Fitting a round-dial dash to a strip-speedo car?

esray

esray

Member
Dear Forum,

Before I even contemplate this, does the round dial dash fit under the strip speedo screen rail, please?

I have a strip-speedo dash in a 1973 series 2 2000 with a 2200 SC engine fitted, together with an already-fitted series 2 TC switch panel; I do like the character of the strip speedo, but I also like the lighting behind the TC switch panel and (accordingly) it would go so much better (I think) with the lighting behind the round-dial type of dash!

I have a round-dial dash I could fit and a (hopefully nearly complete) wiring loom; I also have great deal of apprehension, because as RedRover can confirm, I am an Auto-Electrical dunce!!

I have pics if anyone is interested to help?

All the best,

Ray
 
Be great to have a step-by-step to do this. If it does fit, am I right in thinking the only tricky part is wiring the ammeter?
 
That guy Gareth who posts on here has a round dial dash in his series 1 V8 . Not seen him on here for a while though . Maybe a PM !
 
stina said:
That guy Gareth who posts on here has a round dial dash in his series 1 V8 . Not seen him on here for a while though . Maybe a PM !
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He's on facebook quite a lot now. There are too many P6 groups on facebook IMHO. It's splitting the audience too many ways - there are 6 now and I don't quite know how they're any different to each other!
 
raylish said:
I have a round-dial dash I could fit and a (hopefully nearly complete) wiring loom; I also have great deal of apprehension, because as RedRover can confirm, I am an Auto-Electrical dunce!!
Ray
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Haha! I don't remember that one, Ray. How were you a dunce? We're all on a learning curve, mate. No need to worry about it!

As others have said, the dash top shroud is different for the round dials setup, but I imagine you'd be able to find one fairly easily. Other than that I don't imagine it would be very difficult to fit the round dials at all. You will need the longer speedo cable, but that's just a straight swap. If you've ever had a rev counter fitted, that can be wired in the same, and the temp, fuel and warning lights will work fine. The harder bit is the Ammeter and Oil Pressure gauge.
You'll need an ammeter shunt to make the gauge work. I think the best bet would be to copy the Series 2 TC wiring digram and go from there. The oil pressure is harder. You have three choices really - replace the external oil pressure hose for one with a sender on the union, tap the union and screw a sender into it (now very hard to find) or get an adaptor for the threaded hole that the pressure switch bolts into on the oil pump housing. This is just a T-piece adaptor that allows the switch and pressure gauge to be fitted to the same union. I have one (brand new) that I don't need if you want one...? Let me know.

Pipe union with and without sender (TC and SC respectively):
photo by michaeljallen19, on Flickr

Michael
 
redrover said:
raylish said:
I have a round-dial dash I could fit and a (hopefully nearly complete) wiring loom; I also have great deal of apprehension, because as RedRover can confirm, I am an Auto-Electrical dunce!!
Ray
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Haha! I don't remember that one, Ray. How were you a dunce? We're all on a learning curve, mate. No need to worry about it!

This is just a T-piece adaptor that allows the switch and pressure gauge to be fitted to the same union. I have one (brand new) that I don't need if you want one...? Let me know.

Michael,

Thank you very much for your post - All is much clearer to me now :!:

I am in the middle of a bottom-end refurb right now, so I shall not be attempting the dash swap just yet; however, when I do I will get back to you and arrange to buy the t-adaptor from you - Thank you!

Just to satisfy my curiosity right now (when you have a spare moment) - how does one wire in those parts of the existing loom which will need to go into the two round multiplugs which plug into the back of the round-dial dash, please? Do you splice the appropriate existing loom wires into the wires already in the plug or can wires be removed from the plugs and replaced :?:

Regards,

Ray
 
raylish said:
I am in the middle of a bottom-end refurb right now, so I shall not be attempting the dash swap just yet; however, when I do I will get back to you and arrange to buy the t-adaptor from you - Thank you!

Just to satisfy my curiosity right now (when you have a spare moment) - how does one wire in those parts of the existing loom which will need to go into the two round multiplugs which plug into the back of the round-dial dash, please? Do you splice the appropriate existing loom wires into the wires already in the plug or can wires be removed from the plugs and replaced :?:
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No probs Ray, just drop me a PM whenever. I'll have to dig it out anyway. I think it's in the pot by my typewriter... :?

I honestly wouldn't know without looking at the circuit diagram, but I don't think I'd bother touching the loom in the first place. The oil gauge just works by the rheostat in the sender resisting access to the earth. So just take a positive 2 live feed from somewhere behind the dash - the the oil pressure light would do - and run that to the gauge and then another wire to the sender. Completes the circuit then. Ammeter is going to be less easy, but if you've lived without one so far, you could just leave it as is. It sits in the middle in its dead position anyway and that's where it should sit if the system is healthy so you could probably live without that and no one would really know.

I think everything else is just straight swap...?

