I literally did the exact opposite of you. I had a nearly identical Equus gauge setup that I didn't like at all compared to the original gauges. I found it crucial to have turn signals indicators and hi-beam indicators. I kept the original dash and installed temp, voltage, and oil under the dash. Currently I'm having trouble getting my gas gauge to work. I even went out and bought an external gauge and wired that up. I'm guessing my sending unit went bad.

 

most places its illegal to NOT have them. I ordered some LED lights off of eBay to make my own indicators.

 

Finally got around to taking pictures with the indicator lights in. I think these cost like $5 total on eBay??

 

Nice work!

 

I was just thinking about a custom instrument panel the other day.

The PO of my truck did a white face gauge install which I am not terribly fond of. Because it was there, I left it, and added an aftermarket white faced tachometer, and gauge "trio" (oil pressure, water temp, and volts). Now the more and more I look at it, I am wanting to get back my steering column, and under ashtray gauge area.

I am struggling to determine how the dash would look without the seperator bars. Anything I do I want to look reasonably "correct". My plan would be to lay out 6 gauges, which would eliminate my column mount tach, and the gauge trio I added. Obviously I'd need indicators, etc. I will probably lay everything out and cut an aluminum panel in the water jet at work. It will need to be powdercoated or have some sort of a correct finish applied to look factory,

I was looking at Classic Instruments gauge offerings today; they have some really neat and "correct" offerings, but the price is... The Dakota Digital kit is about $750; I'd be lucky to get the gauges alone for that. Then with indicators, wiring, etc, etc... not sure if it would be worth it.

Nevertheless, this thread has served to revitalize my interest!

Should probably have my seat reupholstered bfore I take this on though. Priorities!

 

All together I have about $120 and 6 busted knuckles into this instrument set up ... I'm happy with that.

Also, I fixed my seat with a couple of $5 trips to the junkyards for cushions and covers, about $5 in vinyl paint, and $5 worth of burlap and wire from the craft store. The seat didn't change much for like 30 years, so if you dig around you can find things

 

Hey there...been watching your videos and digging them. I'm pretty much copying your cluster and just wanted to know how your gauges are holding up. If I remember, you used Equus? Couple things I've seen online have scared me off of them a little, but I don't imagine Sunpro, Bosch, or whatever are much different. They still working good?