidence I did exactly the same - I had to buy a new one though 'cause the one I had from school was well past its best.
Come on you youngsters - who is gonna ask "what is a flexicurve....."
I have one gathering dust up in the loft along with my drawing boards and other technical drawing / drafting stuff. Packed it all up when I left school and got into this computer marlarky.
Robin - I was flicking through the latest (Feb '09) copy of Kit Car magazine, and came across an ETB advert (page 104). It has two sets of instruments on offer, the Cobra set and the Seven set.
Looking at them, the Cobra set is exactly what I ordered from them - 100mm electronic Speedo & Tacho, 52mm Volt, Fuel, Oil & Water + temp, oil pressure fuel level senders. It also has a speedo sensor as well, which I didn't order.
You can have them with black or white faces.
All for the princely sum of £395 inclusive of VAT and Delivery. That's over £20 cheaper than I paid, without the speedo sender!
Robin - I was flicking through the latest (Feb '09) copy of Kit Car magazine, and came across an ETB advert (page 104). It has two sets of instruments on offer, the Cobra set and the Seven set.
Looking at them, the Cobra set is exactly what I ordered from them - 100mm electronic Speedo & Tacho, 52mm Volt, Fuel, Oil & Water + temp, oil pressure fuel level senders. It also has a speedo sensor as well, which I didn't order.
You can have them with black or white faces.
All for the princely sum of £395 inclusive of VAT and Delivery. That's over £20 cheaper than I paid, without the speedo sender!
Ho Hum, Cest la vie...
If you're ordering, mention the cobra kit...
I was going to order this week so that's good news
It will also give me an excuse to buy the Feb copy of the Kit Car magazine...
I've been playing around with the dash layout... I first tried this - Layout A - but unfortunately there wasn't enough room for a symmetrical layout as I definitely wanted the two main instruments in the middle of the dash. So I've pumped for this - Layout B as it still gives me the central location for the Tacho and Speedo, and I can still clearly see the others as they arent obscured by the wheel.
I've printed it out full size, and stuck them to the dash:
I think it works... I'm thinking of shaping the area below the main gauges to allow a bit better access to the heater controls below. I'm also planning on shaping the dash here:
To allow easier access to the ignition switch. I think it needs to be a bit more of a flowing curve though. What do you think?
Can any of you guys give me an idea of how wide the dash perimeter padding is? I want to ensure that the dials will miss it before cutting any holes...
Can any of you guys give me an idea of how wide the dash perimeter padding is? I want to ensure that the dials will miss it before cutting any holes...
It's about 2". Sorry that's 50mm to you youngsters lol.
I am actually working on my dash as well. I have placed the minor instruments so you can see them through the steering wheel - but I am only using 3. (No voltmeter) Speedo and tacho in the same place as yours. Indicator lights in a curve following the left rim of the steering wheel.
Have you allowed for extra indicator lights? It seems the new IVA needs a light to indicate dipped headlights are on.
BTW that steering wheel of yours looks ginormous. Most aftermarket wheels are only about 325 to 350mm.
One other hint. Be careful that the fiberglass moulding that forms the dash top (scuttle) is in its final position. By the time I had spread it (at the front) and squashed it (at the rear) so that it lined up well around the A post closing panels, the top of the dash bowed up considerably - about 12mm. It made my dash blank a very poor fit. Fortunately I was able to jiggle it and the padded top should cover the difference.
Don't assume Marlin put it in the correct position for you!
Comming on nicely and those bulkhead hose connectors are really neat. You could market something like that!
It's worth spending time thoroughly cleaning out your petrol tank at this stage before you put any body work over it.
I've had to clean out my fuel filter twice as I get what looks like a very fine alumininium powder/dust comming through. It is very fine particles and gets past the facet fuel pump filter and clogs the efi filter. It could also be from within the little fuel header tank which was supplied by Marlin?
I ended up cutting into the piping on my dash to fit the dials past. I'll do some measuring next time I'm in the garage 