willys33

Well, after a couple of busy weeks I finally had a chance to get some things done on my Vista. First, the fuse panel was a mess so a buddy came over and we replaced it with a new Painless Panel. The wires were ok so we cut, soldered and shrink-wrapped all that. Couple of minor hiccups but all's good now. I feel much safer with that done. Another part of this project was to move the under dash gauges and make all of them white face. I have another complete dash so I used it to get all the components ready to swap with the old dash. This one also had a much nicer dash pad. Had an aluminum panel made for the gauges and they fit perfectly where the speaker was. Installed new components, light switch, ignition, etc. Made a cutout for the stereo. And then, installed white face overlays on the stock gauge cluster. I didn't like the idea of installing black letter and numbers behind the stock engraved white numbers/letters, so, I made my own plexi discs and the fuel level and trans indicator. I also had to make the white piece for the heat/ac controls and then used rub on letters. While the dash was apart, I painted all the interior light areas white so the gauges would light up better. Made a big difference. Just re-installed the dash panel and surround and, man, what a difference. I like the layout and colors on the stock dash but this was a big improvement. Now all I have left to do on the dash is re-install the ductwork for the heat/air. Here's a couple of pics of the end result. Mike

002_zpsbde65797.jpg

003_zps86128b6c.jpg

willys33

Well, today I got the heat/ac vents and duct hose installed. Also rewired the plug to my fan motor relay. Still only has three speeds but I have a new relay coming so it's all good. Lots of nice cold air coming from the system now and the old, rotten hoses are gone. For some reason, the switch on the dash for the tailgate glass was only working in the up position. Now, all of a sudden, it's moving the glass up and down. Gotta' love electrical glitches...

car_designer

The dash looks great.

willys33

Thanks! I'm very pleased with how it turned out.