Gauge Cluster

[Ltngdrvr]

Been home with a cold the last week with nothing better to do than pop some cold pills, some cold eeze, and drink some water, so I stated doodling up my ideas of a center gauge cluster.

It'll be a while before I can actually build one of these cars, so just living it out in my head for now.

Never been very satisfied with the traditional Daytona gauge grouping, and even more so the standard Factory Five layout.
Seemed illogical to have gauges hidden behind the steering wheel rim.

Also, some try to build these cars to exactly emulate the originals as much as they can, but for me I would want to build one as a extremely capable road going GT car, not a barely streetable race car.

So, my idea is to put the Speedo and Tach, as well as the most critical gauges, the oil pressure and water temp, directly in front of the driver, inside the window of the steering wheel spokes, more like a production car. This layout uses a 4" Speedhut speedo and tach, and 2-1/16" gauges. This also gives convenient spots for turn signal, high beam and fog light indicators in the central cluster. Then I would have the rest of my planned gauges centered in the dash under the a/c vents.

I would probably also have a raised area of the dash to house this cluster, higher than the standard dash, possibly extending over above the a/c vents as well. But, until I would actually have the car in hand to actually make sure I could fit this, it is just preliminary conjecture on my part.

Anyway, if anyone would like to see my gauge cluster doodle, here it is...
https://i.ibb.co/34qgqXL/20220221-194541.jpg

[CaptB]

This is what I had done:

162986

[Ltngdrvr]

This is what I had done:

162986

Well, that's on a roadster, and I'm focused on the Gen 3 Type 65 Coupe design.

[facultyofmusic]

So, my idea is to put the Speedo and Tach, as well as the most critical gauges, the oil pressure and water temp, directly in front of the driver

JohnK once showed me a picture of the MkII FIA car that had the best speedometer placement I've ever seen:
162997

A testament to the importance of the speedo, LOL!

[Ted G]

I love all the "non-traditional" placements of gauges..... I also am planning on a non-traditional placement scheme. Speedo will be my gauge that is furthest from the driver. Something for my kids and girlfriend to look at!

[Ted G]

This is what I had done:

162986

I love that set up.... Might steal this one, however I'd flip the tach and speedo

[Ltngdrvr]

JohnK once showed me a picture of the MkII FIA car that had the best speedometer placement I've ever seen:
162997

A testament to the importance of the speedo, LOL!

Well, you know the story about why the speedo was put there on the FIA cars, right?
FIA was going to disqualify the Shelby race cars from racing because they didn't originally have a speedo at all.
Shelby said to them, "What the hell does a race car need a speedometer for?!?!"
The FIA wouldn't let up, so Shelby told Phil Remington "Piss on the FIA! Put speedo's in the cars, but to put them all the way over on the passenger side!" So that's what they did. Rumor has it that the speedo's were never even hooked up on the race cars, just stuck in the dash to get by the FIA rules.

[Ted G]

Well, you know the story about why the speedo was put there on the FIA cars, right?
FIA was going to disqualify the Shelby race cars from racing because they didn't originally have a speedo at all.
Shelby said to them, "What the hell does a race car need a speedometer for?!?!"
The FIA wouldn't let up, so Shelby told Phil Remington "Piss on the FIA! Put speedo's in the cars, but to put them all the way over on the passenger side!" So that's what they did. Rumor has it that the speedo's were never even hooked up on the race cars, just stuck in the dash to get by the FIA rules.

That is a great bit of history!

[Jim1855]

I like your layout, but you may want to sit in one prior to making big plans for the design. The dash is rather high to begin with and bumping it up might interfere with your forward vision.

A friend is building a Gen 3 so I've spent some time looking and considering.

Jim

[Ltngdrvr]

I like your layout, but you may want to sit in one prior to making big plans for the design. The dash is rather high to begin with and bumping it up might interfere with your forward vision.

A friend is building a Gen 3 so I've spent some time looking and considering.

Jim

Oh yeah, as I commented above, until I get my hands on the car to start building, nothing is set in stone, just ideas banging around in my head.

The cluster I drew up is 4-5/8" tall, so would probably mean the dash top would have to be about 5" above the steering column pass through for it to be able to fit. That would still be below the top of the steering wheel rim.

[John Dol]

163167163168

Similar to my dash. I dropped the steering wheel shaft bearing upside down to lower the wheel and then made this set up. Works very well.

John

[Ltngdrvr]

163167163168

Similar to my dash. I dropped the steering wheel shaft bearing upside down to lower the wheel and then made this set up. Works very well.

John

Right, and you also have the gauge pod raised about the base dash.
Similar to my idea.

[Ltngdrvr]

Combining my above drawing and my Speedhut gauge fun.
Was a real booger trying to get the images sized correctly so that the gauge sizes ended up at 4" and 2-1/16".

https://i.ibb.co/Gkxgy5X/Daytona-Gauge-Cluster.jpg

[Ltngdrvr]

So, I wasn't really satisfied with the font for the "Coyote" text, looked through about 10,000 fonts online trying to find the same one used for the original "Daytona" script font I used on the speedo, but had zero luck.

I found one where the "y" was close, and modified it some to try to make the "Coyote" script look at least similar, and this is what I came up with.

https://i.ibb.co/LvbH7Rb/Daytona-Coyote-Tach-2.jpg

Added to the cluster drawing...

https://i.ibb.co/NNy9hz4/Daytona-Coyote-Gauge-cluster.jpg

[Skuzzy]

This is the closest computer font, I could find, for the Daytona script.
163253

[Ltngdrvr]

This is the closest computer font, I could find, for the Daytona script.
163253

Well, I took the font I used above and modified it a little more, tightened up the spacing some, and changed the height just a touch.
I added it to the cluster along with some color to the background and indicator lights, wish I was a better artist, this is how it stands currently...
https://i.ibb.co/b1BgYj3/Daytona-Coyote-Gauge-Cluster-2.jpg

[SnakeBitten14]

I really like your layout. I have the speedo on the far left side and it's almost impossible to read.