The Development & Fabrication Phase

Here's the project beginning - a little MDF, some glue and a router and we should have an enclosure.

Enclosure
I needed to make an enclosure for the new panel that would house the LCD and touch screen. The way I decided to go was with some MDF. I glued two pieces together and routered it out to sandwich the LCD and glass touch screen in between two pieces of acrylic. The glue I used for the MDF was this crazy 12 hour bonding agent that was like an epoxy for wood. It was fairly thick when applied and twelve hours later, there was a foam-like substance that was as hard as plastic oozing from the middle of the two pieces. I tried to rip an extra piece that I cut off of the enclosure apart to see if I could and it didn't break at the bond - it actually pulled apart at the layer of MDF beyond the bond. Good enough for me. If it ever sees that kind of stress, the car will probably be shiny side down at approximately 180 MPH. I think the integrity of the enclosure will be the last of my worries at that point. I used this killer tool, that I got for my birthday, to router the enclosure out. It's a Craftsman Rotary tool with router attachment. It's really great and has a nice depth gauge and adjustment allowing for really good control. In the picture below, it looks like the cutting and routering is all out of whack, but the curves are there to accommodate the wires for the touch screen. They come out of the side of the touch screen, requiring a little bit of room.

Battery Relocation
I had relocated the battery in a previous life of this car and decided to upgrade the wiring and connectors. I went to West Marine and got some of their 1/0 gauge wire. I chose the West Marine wire because it is very fine stranded and flexible. I used these great connectors that actually are for solar power panels. They're from John Drake over at Solar Sellers. They have two kinds - I purchased one set of 1/0 copper with flux and solder in the lug and another compression fitting that I never used. He's a good guy and he'll get you your stuff quickly. All you have to do is use a torch to heat and jam the stripped end in the connector and when it cools, you have a great connection. I use the 1/0 shrink tubing from West Marine because it has a hot melt glue like substance in the wrap that oozes out and seals the ends. It's a must for a truly weather tight combination. I currently have a crappy plastic marine box holding the battery but I am going to change that setup as last time I went to the track, the track tech guy didn't like the hold downs. I knew they weren't NHRA legal, but I was hoping he wouldn't say too much about it. Anyway, I am going to upgrade to an aluminum box and hold down.

Dashboard Guttin' Time
Yikes. There's no turning back now! It's still somewhat together. I had to gut it even more. I know it looks like a recovered theft, but I know what I am doing, I think.

On the bright side, the car still runs and drives, not that you'd want to drive it like that!

Cont'
To Be Continued!

- Jeff