Pro Touring 68 Dart convertible

[Burdar]

Instead of "looping" a jumper wire I was thinking about cutting off the factory connector and twisting the wires together.  If I do that, how do you terminate that splice cleanly?  Will heat shrink tubing still work there?  Will the end of the tubing that's sticking out past the splice melt together and seal itself?

[YellowThumper]

Instead of "looping" a jumper wire I was thinking about cutting off the factory connector and twisting the wires together.  If I do that, how do you terminate that splice cleanly?  Will heat shrink tubing still work there?  Will the end of the tubing that's sticking out past the splice melt together and seal itself?

Generally no it only shrinks so far.
What I do when the connector is off is to fold the wire in half. Then put shrink tubing over that. Will leave the wire bend slightly exposed. The cutoff end is then hidden inside shrink wrap. Prevents exposed ends but is not 100% water tight. If you need that, then use liquid electrical tape.

[Burdar]

Generally no it only shrinks so far.
What I do when the connector is off is to fold the wire in half. Then put shrink tubing over that. Will leave the wire bend slightly exposed. The cutoff end is then hidden inside shrink wrap. Prevents exposed ends but is not 100% water tight. If you need that, then use liquid electrical tape.

Makes perfect sense.  That's why I didn't think of it.  With the wiring connectors cut off, that eliminates a lot of the "bulkiness".  That's what I plan to do then.  I can fill the VR holes in the firewall too.  I've been looking for a good place to run the convertible top relay wiring through the firewall.  The ballast bolt hole looks like the cleanest place now.  Thanks!

[YellowThumper]

@Burdar
Back side of guage panel. This is will eventually be opend up and used for the AFR guage.
Update - better pic added.

[YellowThumper]

@Burdar   For perspective. Both of these wraps are the 3/8 diameter.
One only has a couple wires and the large one is my large alt wire.

[Burdar]

Thanks for the pictures.  That really helps!

[Burdar]

I talked to the body shop a week ago and unfortunately, they can't get the car in this fall for paint.  They had some people quit which put them behind.  It looks like next summer is the soonest it could possibly go in for paint.  I'm still working on some wiring modifications but between changing my mind on how I want to do it and USPS taking their sweet time to deliver things, it's slow going.  I did get a good start on a big project over the weekend though.  It's not nearly done but I'm excited about it so I thought I'd share before I'm actually done with it. 

I want to run a tach in the Dart but I don't want to mount one on the steering column, A-pillar or on top of the dash.  I want it to look somewhat factory and since this isn't a race car, the tach doesn't need to be huge and "in your face."  If you wanted a tach in 68, it came mounted on the console.  Originals are very expensive.  I found a listing from 2018 for $550 and even that one had some pitting in the housing.  They also only came with a black face.  Since I'm changing the gauge faces to white, I want the tach to match.  So, I decided to make my own housing and install an aftermarket tach inside.

I had a 2.75" Autometer tach sitting on the shelf from a project I started years ago.  Since I already have it, I might as well use it.  The tach is designed to be installed into a dash opening so there is no mounting body on it.(perfect for what I want to do)  I started with a $25 solid chunk of 3.5" diameter aluminum but before I made my first cut, I made a rough template of the finished product to work off of.


After getting the length cut to the size I wanted, the aluminum was mounted in the mill and a boring bar was used to remove material from the center.  That was very slow going work.  After maxing out the adjustment of the boring bar it was time to move to the lathe to finish the inside diameter so the tach insert would fit.


Once the tach fit and I was confident I had enough wiring clearance on the inside, I flipped the piece around and machined a bevel on the back.  I went 1/4" deep on the back end and tapered it to nothing over a 2" distance.


Then it was back to the mill to machine the "flat" for the mounting base.


I made a template of the machined "flat" area and made a base out of 1/2" aluminum.  Here's how it sits.  Not an exact copy of the original but it still has an original "feel" to it.


After making my template, I was worried that the shifter wasn't going to clear the tach.  The aftermarket shifter sits way farther forward then the stock shifter.  After installing a spare top plate and putting the shifter in place, there shouldn't be any clearance issues although it's tight. So, I have a lot of sanding and polishing to do but it's coming along.  I'll need to hog out some material on the inside where I want to run the wiring but that should be doable.  Right now my plan is to use a large diameter attaching stud and drill out the center of it to run the wiring through it and into the inside of the console.

[YellowThumper]

That is very cool.
Nice to see others step into the machining aspects of modifying their projects.

[RUNCHARGER]

I agree, awesome idea and execution.

[Brads70]

Great job!!! 

[Tunis]

Wow! That is super nice! Great job! 

[dodj]

looks cool. 
ALOT of machining. 24 bucks worth of your 25 dollar piece of aluminium on the floor? 

[Burdar]

ALOT of machining. 24 bucks worth of your 25 dollar piece of aluminium on the floor? 

Pretty much.  It's about 5" in length overall.  3" of it are hollowed out for the tach.  Still well worth it though IMO.  A few years ago I found a factory base with no tach in it.  Even that was $50 and who knows if I could find an aftermarket tach that would fit inside of it.

[Burdar]

The tach is almost done.  I used some of my daughters Play-doh to locate the wiring connections on the back of the tach.  That way I knew where I had to remove material in the bottom of the hole to make clearance for the wires.


Once I had the wiring harness made and fitting, I sanded and polished the outside.  I still have to tap the bottom mount for a hollow bolt but otherwise it's done.






The console top plate is slightly rounded.  The factory tach mount was curved so it fit the shape of the top plate.  My base is flat.  I think if I make a gasket out of some dense foam it will take up the small gap at the edges of the mount.  The woodgrain top plate is just for mock-up.  The correct top plate has a groove down the center so even with a flat base, the tack won't rock back and forth once it's installed.

[Brads70]

That looks really nice! Well done!