Pimp my Patrol!

[skiman]

Cheers guys. Yeh I'm stoked with it. Surprising what a difference the rack makes to the general appearance

[skiman]

Next mission is the pillar pod and gauges. Received them from Extreme Limits Offroad last week all nicely packaged and he even threw in a couple of stubby coolers



Have to admit, this mod is making me a little nervous. Never played with boost tubes and under dash wiring before.

[Rocket55]

Haha nice work Skiman! Although it must be the day for it as my last bits turned up today.

[skiman]

Managed to sneak in a little time on the truck this afternoon. Got the Redarc gauge wires through the firewall and started planning out how to run the wires in the engine bay. Getting them through that rubber bung on the firewall was a pain in the arse!

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Zip tied it all up until it's ready for routing and connection.

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Also took off the engine shroud in anticipation of putting the MAP spacer adapter in for the boost line.

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Still unsure how to connect the gauges to the Light Controller module - am considering a small terminal block inside one of the gauges boxes to keep it neat and then mounting the gauge boxes to the inside footwell wall with a big patch of velcro. More investigation (and time!) required.

Also have no idea which coloured wires run off the ignition, park and dimmer wires.

[skiman]

Gauge install continues this afternoon. Slowly but surely!

Today's mission - splice in the dimmer switch wires and mount the programmable push button screws to the pilllar pod.

4 bolts and a screw to get the bottom plastic shroud off.

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Next was the right hand side shroud with the dimmer switch in it. This pulls off with a little pressure from the bottom. Then it's a case of pulling the instrument cluster shroud out a little and then pulling the rest out.

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Here are the two wires I need to splice into to make the Redarc gauges dim. The blue wire and the pink wire.

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I've never done this before, so an autoelec will probably roll over in his grave somewhere. Watched a youtube vid and seemed like the best way to go. Cut the wire, add some heat shrink, wrap the wires longitudinally for mechanical strength, do the same with the wire to be spliced in, solder, check continuity, heat shrink.

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Be patient with solder so that it gets good flow and a shiney solder joint. Don't overheat, don't mess with it while it's 'wet'. Clean it afterwards. Heat shrink over the top, rinse repeat for the other side. I moved the joint higher on the pink wire so that the terminations wont be on top of each other.

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Check continuity from the plug terminal to the end of the wire on your splice connections to make sure you have good electrical connection. Then pray that it all goes back together like it was at the beginning! lol

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Lastly, i drilled two 7mm holes for the gauge switches into the pillar pod.

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This whole gauge install seems like a big job, and it probably is... but one little patient step at a time and ill likely save a couple hundred dollars visiting an auto elec, and learn something new!

[Rocket55]

Nice work mate! Some good pics I can follow when I get around to doing mine.

You're becoming quite proficient at this stuff now, soon there'll be no stoping you

[skiman]

Thanks heaps mate It's not without the pucker factor i assure you lol.

[LaughingBeagles]

Great stuff Skiman, easy to follow mate. Thanks a bunch.

[Dman2603]

We'll done ski man!! Very well put together!! Just out of interest did your gauges go straight into the holes of your pillar mount? How well does your pillar mount actually mount? Do the holy shit handle holes line up? Only reason I ask is I used a double pillar mount from the same company & figment was pretty terrible!! Colour match was also pretty bad!! But at the end of the day nothing a Stanley knife won't fix & it is cheap so can't complain too much!! But just curious if you had to sand & trim or if everything just fit like it should of? Cheers mate!

[skiman]

We'll done ski man!! Very well put together!! Just out of interest did your gauges go straight into the holes of your pillar mount? How well does your pillar mount actually mount? Do the holy shit handle holes line up? Only reason I ask is I used a double pillar mount from the same company & figment was pretty terrible!! Colour match was also pretty bad!! But at the end of the day nothing a Stanley knife won't fix & it is cheap so can't complain too much!! But just curious if you had to sand & trim or if everything just fit like it should of? Cheers mate!

Thanks mate. I've only trial fitted the gauges into the pod. One was a tight interference fit and needed some manipulation to get in (but it stayed there when fitted), the other was loose and just slid in. The loose one will need some way to anchor the gauge in the hole... maybe a little Sikflex around the inside edge. Trim colour matched seemed ok at a glance and I havent tried fitting it with the grab handle yet - hopefully today. Will post an update as I progress. I have a full weekend to myself so hoping to make solid headway. Thanks for stopping by mate!