Dash and Interior upgrades

[Hijinx]

I was going through some posts and saw it mentioned by member fatecapture "voltage limiter from RT Engineering"... for dash upgrades...

I have a 74 SE, i am not interested in authentic look or stuff. I mean i kinda like it to look stock but i'm not a stickler... i plan to change it to what i want... So i will be putting in a new dash bezel with Dakota Digital Gauges, Build a center console with modern radio, (with backup camera - just because i can lol) cup holders, Exhaust cut-outs buttons, rear-defrost button, maybe a fake kill switch... Plan on wrapping all the wood trim to a different color etc. Yes i know blasphemy to most people but you only live once and i plan to enjoy the hell out of it.

I also have a nice set of hideaway headlights (complete except for the shorten buckets which i hear isn't necessary) and plan to put in Halo lights...

Point is, while i have it all out what upgrades can i do to the electrical to make sure it can handle it all... my wiring looks to be fine, fairly good condition compared to my old 71 lemans (i sold) which seemed to be worst and i had to rewire.

Considering, new gauges, modern radio, new defrost, hideaway and halo lights...

 

[Chad Witham]

I added two Blue Sea fuse boxes to my Dodge Demon. All of my accessories are driven off of one of them, one is keyed 12 volt power (I used the original radio power feed) and one is battery feed 12v. My Demon is more race car than stocker. I however will likely do the same to the 73 Charger I just added. I use with 6 circuit one with cover and ground/negative.

Here is a link...
https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Sys...548786551&sr=8-3&keywords=blueseas+fuse+block
This is the battery powered one, it is fed off starter relay.

I added the 12v keyed box to eliminate this and to add power for my Dakota digital fan controller.

 

[Chad Witham]

Also, as far as ensuring the headlights are safe add CrackedBacks headlight relay harness. He has a large alternator feed wire also as well as some other wiring items. I only have the alternator wire currently but headlight kits are next on my list. After that i’ll see what other goodies he has and see if they can assist either of my cars.

On a personal note Rob (Crackedback) is a great dude, he hauled the 73 Charger of mine to Indiana from Cali when my parents bought it off CokeBottleKid. He has never hesitated to assist me in wiring questions or confirming my wiring diagram would work. He is a great asset to our hobby and I’m damn glad I know him.

 

[Nacho-RT74]

Dunno what you got in mind for the Cluster but there is an aftermarket solution for us. Everything depend on what you got on mind. They are offered in Black, Silver and Carbon fiber finish. Several vendors of these including the set of gauges at your prefference ( on $900-1200 rate depending on gauges ). Since you have the radio on console, this could be a nice add and still keeping some fashioned stock look

Does Dakota Digital offer digital gauges for these ? dunno. If so, you can get just the bezel

electrically I think can help ( from the distance ) on anything you want.

 

[Montclaire]

I believe you are talking about the voltage limiter for the dash cluster which can be upgraded to a solid state unit. This is assuming you are keeping the stock gauges.

I believe the most basic upgrades, wiring wise, would be relays for the headlamps, swapping to a volt meter as opposed to the factory amp meter (or insulating the amp meter lugs if applicable), and bypassing the firewall block. Mopar Action wrote a good article on this several years ago, if I can find the issue I'll post which one.

 

[Nacho-RT74]

https://classicdash.com/product/1971-74-roadrunner-6-gauge-panel-with-auto-meter-gauges/

accomplished with a matching passenger side insert mask

 

[Hijinx]

@Nacho-RT74 yes i got the classic dash bezel already, Carbon Fiber one, plan on putting 3M vinyl (wood) over it to match what i'll do to the rest of the wood trim. As far as the gauges go, i had a good experience with Dakota Digital on another car which really helped when i sold it (guy loved them). These are the ones I'm going to go with, definitely the Sniper EFI mod, maybe the 2x fan controllers...

Universal 6 gauge cluster -http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=1088/category_id=69/mode=prod/prd1088.htm
Holley Sniper EFI - http://www.dakotadigital.com/index...._id=1105/category_id=-1/mode=prod/prd1105.htm
Fan Control - http://www.dakotadigital.com/index....t_id=852/category_id=646/mode=prod/prd852.htm

https://classicdash.com/product/1971-74-roadrunner-6-gauge-panel-with-auto-meter-gauges/
accomplished with a matching passenger side insert mask

 

[Montclaire]

Don't know how easily vinyl woodgrain will conform to that, might be easier to make the other pieces carbon fiber. I'm thinking everything else that is woodgrain is flat?

 

[Hijinx]

If i was going for digital gauges, would it still be a worthwhile upgrade?

I believe you are talking about the voltage limiter for the dash cluster which can be upgraded to a solid state unit. This is assuming you are keeping the stock gauges.

I believe the most basic upgrades, wiring wise, would be relays for the headlamps, swapping to a volt meter as opposed to the factory amp meter (or insulating the amp meter lugs if applicable), and bypassing the firewall block. Mopar Action wrote a good article on this several years ago, if I can find the issue I'll post which one.

Yes everything else is flat, Well, going to try, it if fails, then carbon fiber it is.

Don't know how easily vinyl woodgrain will conform to that, might be easier to make the other pieces carbon fiber. I'm thinking everything else that is woodgrain is flat?

 

[Montclaire]

It's part of the cluster. The new gauges most likely have some sort of internal limiter but I don't have an answer for you.

 

[Nacho-RT74]

Aftermarket gauges should be rated to work 12 volts, so no need for a voltage limiter like stock which work at 5 volts