What dash will fit in an 83 5.0?

[Flingarrows]

I am helping my son with his first car. He bought an 83 roller that was a drag car. We are looking to put a dash and heater back into the car. There is nothing right now.

It has the original 83 wheel with the turn signal switch and what I think is the multifunction switch. I cross referenced the switches and it looks like they are the same from 82-86.

Will any 82-86 5.0 dash and heater box fit in the 83? How about the dash wiring harness? I have a complete 93 harness, and the engine is a 93, but he will be running a carb for now. A guy told me that it would be easier to ditch the 93 harness, and get a harness that fits the car, specifically the steering column and dash, and add a ful inj harness later. Any other info on this?

If I'm heading the wrong way on this, dont be afraid to point out a better way. My son is not making a lot of coin, and want to help him get this on the road the most economical way. Any help appreciated

[wraithracing]

The 83-86 cars shared the same Mulit Function switch, the same gauge faces, and lighting. I would recommend trying to find an 83 if possible as that will be the best fit. Although the 83-86 should fit without too much trouble. The 83-85 with the carburetor are probably the best choice again that will require the least amount of extra work.

The 87-93 dash will require a decent amount of work to fit and make everything work. There are also issues such as the fuel gauge using a different sending unit, so you would have to swap that out too in order for the fuel gauge to read properly.

Good Luck and let us know if have any questions or need any additional advice.

Trey

[tbirdman]

You most likely can use any dash hull from an 80-86 Mustang/Capri or an 80-83 Fairmont/Zephyr. The 80-83 Mustang/Capri/Fairmont/Zephyr all used the same "E1DZ" part number dash hull. The 84 Mustang/Capri had it's own one year "E4ZZ" part number dash hull, and the 85-86 Mustang/Capri had an "E5ZZ" part number dash hull. I believe the only difference in the 80-83 and the 84 dash hulls were the location of the dash pad mounting tabs. The main difference between the 80-84 and the 85-86 dash hulls were that the later dash hulls had a single rectangular opening for the radio, the earlier dash hulls had a radio opening designed to fit the two post radios. If you wanted to use a correct radio without modifying the radio opening, you would just find a radio that fits the dash hull. Not hard to do at all.

Finding a dash pad is also not all the difficult either. Basically any dash pad should work, you may just have to change the location of the mounting tabs to fit the dash hull. The Mustang/Capri dash pads differed slightly from the Fairmont/Zephyr dash pads in that the Mustang/Capri dash pads had a "hump" that ran lengthwise about 6-8 inches in from the edge above the instrument cluster, the Farmont/Zephyr dash pads were smooth.

The HVAC boxes in the Mustang changed slightly from the 84 to 85 model year. Up to 84 the HVAC boxes were a two piece affair that you could separate once the box was removed from behind the dash. The 85-86 HVAC boxes were sealed units. Now this is for a car with heat and A/C. The heater only cars might be different, so someone who knows more about heater only cars might be able to shed more light on any differences in the heater only boxes.

[Flingarrows]

Guys, that is awesome information. Thanks for posting up!

[wraithracing]

Another point I should have added was that my recommendations were based upon finding a complete dash with wiring. The 83-86 will most likely mate up with your car and it's current equipment or remaining wiring better than other years. As Tbirdman stated, any of the dash hulls from 80-86 will work and unless I am missing something the same is true for the 79 model dash hull too.

The wiring can be the most tedious task of what you are doing. The closer the wiring harness is to your year model and equipment level the easier it will be to get everything working properly.

Good Luck!

Trey

[Flingarrows]

Good info Trey. I have a complete 93 harness, but the more i look at it, the more that I am seeing that I need an earlier one, to avoid cutting everything apart. I forgot to mention, there was not a wire in the car when he got it

[wraithracing]

Well, that doesn't help the process now does it. There are issues with installing the 87-93 dashes in the Four Eyes, but it can be and has been done. I am not a big fan of the look, but we won't get into that here.

From the sounds of it, have you considered trying to find a donor car that you could pull all the parts off you need. That may be the better solution as the individual parts will add up quickly and all the misc parts that you need might drive you crazy. What you are trying to do is ambitious, but can also be very daunting if you haven't had a lot of experience disassembling and reassembling these cars.

