[Bammo]

Hi Guys,

Some may recall a few years back I converted a 1985 Holden Drover into a gun buggy (Holdover as she became known). Few mods to the engine, extra spotlights etc. Decent seating and an all-over olive drab paint job. Fold down windscreen with a foam covered "roll bar" across the top of the dashboard for a rifle rest. It works a treat mechanically, but the wiring is close to terminal death and the existing alternator is struggling a bit with the factory headlamps and halogen spotlights. Only some of the instrument cluster works, there are random shorts and the lighting is appalling plus the heater is cactus. Also the interior is a bit cramped. At night,wearing gloves, trying to find the spotlight controls and catching yourself on indicator stalks etc isnt ideal.

Bear in mind this is not a road-legal car. It has no seatbelts and never travels above 40km/hr or travels on public roads - strictly a farm vehicle.

So the plan is to pull the dashboard completely out and to fabricate a new "minimalist" dash that provides a bit more room and makes all the electrical controls easy to access and to completely rewire the vehicle.

Plan is:

1) Remove the dash and all trimmings and all wiring / controls
2) Install a new heater core with outlets onto the drivers/PAX legs and maybe a hand warming outlet in the middle.
3) If possible swap the steering wheel for something a bit more compact and bare bones (i.e. just the wheel and column)
4) Install a compact instrument cluster above the steering wheel - thinking about one of those all-in-one motorbike style ones. Provides speedo, tacho, fuel and headlight status only.
5) Install a new control panel in the middle of the dash that is accessible by both PAX and driver. All lights and engine controls here including a big red "stop" button - really helpful when you spot a fox at night to be able to quickly kill the engine and all the lights in one hit and for either driver or PAX to do this
6) New LED 5" x 7" headlights similar to https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2pcs-7x6-5x ... 3849338755
7) Complete new wiring harness - will retain brake lights but no indicators or parking lights etc.
Build a couple of cubby hole storage spots in place of the glovebox.

Curious if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions whilst I am still in this planning phase.

[ZUZUKI]

Well, this one got lots of useful replies, didn't it!.
Other people have said this before & I've said it before - playing with dashes is a lot more involved & harder than it looks.
Having said that, an unregistered shooting buggy - do what you like, but you will spend hours & hours doing it to any sort of 'reasonable' standard.

There is a steel support brace running across the car, under the lower edge of the dash. This is probably worth keeping in place, as the steering column is mounted to it & it will give you a start point to mount stuff off, but it will take up some of the room you are looking to create & it won't be nice to bang your knees into - wrap in a pool noodle?

The heater core & box can probably be reused (although you say it is cactus - might just be full of leaves?) - it's compact enough & it already mounted well with the pipes in the right places - keeping heater hoses stock on a car like this is just simpler for the future + the heater tap is nice & convenient on the engine side of the firewall - in this application, you can forget the need for a cable & just operate the plunger manually for on/off.
Just get funky with some ducting to where it needs to be.

Easy enough to strip the shrouds, combination switch & lock / barrel assembly of the column - it will be plenty bare enough. Aftermarket steering wheels are common enough to find & can be had in silly small sizes, but you don't want to go too small & make the steering too heavy.

I'd hardly bother with instruments - however the original cluster has all you say you want & is going to be easier to make work (or replace with a working one) than trying to mix/match speedo cable (longer than most, as it goes back to the transfer case output) & tacho signals, but I bet you don't spend much time currently looking at the speedo & tacho readings anyway.

Wiring & switches will be really simple - I like the idea of a stop button - put it on a horizontal plane (so you push down on it) top & central in whatever panel you come up with, but not in the way of your gun rest 'roll bar'. Could have 2 more on a vertical plane, under the stop button - 1 that does headlights & the other spot lights (although still run through the master stop button on top so they go out when that is pressed). Then only need 1 x rocker/toggle for ignition & 1 x momentary push for start.

If the targa hoop is still in place, a couple of accessory stop/tail lights (incandescent globes, rather than LEDs) on the underside, but wired up to the 5w filament only, can give just enough light to see what you are doing, but not enough to give the game away - or so they say - I'm no hunter!.

Have fun,
Rgs, Michael

[missmyljdaze]

Ditto - no need for speedo, or tacho.
Oil pressure, water temp etc can be simple generic aftermarket gauges.
Strip everything from the steering column - no need for steering lock or indicators.
Kill switch is a good idea - but have your spotlight on a separate circuit.