Michael
 
PS: Just one small thing to remember, if the rev counter only goes up to 6000 rpm, it's very likely you've got a V8 instrument cluster - 4-pot goes to 7000. If so, the fuel, oil and speedo will all read wrong. The oil pressure needle will probably sit at the same places, but the numbers behind it will be wrong (V8 is 0-30-60, 2000 is 0-50-100)- so you'll have to get used to what looks normal and what's not. The fuel gauge will under-read by 20% because the V8 (and 2200) tank is 16 gall instead of 12, and the speedo will need recalibrating (unless you fit a V8 diff, of course). Temp gauge numbers also different, but scale is the same so no practical difference.
All easily fixable tho - the gauges are of course individual underneath and can be swapped individually.
 
redrover said:
PS: Just one small thing to remember, if the rev counter only goes up to 6000 rpm, it's very likely you've got a V8 instrument cluster - 4-pot goes to 7000. If so, the fuel, oil and speedo will all read wrong. The oil pressure needle will probably sit at the same places, but the numbers behind it will be wrong (V8 is 0-30-60, 2000 is 0-50-100)- so you'll have to get used to what looks normal and what's not. The fuel gauge will under-read by 20% because the V8 (and 2200) tank is 16 gall instead of 12, and the speedo will need recalibrating (unless you fit a V8 diff, of course). Temp gauge numbers also different, but scale is the same so no practical difference.
All easily fixable tho - the gauges are of course individual underneath and can be swapped individually.
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Michael,

Thank you for thinking this through for me in your usual thorough manner. However, all should be well, because the cluster comes from my 2000TC donor car and its rev counter has 7000 revs shown.

ATB,

Ray
 
Thank you for thinking this through for me in your usual thorough manner. However, all should be well, because the cluster comes from my 2000TC donor car and its rev counter has 7000 revs shown.

ATB,

Ray[/quote]

Michael,

Please see following pic - Are these multiplugs on the 2000TC loom the same as those behind my strip speedo, please? If not, this is what I was referring to when I asked how to rewire them?



Ray
 
No probs Ray! I'm no expert on it, just spent the last week faffing about with electrical gremlins as you can see!
IMG_1756 by michaeljallen19, on Flickr

Ah, I see what you mean. Sorry, I had ignored the connector issue altogether and was thinking you just wanted to splice certain wires together. Without seeing which coloured wires correspond to which terminals of the connector (and the PCB design) it's no easy to tell if it will just plug and play. If not, stick the round dials one in the back of the instrument panel, stick the strip speedo one in the connector block to the loom, cut the both and work out which wires you need to join up. I'm sure GarethP6 could help on this. He's definitely done it recently.

Michael
 
Ray,

This is the T-piece adaptor I have for you.
IMG_1878 by michaeljallen19, on Flickr

It goes in place of the oil pressure switch on the oil pump and allows the pressure switch to be screwed into the end, with the sender unit going in the side.
IMG_1879 by michaeljallen19, on Flickr

Normally of course, the sender is screwed into a threaded bore on the union of the outbound external oil hose:
IMG_1886 by michaeljallen19, on Flickr
Like so
IMG_1880 by michaeljallen19, on Flickr

Let me know if/when you still want it. Not going anywhere here, as you read over at my other thread.

Michael
 
Thaer's a gallery plug on the side of the block that you can screw an extra sender unit into, so there's no need for the "T" piece, or the special oil hose.

TRM has a pic on here of his one IIRC.
 
harveyp6 said:
Thaer's a gallery plug on the side of the block that you can screw an extra sender unit into, so there's no need for the "T" piece, or the special oil hose.

TRM has a pic on here of his one IIRC.
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Oo, didn't know that! I know the plug you mean too - always wondered what it was for. Weird, as I remember having a detailed discussion on here about where to put the sender unit when fitting an oil cooler. Shame I didn't know about it at the time as wouldn't have bothered buying the T-piece in the first place. Ah well, there if anyone wants it...
 
Ah! I remember seeing that picture now! The reason why I had to rule out that option for myself was because the large sender unit won't fit into that corner. Useful for a capillary gauge though - I presume you could take temperature this way though?

Michael
 
redrover said:
I presume you could take temperature this way though?

Michael
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Nope, oil temperature should be measured in the sump, so i just drilled one of the drain plugs to take the temp fitting.
 
Demetris said:
Nope, oil temperature should be measured in the sump, so i just drilled one of the drain plugs to take the temp fitting.
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Clever move. Will be doing the same myself.
 
redrover said:
Ah! I remember seeing that picture now! The reason why I had to rule out that option for myself was because the large sender unit won't fit into that corner. Useful for a capillary gauge though - I presume you could take temperature this way though?

Michael
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Michael,

Thank you for the pipe measurements and oil-cooler element fitting suggestions in one of your previous posts on this subject.

Please clear up a confusion for me...What type of sender for the round dial dash and would this type of sender fit in the tapping at the back R/H side of the block?

Incidentally (as my 2200 engine is currently in pieces on a pallet), what did you use to get your cam cover looking so good, please?

Cheers,

Ray
 
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