Another option you might seriously consider would be an aftermarket wiring harness. I am a fan of Ron Francis Wire Works and their kits. Their stuff is top notch and I have installed them in about a dozen cars or so over the years. In fact, my Pace Car uses one of their kits and my 84 RS will be getting one too. The nice thing about Ron Francis is that you can order the correct pigtails for your ignition switch, turn signal switch, hazard switch, etc. so it makes the install much easier. You will still need to have some of the specific connectors for tail lights and some other parts, but most of those are available aftermarket or with a JY trip. Ron Francis also offers a kit now with a remote fuse panel that makes it even easier to install in our Fox Body cars. The wiring kit comes with great directions and great tech support and can be done over a couple weekends and you will have a fully wired car.

Take a look at their site and see what you think. http://www.ronfrancis.com/

If you have questions or want to discuss things in more detail, send me a PM and we can get in touch over the phone if you like.

Trey

[egbertnr]

What part of the country are you in?

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[Flingarrows]

What part of the country are you in?

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Illinois. I was in Dayton over the weekend, and will be back there some time in the next month or two

[egbertnr]

I might be able to help you out if you need some interior for his car. Just look me up I'm about an hour south of dayton.

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[Flingarrows]

Well, that doesn't help the process now does it. There are issues with installing the 87-93 dashes in the Four Eyes, but it can be and has been done. I am not a big fan of the look, but we won't get into that here.

From the sounds of it, have you considered trying to find a donor car that you could pull all the parts off you need. That may be the better solution as the individual parts will add up quickly and all the misc parts that you need might drive you crazy. What you are trying to do is ambitious, but can also be very daunting if you haven't had a lot of experience disassembling and reassembling these cars.

Another option you might seriously consider would be an aftermarket wiring harness. I am a fan of Ron Francis Wire Works and their kits. Their stuff is top notch and I have installed them in about a dozen cars or so over the years. In fact, my Pace Car uses one of their kits and my 84 RS will be getting one too. The nice thing about Ron Francis is that you can order the correct pigtails for your ignition switch, turn signal switch, hazard switch, etc. so it makes the install much easier. You will still need to have some of the specific connectors for tail lights and some other parts, but most of those are available aftermarket or with a JY trip. Ron Francis also offers a kit now with a remote fuse panel that makes it even easier to install in our Fox Body cars. The wiring kit comes with great directions and great tech support and can be done over a couple weekends and you will have a fully wired car.

Take a look at their site and see what you think. http://www.ronfrancis.com/

If you have questions or want to discuss things in more detail, send me a PM and we can get in touch over the phone if you like.

Trey

Good info again Trey. I really appreciate it. I've been watching ebay for a rusted/wrecked donor, but no luck. Not much in the local bone yards.

I thought about an aftermarket, but hadnt heard of Ron Francis. I put a painless harness in my CJ7, and used an EZ-wiring harness in my 69 Kaiser M715. Both took some tracing and work, but turned out good. Is the Ron Francis universal, or mustang specific? I looked on the page and it looked like they have 4 series of different harnesses

Maybe a good question is what gauges and lights are in a 5.0 dash and on the column switches.

I'll pm you and see if we can talk offline. maybe I can tap your brain and get a game plan before I spend money in the wrong direction.

[Flingarrows]

I might be able to help you out if you need some interior for his car. Just look me up I'm about an hour south of dayton.

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Sounds good. I have been getting some offers, but may be easier to pick up rather than ship. If you get a change pm me with what you have and pricing. I'm not 100% sure of what direction I am going yet, but Trey is giving me some good ideas

[wraithracing]

Good info again Trey. I really appreciate it. I've been watching ebay for a rusted/wrecked donor, but no luck. Not much in the local bone yards.

I thought about an aftermarket, but hadnt heard of Ron Francis. I put a painless harness in my CJ7, and used an EZ-wiring harness in my 69 Kaiser M715. Both took some tracing and work, but turned out good. Is the Ron Francis universal, or mustang specific? I looked on the page and it looked like they have 4 series of different harnesses

Maybe a good question is what gauges and lights are in a 5.0 dash and on the column switches.

