Chirco is building a Baja Bug! Many of the air - cooled VW parts and procedures used can also be used on Dune Buggies, Sand Rails. These pages feature links to the Chirco online parts catalog.

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PART 22-  Installing the Dash Panel, Gauges and switches.

It is time to get the dash put together. Since we can not get the carpet kit in until we have ran all of our wiring, we decided to get the dash in so the wiring harness can be made.

As you can see from the first photo, we cut out the original dash. We are going to install an aluminum dash in it's place. I need to tell you that we have never seen one of these dashes that fit perfectly out of the box. They need a little tweaking.

 

We set it place and marked the center of where the speedometer is going to go. After that we used a square to make a consistent plane that the rest of the gauges will follow.

 

We started first with an VDO electronic 120 mph speedometer and a VDO black faced 7000 rpm tach. Then we line up the three smaller gauges, VDO oil pressure, VDO amp meter and the VDO oil temperature gauge.

 

After all the line were drawn we double checked that all the gauges were in clear sight. The Speedo we will not be able to see below 20mph or above 100mph. (after 100, what does it matter?) With a hole saw, we cut the first two holes.

 

Then the three smaller holes were cut the same way with a smaller hole saw.   

Please remember that it is best to be a little small than a little to large Again the dash was put back in place to align where the switches and indicator lights will go.

 

On the left hand side the first switch is the turn signal Sand sealed on-off-on that will be hooked up to a flasher relay. The second switch is the headlight hi/low beams, also an on-off-on with a blue indicator for the high beams. The first gauge is the 120mph Speedometer.

 

In the middle of the dash you can see the VDO 7000rpm tachometer, the turn signal amber indicator to the left that will also be hooked up to the flasher relay. Then two indicator lights, first the oil pressure and then the amp light. The last switch will be for Donnie's KC driving lights that is a sand sealed on-off. The last two gauges are the VDO Amp Meter and then the VDO Oil Temp gauge. I was to lazy to walk in and get the last gauge, so we mocked in a fuel gauge that is the same size. At the bottom of the panel we have a universal ignition switch and to the right we have a horn button. All of these holes were sanded down so all items fit flush on to the dash.

 

Again we put the dash back in to mark the holes we will have to drill to mount it to the old dash. We are using torque screws with beveled washers.

 


We used three screws on each end and three across the top and another three along the bottom. To finish this project, we will have to remove the dash and all it's components so we can sand down the face of the dash and polish it. Then rebuild it and re-install it. 

 

If you have any questions or comments about Project Baja please e-mail don@chirco.com we sure would like to hear from you.