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Old 7th August 2021, 10:20
casamolino casamolino is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaguartvr View Post
That bugger Justin from Grassbanks has been tempting me with shiny bits, so nice do they look that I have had to pry my wallet open.

The beauty about these instruments is that they are plug and play, it all plugs into the back of your existing dash binnacle, not only the instruments but all the warning lights, these would take longer than instaling the instruments.

I have a car in the drive with an untrimmed interior almost ready, it has been sitting for a long time as I didn't want to do the wiring, it is a pig.

With the ETB instruments, you have to take an extra feed from the oil pressure sender for the oil pressure gauge. This is under the inlet manifold and even on a ramp is a pig to get to. Water temperature is taken from the block drain fitting which is much easier but still a faff. None of this is needed on the new Grassbanks setup.

When fitting the ETB instruments you need to take feed from the original binnacle to feed indicators, main beam, abs, oil pressure light etc etc, the easiest way to do this is to piggyback off the old bulb holders that fit in the back. The problem is the fittings use stainless steel so you can't solder to them. You have to solder directly to the thin flexible circuit board, this normally means burning through it and with all the connections is a labour of love.
Grassbanks has used the same idea but has 3d printed sockets that go directly into the existing bulb holder holes. Again so simple and so time saving.
Another great advantage is that the Grassbank speedo has an analogue odometer, the ETB version has an LCD digital display that gives the game away.

I am not going to get my hands on them until the end of the month but will give more feedback on them when I have them in my hands.
One thing people forget about is the time taken to swap all the BMW switches on the dash to more retro looking items, this is also being looked at with the idea of supplying a plug n play solution to all the switches.
He is also looking at doing the same set up for the Zagato and the Kobra although the Kobra will have to wait until a dash is available although I think the Zagato dash would work.

I will post some pictures of the prep done to install the new dash. I was going to use a Tribute dash which is much easier to fit but have opted for a heavily modified DNA dash, much harder to fit and more expensive but it's the way I'm going. If anyone wants a Tribute dash (or a highly modified DNA version) just let me know.
Morning Jag , Justin does come up with some cracking bits of kit , i understand how a new Oil Pressure warning light could be easily connected but wouldn`t an Oil Pressure gauge still require a new sender unit fitted into one of the existing oil galleries? Geoff .
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