LTD LX gauge pod plate in the making!

[Marz]

Well all... late in the week I started working on my 3 gauge pod cluster bezzel for the LTD LX. This was the basic Al plate cut to the size of where the ash tray usually goes... where the current gauges are now.

So I made the three holes where each 2 1/4" od Al tube/ring would be incerted. The 1/8" thick Al plate was taken from some scrap and cut to the needed size. The 2 1/4" od tube had a 1/8" thick wall. Well... the gauges I want to use are 2 1/8" Autometer gauges. I will ahve to open the id up a bit to get the gauges to fit nicely.

Heres a picture of what I have sofar. I would have been able to finish the basic idea this weekend but the lathe's motor decided to off itself while I was working on the second pod ring. So I'll need to get my lathe repaired through work since it's a work owned lathe.

Now... I'm still not done with the rings... They stick out more than I want. I plan on machining them down to 5/8"... which will make the rims stick out 1/2" from the plate. But this will happen once I get permission to use another lathe in the labs while mine is being worked on.

Heres a pict of what I have so far.

http://www.hostunlim.com/Marz/P1010038.JPG

Edit... The gauge pods will be welded to the plate and then the pod cluster powder coated with the rims. It'll be satin black.

Thanks all.

[moelll]

nice pod you got there

cant wait to see til it's finished

[TL TTop Coupe]

Nice Work! It will look great when finished. TL

[frink84]

looks pretty good, cant wait to see it installed!

[Marz]

Thanks all!

I took a closer look at my lathe at work and found that the motor tossed a bearing. Looks like it's time to see if I can get a new motor for it. The lathe is a Prazi-lathe That was made in 1989 and has seen lots of use. I provided a link as an example of what it basically looks like. There are slight differences over the last 17 years though (one is... mine is all yellow).

http://www.ismg4tools.com/sd300.html

Buying a new motor is less expencive than buying a whole new lathe for 1800 bux. IF I can find it...

[LTDScott]

Looks good, but some suggestions:

First, why exactly do you want to add the "rings" onto the plate? Since the gauges are mounted down low, and most gauge faces are recessed quite a bit from the outer "bezel" of gauges, it makes it a bit of a challenge to see the whole gauge face. Making the gauges stick out any farther would make it even more difficult to see (especially the farthest right gauge). I was using angle rings for a while to see the gauges better but didn't like the look, so now my gauges are mounted flat. I can't see the left side of my farthest right gauge (voltmeter) while in the driver's seat.

Man I really need to take new pics.

If you do use the rings, make sure those rings are the same diameter or bigger than the outer lip of the gauge bezels. If not it'll look silly.

[Marz]

New pictures!

Well, since the lathe at work died... my friend (who was the original buyer of that lathe that broke) offered to finish the pods on his lathe in his garage. Well, I know Dave wanted to have some fun... so I let him do the remaining ring (s)

So, The insides of the rings were opened up by a 1/16th of an inch. The length of the rings are about 3/4" from the plate when hammered in the plate. Just what I wanted.

After fitting the gauge in the pod bezzel I found that I need to taper the inside of the rings a litte so the gauge fits more flush than is currently is. I also will need to turn the outside of the rings down a small amount so they'll be the same size of the gauges widest part... it's trim ring (I guess that's what it can be called). The Al tubing I have was 2 1/4" od... the gauge trim ring is just a little smaller than 2 1/4". It worked out fairly well.

The front
http://www.hostunlim.com/Marz/P1010042s.jpg

The back:
http://www.hostunlim.com/Marz/P1010048s.jpg

The side:
http://www.hostunlim.com/Marz/P1010049s.jpg

Future work will include poking holes in the upper corners, resesing those areas a little, tapering those holes and installing tapered screws. The welder will then weld those screws to the plate and I'll level the welds down to match the plate. :D The wleder will also weld the Al rings to the plate. I'll clean the welds up a bit and and get the pod cluster powder coated when the rims get powder coated. Corse... the insides of the rings will not be powder coated for fitment of the gauges.

Also Scott... ;) Trust me... I have this worked out well. The gauge positions will not be any worse than the gauges that are currently in there.

Thanks!

[frink84]

looks AWESOME!

[LTDScott]

Looks good. Glad you got things worked out as far as viewing angle.

[moelll]

nice work!

[Marz]

Heres a couple of new pictures of the LTD LX Gauge pod in the making.

The rings are done. All I need to do now is make sure theres no clearance issues with the gauges and the plastic frame of the dash it'll be going into. The Gauge plate itself will be getting two holes for screws. The screw holes will be tapered and and tapered screws used. The taper on the plate will be more than usual due to me wanting the front of the plate where the screw heads will be welded. I will then smoothe those weld marks down. I will have to buy the gauge pods I want to be sure the taper in the pods ID fit the gauges. They should of coars since I'm using the same gauge as what I fit the pods to.

