The clock is winding down on the 215 V8 Bugeye auction over at BringaTrailer.com
Today I’ll tell you a little about the instrumentation I selected.
The gauges in this Bugeye hotrod were chosen after a Jaguar XKSS was in the shop and its dash caught my eye. The Jag used 5” Chronometric gauges that were a little out of the price range for this project, but similar sized Smiths gauges from Jaguar are widely available.
I bought a pair of Mk II gauges and built a circuit board for the tach based on instructions from Steve Maas at http://www.nonlintec.com/sprite/ .
I calibrated with an MSD ignition test unit and more recently with a new timing light/ tachometer.
The speedometer needed a special cable made to suit the Smiths fitting on one end and the GM fitting on the Muncie 4-speed. Deluxe Speedo and Cable Service in Denver sorted that for me. It also needed an angle drive to fit within the tunnel, and that required heavy massaging of the Hurst shift linkage to clear.
The combo temp/pressure gauge is new and the fuel gauge is a Spitfire unit that I adapted to work with the Sprite sender. That required a voltage regulator made from 317 IC and a couple of resistors, reversing the arm on the sender, and calibrating by adjusting the stops inside the gauge.
A fully functional* and classic dashboard in the best British tradition!
*The clock inside the tachometer is not working, it is always two minutes to midnight.
TRAVELINGWITHTOOLS 