Modern LED globes will reduce the load on the electrical system too.

All my buggy had was a reverse light mounted up on the rear of the cage, headlights - and swivel spotlight mounted central where driver and passenger could operate it.
We kept the original heater and LJ50 instrument cluster - until it was decided to remove the cluster and the space it left was turned into an ammo + chocolate storage box.

one mod we never got around to, was cobbling up a Coffman starter for the frankenzook

[Bammo]

Thanks for the input guys - really appreciated. Started the tear down process today and once I have the dash out will see what sort of space we can work up. I will post some piccies of the journey...

[Gwagensteve]

I don't understand the the obsession with oil pressure gauges. In a factory engine, they're just a measure of engine wear. I would have thought in a shooting buggy the risk would mostly be holing the sump, in which case you need a big light or buzzer switched off the stock switch.

whenever people talk about replacing the dashboard, the justifications don't add up. Suzuki made a light, simple and very compact dashboard. it contains the bare minimum wiring and gauges. Most people's justification for ditching the dash is that they no longer require the heater and or want to run 56 gauges, but as far as I can see you don't want more gauges and want to keep the heater. Therefore I genuinely believe the stock dashboard is the best way to do that.

Is the existing wiring troublesome? A rewire is a massive job, and as you want to retain some gauges, lights except the indicators and the heater, you're still going to have quite a lot of the loom in place.

I'm all for spending lots of time on projects for little gain, but replacing the dash just seems like a whole lot of work for not very much advantage.

[missmyljdaze]

In my case, deleting the original instrument cluster and a few other bits was due to them having "unintended optional ventilation holes" after the buggy was "borrowed" by a farmers well lubricated relations.

The ventilation was in the form of a series of .22 calibre holes, entering on the passenger side - exiting on the drivers side, and apart from wrecking the rear of the cluster, they apparently did a good job of sobering up the driver.

Generic oil pressure gauge was fitted on the external secondary oil filter [slant 6 valiant filter mounting bolted to the front bumper] with a modified VW oil cooler on the other end of the bumper, between the Z9 filter, VW cooler, and the hoses linking them to the adaptor block under the original LJ80 filter it gained an extra 1-1/2 ish litres oil capacity.

[Bammo]

So bit of a progress update all.

Stripped out the dash completely - back to bare firewall and steering column only. Removed about 2kg of red dirt and dust from every conceivable part including every one of the electrical connectors!

Stripped down the heater unit and heater core - discovered the previous owner had drilled a CB Microphone mount into the corner of the unit - straight into the corner of the heater core! Easy enough to fix - just as well as new ones are like rocking horse poo.

The wiring harness is in pretty marginal condition - a number of wires rubbed through and various functions not working - horn for instance is fine but must be a break in the harness somewhere. High Beam light comes on when the brake pedal is pressed and something is draining the battery so the harness needs work. Either a thorough repair or more likely I will just salvage the connectors and completely rewire it. Going to simplify parts of it and bypass a couple of unnecessary engine components.

Had looked at installing a digital instrument dash as the original instruments were completely opaque but on closer inspection its just dirty all appears functional so probably going to stick with it - give it a makeover. Ficing the wiring harness should bring it back to life.

Going to install a new (larger) fuse/relay box in the engine back rather than in the drivers footwell.

Replacing the 1 candlepower (!) headlights with 5x7" LED eBay units

We've got a large sheet metal bender so going to prototype a dash using cardboard and then fabricate it out of sheet steel. Intent is to scavenge a lot more space especially in front of the passenger and to mount the CB more securely up higher. Instead of a glovebox it will have a couple of shelves for holding ammo and a dedicated mount for the spotlight to sit. Heater box will have only two outlets in the dash for warming hands and 2 onto thighs - no need for windscreen demist if there is no windscreen!!

Remove all the excess mounting tags on the cross member bar that ties left and right side of the cab together under the steering column and remove all the switchgear from the steering column. Intent is to make the drivers position "slick" - noting to catch on clothing when getting in and out in a hurry.

Insert an engine start and lights control panel within the middle of the new dash - just above heater controls so that either driver or passenger can control the lights or turn off the engine.

Once I figure out where to host photos now I will start posting them up...

New steering wheel with a flat bottom (Tokyo drift style!) - stock wheel is falling apart and a bit more clearance across the thighs makes it easier to hop in and out of the buggy.

[missmyljdaze]

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=24329&hilit=frankenzook

easy access?? have a look at frankenzook, 7th post down from the top