Gauges dropping out

[lackeym]

Hello fellow Tige owners,

Looking for replacement gauges.
Currently: 1994 Tige with VDO gauges. One by one the gauges are literally dropping out the back side of the dash. Would like to replace the gauges but not sure if I can buy over the counter VDO gauges as replacement. They all appear to have a Pos/Neg connector on the back.
Anyone have any experience with this and any pitfalls to avoid
1994 Tige 454efi.

[bigdaddy_houseboater]

Hello fellow Tige owners,

Looking for replacement gauges.
Currently: 1994 Tige with VDO gauges. One by one the gauges are literally dropping out the back side of the dash. Would like to replace the gauges but not sure if I can buy over the counter VDO gauges as replacement. They all appear to have a Pos/Neg connector on the back.
Anyone have any experience with this and any pitfalls to avoid
1994 Tige 454efi.

I had this issue with my '95 as well. Part of the problem is the rough water ride banging the dash hard. The other issue is that the dash pod is plastic with vinyl over it, and the plastic cracks. Honestly, this was my major issue with my '95 and part of the reason I traded it in. Not a lot you can do, short of pulling the pod off and replacing it with a '97 pod available still from Tige... new-old stock. That is if they have anymore.... Other choice is to measure the dash shape and have a fab shop cut you a piece of aluminum to overlay on the dash, then cut gauge holes in it. It's a no-win situation.

[laserfish]

454efi!!!! Bet that baby jumps out of the hole!! I am having the same problem with one of my gauges. Used 3m 5400 to seal it into the hole. Just be sure you clean the surplus off really well or it will look terrible. Mine is caused by the plastic cracking. Eventually, will have a new aluminum dash made in the off season. This is a good temp fix.

[bigdaddy_houseboater]

The dash pod is vacuum formed polyethelene with a soft vinyl cover. Constant shaking of the closed bow dashboard and heat / cold cycles cracks the face of the pod, making it flexible. (I had this long conversation with Tige)
They offered for sale a replacement dash pod from a '97. It had two humps, one over each speedo. I traded mine in for an '07 20i (with a crapload of cash to boot...)
Try Tige and ask if they still have any dashes left. You may get lucky.

[bigdaddy_houseboater]

Lets see some pics of the guage replacement when you get it done....

[a012331]

For a new dash do i contact tige directly or just my local dealer? thanks

[bigdaddy_houseboater]

For a new dash do i contact tige directly or just my local dealer? thanks

I would check with Harvey at Tige to see if he even has any left.
If not, youre stuck with either learning how to build fiberglass parts, or fabbing some kind of an aluminum dash backing that you bolt into place. Either way... I dont envy your project.

[a012331]

Well, i called and left a VM for Harvey and sent an email to Tige. I will let you know what i find out. I was planning on getting one custom fabed this winter but this would be much easier. Fingers crossed.

[a012331]

They no longer have any, at least for my year

[bigdaddy_houseboater]

They no longer have any, at least for my year

well bummer.
What next?

[a012331]

Here is what they said, "Unfortunately, we are not going to have this dash pod in stock. You may try locating a fiberglass shop that can use your existing pod as a mold to manufacture one out of fiberglass and then you could either have it vinyl wrapped our painted. We apologize we were unable to assist you with this request.


Thank you,"

[bigdaddy_houseboater]

Here is what they said, "Unfortunately, we are not going to have this dash pod in stock. You may try locating a fiberglass shop that can use your existing pod as a mold to manufacture one out of fiberglass and then you could either have it vinyl wrapped our painted. We apologize we were unable to assist you with this request.


Thank you,"

"and choke slowly...."

[bigdaddy_houseboater]

If you get a wild hair to do the fiberglass thing, make sure you go light on the resin for the first sheet. If you have never done glass work... I'd avoid this project. It's going to eat your plastic up if you soak it. If I was doing it, I'd pull the dash pod off and remove the vinyl cover. You may have to tape the cracks on the plastic to keep the pod from crumbling. Then I would drape a relatively thin sheet of glass cloth, like 3 oz. E-glass on it while wetting it with a light coat of resin. I'd mix hot, so that it would get hard quickly, say 15 minutes. Once I had it all covered and I was happy with the shape, Id hit it with another 3oz layer and soak it good. You could even go to 4oz or 6 oz for thickness. It should hold shape even if the plastic starts to fail. Get is smooth. Once it's hardened, you should be able to pop the old pod out and have a decent rough mold for the new one. Lay another 3oz sheet on the inside, but soak it good and make it as smooth as you can. Once it's hard, make some wood supports to hold shape and glass them to the outside of the new mold. Once you have a pretty good mold of the pod, sand the inside very smooth then shoot it with black gelcoat. Color sand the black, polish it up.. and wax it. Ready to build pods for all your friends. You could probably sell 50 of them to disgruntled SLM owners and with a good mold, they should come out nice. You could even tell Harvy you are making custom SLM dashes and to send you customers.
I know.. sounds like a pie in the sky, but it's what I'd do if I still had my 95 slm.

[bigdaddy_houseboater]

Here's where I get my glass materials for the flat bottoms I work on.
http://www.shopmaninc.com/index.html

[bfrank]

Samething happend to me, here was the thread from then:

http://www.tigeowners.com/forum/show...ghlight=bfrank