Mounted Tires and Gauge planning

This weekend, we had our tires mounted. Scott Huhn of Black Sun Racing Services mounted up a couple sets of Hankook rally tires on Team Dynamics rally wheels. These tires, with their stiff sidewalls, and these particular wheels are VERY difficult to mount. Scott worked his butt off.

Today, I spent some time planning our gauges and switches. The wiring in the car is still a disaster, with all of the stock stuff laying around, mostly not connected to anything (since we removed so much stuff).

My plan is to use the large space on the dash where the radio and heater controls once were.

The first step is to cut out a piece of aluminum in the right shape... which is usually accomplished by cutting out a piece of paper or cardboard in the right shape, too... In this case, I did both before cutting the metal. A nice rubberized edge piece (Thanks, Gabe!) hides the ugly edges...



It's a great fit. I had to put one bend in it, and I nailed it the very first time... Not bad for a press brake made up of clamps and 2x4's...



The next step is to figure out where everything goes. We have 3 gauges, and 15 switches to mount. Here's my first pass...



Next step will be to carefully drill holes for everything, sand and paint the panel, and then begin wiring. That's going to be the fun part! And a huge pain at the same time...