I'll pm you and see if we can talk offline. maybe I can tap your brain and get a game plan before I spend money in the wrong direction.

I am not a fan of Painless wiring, personally I found them to be anything BUT Painless. The only disadvantage with the Ron Francis setup IMHO is the size of the fuse panel/junction box. It's large and is difficult to locate in a good location in a Mustang. I mounted mine in the passenger kick panel about where Ford later mounted the EFI computers. There is a new kit out that offers a separate fuse panel that can be remote mounted. I believe with that unit, you could mount the main panel under dash in about the same area just above the OEM fuse panel and then mount the remote fuse panel in the original fuse panel location.

Ron Francis kits are "Universal" , but you set them up for your specific vehicle/parts. As I stated before they have the specific pigtails for the ignition switch, turn signal switch, hazard switch, the Duraspark, or TFI, alternator, coils, etc. So it makes life a lot easier than Painless and many others. If you are completely stock, then a kit like EZ or American Wiring might be the better choice. With Ron you can mix the two and still have a quality NON Hodge Podge cut up harness.

The stock gauges in a Mustang are a mechanical speedo, tachometer, water temp, fuel level, oil pressure, and generally an amp meter. Although the 79 cars had a volt gauge IIRC and the SVO had the boost gauge instead of the Amp. All the gauges are electric and can be wired up using the stock printed circuit board and connectors. Ron Francis doesn't offer the instrument cluster connectors, but again those can be found in a JY or through FEP. The other option is to put aftermarket gauges in the dash as others have done and then you wire everything up as needed.

The column switches are hazard lights, turn signals, high beam, ignition switch, horn, and windshield wiper/washer. Everything is run through the Multifunction switch which again Ron Francis has the correct connectors for. You just have to look through their descriptions and pick the correct ones. Not a difficult task, there are only a couple of options.

Trey

[egbertnr]

Trey is a wealth of information!

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[wraithracing]

Trey is a wealth of information!

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Thanks!

My Wife said I am something! Not necessarily that . . . But I am Something!

Trey

[Dean_T]

For dash shell add the 1978 Fairmont or Zephyr to the donor list. They are the first Fox but have just the twin gauge pod rather than the Mustang tach/speedo and full instrumentation (In the '79 model year the Mustang instrument cluster was an option for the F/Z's).

You may have to resort to putting in a want ad in the FEP classifieds. -oops, never mind! you've already did. Cool!

[EARLY84GT]

cottonbear is parting a couple capris in the for sale section. You may want to check them out.

[Flingarrows]

Thanks for all of the good info guys

[wraithracing]

Here is an article showing the install of a Ron Francis kit in a Fox Body Mustang. The kit is the Express kit which is more for a stripped down rod or race car, but it gives you an idea of how their kits work. The Access 24/7 panel and their other kits are all very similar, but can be configured for more of a street car with A/C, PW,PL, etc. if you want.

http://www.stangtv.com/tech-stories/...francis-wiring

Trey

[RPB]

My brothers 85 notch needed a wire harness and a few other parts but it was still cheeper to buy a parts car... We piked up a running four cylinder for 500 had everything we needed and then some. He made his money back in short order selling parts for two weeks and then some dirt racer wanted the whole car for the motor and tranny... Just be carefull that stuff adds up, the local mustang junkie wanted 650 for the wire harness.. Thats was the first and last time I visited that place.

[egbertnr]

Yeah i have seen a few places out there parting cars out wanting ridiculous money for stuff.

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[Flingarrows]

Here is an article showing the install of a Ron Francis kit in a Fox Body Mustang. The kit is the Express kit which is more for a stripped down rod or race car, but it gives you an idea of how their kits work. The Access 24/7 panel and their other kits are all very similar, but can be configured for more of a street car with A/C, PW,PL, etc. if you want.

http://www.stangtv.com/tech-stories/...francis-wiring

Trey

That is a pretty neat kit. Depending on what the 82 harness looks like when I get it out, I may have to look into that. Much better than the painless ( or painful, as you mentioned) harness that I used on my jeep.


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