Hey guys. I building and updating my truck's dash in metal, due to the original being toast. I roughly drew out a few samples below of how I might place switches, gauges, and radios in the heater bezel. Keep in mind I do have a center pod from the volt and oil pressure gauges. From your experiences, which layout do you favor for ease of use and visibility?



Secondly, I made a new face plate for the gauge cluster, to fit into a ravaged 83 cluster housing. All the gauges will AutoMeter UltraLites electrics. I do have some 5/32" 12v LEDs for the the turn signal, etc. warning lights I plan on having. What do ya'll think of the layout.


I am going to rewire the whole truck during my build and remove the old harness and ECU. Engine has been desmogged.

 

Cool. I did something similar to a van I had. I removed the crappy looking plastic dash and installed a 1/4" aluminum plate, bent to match, polished, and set an add-on A/C behind it with chrome vents. It was cool, and fast. I took the L6 out and put a built 351 in it. Lifted too, could smoke the tires until the road melted.

 

I like...
#1 with the cb/ham/race radio down where the little gauge pod was but swap around the 12v sockets with the switches
or
#3 but again, swap the 12v sockets with the switches and put the 2 gauges back down in the pod

I'm thinking once something is plugged into the 12v its going to be there for a while so it doesnt need to be close to you. The switches will probably be used more often while driving for lights or lockers so easy close reach would be better.