Basically you'll see that the ID and the OD of the rings/pods have been tapered so that the gauge(s) will look close to the OD size of the pods.

http://www.hostunlim.com/Marz/P1010055small.jpg

http://www.hostunlim.com/Marz/P1010063small.jpg

Thanks!

[paul78zephyr]

Hi,
My only question is why would you want to mount the gauges so LOW on the dash. I mean if I understand where you are putting them - the original ashtray location down at the bottom of the center console - you really have to take your eyes off the road to look at them. Or am I missing something?

Why not mount them further up at eye level?

Paul

[Marz]

Hi,
My only question is why would you want to mount the gauges so LOW on the dash. I mean if I understand where you are putting them - the original ashtray location down at the bottom of the center console - you really have to take your eyes off the road to look at them. Or am I missing something?

Why not mount them further up at eye level?

Paul

A few reasons.

Theres already a gauge cluster there with that spot already open and for the taking. I really don't want to cut up my LTD LX dash any more than I need to. It's not like I'm going to be oogling the gauges 24/7... just quick glances while driving and at the stop. If I had happened to find a ex-cop LTD with gauges already cut into the bezzel above the glovebox... I'd have used that.

[LTDScott]

Hi,
My only question is why would you want to mount the gauges so LOW on the dash. I mean if I understand where you are putting them - the original ashtray location down at the bottom of the center console - you really have to take your eyes off the road to look at them. Or am I missing something?

Why not mount them further up at eye level?

Paul

My answer is that there's nowhere else that one can cleanly mount gauges on the LTD's dash. The Fairmont dash is much easier to add gauges to. Nobody makes an A-pillar pod for the LTD, and I think they look a bit obvious on a sleeper car.

And like Marz said, these are not crucial eyes-on all the time gauges like the speedo or tach. Hell, they didn't come with a temp, oil pressure, or voltmeter gauge from the factory. Ford put the extra gauges on the Marauder in this location as well.

[paul78zephyr]

My answer is that there's nowhere else that one can cleanly mount gauges on the LTD's dash. The Fairmont dash is much easier to add gauges to. Nobody makes an A-pillar pod for the LTD, and I think they look a bit obvious on a sleeper car.

And like Marz said, these are not crucial eyes-on all the time gauges like the speedo or tach. Hell, they didn't come with a temp, oil pressure, or voltmeter gauge from the factory. Ford put the extra gauges on the Marauder in this location as well.

Why not mount them in 'dead' panel above the glove box. Florida 5.0 makes nice guage pods thats made to fit the 79-86 Mustang (and hence F/Z!) in that area. Thats what Im running. The pod is really nice in that the guages are angled right at me so I can see them very easily when driving. I wonder if the that panel would fit the L/M or can be adapted somehow?

You can see pics of my Zephyr with the guage pod at:
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/773108/1

Look at the 5th and 6th pics down. Im running Stewart-Warner electric oil pressure and water temp guages in the pod in parallel with the factory guages (Mustang type instument cluster conversion), they use DIFFERENT senders. The pod has room for 3 guages so I stll have room for a another. I dont think it detracts from the 'sleeper' effect. Everyone comments on how well integrated the guages/dash look. And I dont even have to take my eyes off the road to look at them.

Paul

[Marz]

The Fairmont, Zephyr, and Mustangs dashes are different than the LTD's.

http://www.hostunlim.com/Marz/PA010041.JPG

The cop LTD's had the gauges above the glove box... but this usually ment cutting the plate and part of the dash around the area.

[paul78zephyr]

I know the dashes are different. I just was suggesting that you may be able to use/adapt the guage pod to the dead panel in your LTD. If you want you guages down low thats OK with me. Just trying to be helpful.

Paul

[LTDScott]

Putting the gauges above the glovebox would require cutting up/modifying an LTD LX ONLY (read rare) dash panel. The way I have my gauges set up now, I can easily remove them and put the stock ashtray back in.

Plus the sender for my mechanical temp and oil pressure gauges wouldn't reach all the way to the right side of the dash.

Oh, and I prefer looking down at the gauges than to the side. Looking down doesn't require taking my eyes off the road any more than looking at the radio does. And as I said, it's the same location that Ford chose to put the extra gauges in the Marauder.

http://www.cgauto.com/images/autoreview/lrg/04161031990005LRG.jpg

[Marz]

It's 99.9% done. It just needs some touch up around the edges of the pods where the gauges mount up to. I'm not 100% happy with the paint. But it's ok and close enough for me at this point since I just wanted it done.



http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i62/e4drht/Misc/P7080024small.jpg