Sport dash hi/low lense mod
Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2015 2:35 pm
The sports dash, or 6 gauge cluster, is a now hard to find but is still a desired upgrade for many Brumby (or wagon) owners.
The problem is, its hard finding a sports cluster at all, as they are so old now (82-84 sedans, coupes and touring wagons), and even more difficult to find one which has the hi/low range dash lights factory fitted, as these only came out on the said wagons.
The bulb sockets and tracks on the back of the circuit board are there on the non 4wd dash's, but the lense on the front is blacked over instead of having stencilled, see through writing.
So, when I came across a mint dash pad and sports cluster I simply couldn't say no, even though it was out of an '83 non 4wd sedan.
I was then faced with 3 options...
1)No hi/low range lights at all......not good
2)Rig up some under dash lights.....would suffice but overly messy
3)Attempt a risky, open dash, hi/low lense transplant, from a suitable donor
This is the pictographic story of option 3.
After undoing the many screws (one hidden in the end of the odo push stalk) and removing various lenses and covers, you are left with the 5 light tunnels which should all have coloured lenses atop. However in a non 4wd dash the bottom 2 will be lense-less.
Next on the agenda was to find, cut out and file some suitable coloured plastic for the lenses. An old dash was where I found some blue and green plastic of suitable thickness. I also cut out the stencilled "4wd" and "lo" from and old Brumby/wagon dash.
With a bit of modelling glue I stuck the stencils to the lenses. The lense cover on the left, is blackened with paint and will need some of this paint rubbed off for the light to shine through to the newly made lenses (2nd pic below)
Don't rub away too much (as I did) as the light will shine out and around the cut out stencils, luckily it was easy fixed with some black paint. But don't put too much paint back on (as I did) as you will cover up the light path needed to shine through the writings
Sitting in their new homes...
And the finished product using torch light from the back....
If you don't want to just use torch light shining through from the back (not advisable while driving, lol) you will need to fit a dash bulb to the socket (easy bit) and also add the 2 signal wires that run from switches in the gearbox and on the hi/lo lever (hard bit)
Remember, if you are changing the cluster, the wiring harness at the back of it is needed to run it, so these wires wont be there.
These dashes also have a low fuel warning light not found on Brumby's, so don't forget to get the tank sender (has room for 2 wires instead of 1) from the donor car.
I also found on my Brumby I had to run a wire from the rear loom multi connector (next to the hood release) back through to the cavity just behind the drivers seat belt (accessed via the 1st tray access panel behind the driver) For some reason there is already an inbuilt wire from the tank, but it stops at that point behind the driver.
Another point to note is, the sedan donor car I sourced my dash and wiring from, was a quad headlight version, however, the lights must have been a lower wattage, as the loom only has 1 relay and feeds through 2x 10 amp fuses, instead of 2 relays and 2x 15 amp fuses on the Brumby, so adding another relay and changing the fuses may be necessary depending on your cars layout. Interestingly, my 84 wagon had twin relays but was a single headlight version, so there are many variances out there.
Hope all this helps someone!!
Cheers, John
The problem is, its hard finding a sports cluster at all, as they are so old now (82-84 sedans, coupes and touring wagons), and even more difficult to find one which has the hi/low range dash lights factory fitted, as these only came out on the said wagons.
The bulb sockets and tracks on the back of the circuit board are there on the non 4wd dash's, but the lense on the front is blacked over instead of having stencilled, see through writing.
So, when I came across a mint dash pad and sports cluster I simply couldn't say no, even though it was out of an '83 non 4wd sedan.
I was then faced with 3 options...
1)No hi/low range lights at all......not good
2)Rig up some under dash lights.....would suffice but overly messy
3)Attempt a risky, open dash, hi/low lense transplant, from a suitable donor
This is the pictographic story of option 3.
After undoing the many screws (one hidden in the end of the odo push stalk) and removing various lenses and covers, you are left with the 5 light tunnels which should all have coloured lenses atop. However in a non 4wd dash the bottom 2 will be lense-less.
Next on the agenda was to find, cut out and file some suitable coloured plastic for the lenses. An old dash was where I found some blue and green plastic of suitable thickness. I also cut out the stencilled "4wd" and "lo" from and old Brumby/wagon dash.
With a bit of modelling glue I stuck the stencils to the lenses. The lense cover on the left, is blackened with paint and will need some of this paint rubbed off for the light to shine through to the newly made lenses (2nd pic below)
Don't rub away too much (as I did) as the light will shine out and around the cut out stencils, luckily it was easy fixed with some black paint. But don't put too much paint back on (as I did) as you will cover up the light path needed to shine through the writings
Sitting in their new homes...
And the finished product using torch light from the back....
If you don't want to just use torch light shining through from the back (not advisable while driving, lol) you will need to fit a dash bulb to the socket (easy bit) and also add the 2 signal wires that run from switches in the gearbox and on the hi/lo lever (hard bit)
Remember, if you are changing the cluster, the wiring harness at the back of it is needed to run it, so these wires wont be there.
These dashes also have a low fuel warning light not found on Brumby's, so don't forget to get the tank sender (has room for 2 wires instead of 1) from the donor car.
I also found on my Brumby I had to run a wire from the rear loom multi connector (next to the hood release) back through to the cavity just behind the drivers seat belt (accessed via the 1st tray access panel behind the driver) For some reason there is already an inbuilt wire from the tank, but it stops at that point behind the driver.
Another point to note is, the sedan donor car I sourced my dash and wiring from, was a quad headlight version, however, the lights must have been a lower wattage, as the loom only has 1 relay and feeds through 2x 10 amp fuses, instead of 2 relays and 2x 15 amp fuses on the Brumby, so adding another relay and changing the fuses may be necessary depending on your cars layout. Interestingly, my 84 wagon had twin relays but was a single headlight version, so there are many variances out there.
Hope all this helps someone!!
Cheers, John
