It's Here, It's Here!

The new JL Scout has been released, so look for it in your friendly neighborhood toy store. I scored two from my favorite online distributor, but haven't spotted them at Toys-R-Us yet. Keep your eyes peeled.

Crispy or Regular?

Remember when I let the smoke out of my dash wiring on the trail a few years back? Well, at the time I couldn't find any seriously burnt wires. I must not have looked very hard. After exposing innards of the dash during my gauge installation, I found one of the taillight wires totally fried from the switch to the bulkhead and from the firewall side of the bulkhead down about three feet. The mud and the loom hid it until I really looked.

So, I need to fix that before I move on with the gauges. Yesterday and today I spent replacing the plug on the engine side and splicing it into the rear harness. All good. that's done. Now I need to pull the bulkhead connector from the cabin side and replace that whole length of wire. That's going to be fun.

Nibble, Nibble

Today I took out the jigsaw and cut up my perfectly good dash. Well, I didn't feel too bad because 1) this is going to be totally awesome and 2) the stereo hole had already been hacked. I think I'll have to bob the heavy metal bracket behind the dash also to fit in the Tach. So be it.

Not much support left in the sheet metal, so I might add a little back in when I get to final fitment.

Test Fit

Couldn't resist braving the blizzard today (ahem) to test fit the new dash into Hanky. Here is what I started with.

and here is after it all came apart ( I fugure I might as well swap in the new dash pad too while I'm at it).

I think I'll clean up the dash and paint it while I'm going to the effort. Shouldn't take much longer to prep and shoot it with a rattle can. Next up was to lay the new dash in place with the gauges in, just to get a feel for what it will look like.

Ooh, la la. Me likey. Ok, now to take out the gauges and see how the panel fits and see how much cutting I'm going to need to do.

Yeah, baby, this is going to work out just fine. A little trimming and I'll be ready to roll. Might tackle that tomorrow. Gonna go out and play with other stuff this afternoon. You know, since it's snowing so hard (uh, not!).

Reminder to self: move the steering column collar out of the way or protect it when removing stock gauges. I scratched the crap out of it when disconnecting the ammeter, as you can see. Nothing a little putty and sanding won't fix. I need to paint it anyway.

Bill, did you say it could be none more black? Why yes, yes it can be just a little more black once the dash is all painted.

A Dash of This, A Dash of That

Score!
Received my round gauge dash from Aaron Graham today. It's sweet. Seven gauges in all, though I really don't need a boost. Might replace that with a clock or something. Might have to install it this weekend. I'm thinkin' this thing is gonna look too cool. It's stainless under the black paint. I might strip it since I need to repaint anyway to fix a couple chips.