Instruments in Westfield panel

[NVP66S]

Thought I'd start a new thread rather than hijack the 'sevens for sale' thread.

 

From MPG: That looks really nice!

 

What size wheel is that? You're looking through it at the bottom half of the pod? One problem with the flat dash is that I'll probably either have to ditch the indicators or put the big instruments over at the center of the car. I don't think that they can squeeze in between the binnacle around the Miata's indicator switches and the top of the scuttle.

 

And what's the right-most instrument?

 

I swapped the mechanical sender on the gearbox for an electronic one off a newer Miata so I should be able to use just about any speedo. But I am planning to squeeze in a GPS antennae too, for this thing.

 

The wheel measures 12.7" OD. I don't recall what it was advertised to be when I bought it. A flat dash should be relatively easy; just don't cut the scuttle for the Mazda cluster. Although maintenance access is easy with the Mazda cluster. The right most instrument is the wide band O2 sensor. I planned to use it as a closed loop with the ECU, but it occasionally reads wrong and I'd hate to over lean the engine and burn it up, so I'm still using the Mazda ECU.

Dan

[NVP66S]

Traveler501 said: Just a quick thanks for all the gauge/instrument cluster information! Among other things I had no idea that the later

Miatas had electronic speedo info, or that GPS speedos existed! (getting old and out of touch I guess *grin*) All of this

is very exciting. Also, NVP66S…great looking dash arrangement! I think the way you've reworked it makes it look quite

classic.

 

I didn't know they existed either until the salesman at North Hollywood Speedometers told me that would be the easiest to install. Lots of good advice if you buy from them. I prefer the TopCockpit line, but that's just taste. I also added a boost gauge and voltmeter to my wife's 1992 Mercedes Diesel. The voltmeter let me know when one of the diodes died.

 

The VDO individual instruments are really easy to wire. Just about every one has 4 terminals. +12V, signal, gnd, and backlight. The speedo can be driven with either the GPS sensor, a wire from the distributor, a wire from the alternator, a Hall Effect sensor, or a variable reluctance magnetic pickup. The sensors are calibrated by hitting a switch, driving a measured mile and hitting the switch again, or by programming in a known number of pulses per mile (the revs/mile are listed on Tire Rack's web site). It came pre-programmed for the GPS, so it was just plug and play.

 

I chose to wire the GPS receiver to the ignition rather than full time. They say it takes no more power than a clock.... c'mon guys, give me a number of milliamps already. It takes about 45 sec to come on after I start the car, so the first 1/2 mile is with no speedo.

 

I had a hiccup with the Tach. It turns out that when you program the DIP switches, you shouldn't be holding the instrument upside down. Duh.

[MPG]

I made some good progress on the dash for my Westfield this weekend. You can find more picutures in this post on my blog. I'm doing it in Aluminum, and I hammerformed rounded edges along the bottom and a pocket in front of the shifter and ignition.

 

Next up, the instruments. I'm also going with VDO's and I also have a RaceCapture/Pro to squeeze in.

[NVP66S]

Very nice! I've never been very good at shaping sheet metal. One thing I did differently from the plans was to make the IP removable. Instead of pop rivets, I used RivNuts so that the panel can be unscrewed to work on it.

Dan

[MPG]

That's definitely a good idea. It's pretty cramped under there.