scratch Built Scrambler Part 11 - final Dash Layout - Photo 36883149

Back to Article

The final layout of the CJ’s dash will have everything within easy reach of the driver and all gauges visible at a glance. We picked up a new headlight and wiper motor switch from Painless Performance, which readily plugged into the company’s harness.

131 1108 01+scratch built scrambler part 11+drilling the dash

Dash layout is important whether you are installing a custom dash or just adding new gauges and switches or lights. You need to be able to easily read and reach them. To get a good feel for the layout, map out all the components while the dash is in the vehicle, while sitting in both the driver and passenger seats.

Autometer gauges are simple to install. They have a clamp ring that is held in place with two easy-to-reach fasteners. The back clamp ring will sandwich the dash between itself and the bezel of the gauge, holding it securely in place. Although Aqualu precut the dash for us, we wanted to add a couple of gauges and move a few lights around.

This is what you don’t want, the back of your dash looking like the factory wiring in a British car! It’s important to keep all the wiring clean, neat, and in order so you know where everything is if it ever comes time to repair or replace something.

The final layout of the CJ’s dash will have everything within easy reach of the driver and all gauges visible at a glance. We picked up a new headlight and wiper motor switch from Painless Performance, which readily plugged into the company’s harness.

One dash light we worried about was the Check Engine light because the Bureau of Automotive Repair inspectors are sticklers for detail. We didn’t want to have a light that had a cheesy engine scratched on it with a Sharpie marker, so we got this very cool Check Engine light from Painless performance.

Being on a budget, we went cheap on a few things, but did it right so we wouldn’t have any problem out on the highway. We used six-pin wire plugs to connect the gauge wiring to the underdash harness wiring. The plugs will make it much easier to remove the dash if we need too. The six-pin plugs run $2-$3 at any electronics store.

Once we pinned the wires into the six-pin plugs, we coated them with a plastic rubber coating we found at a local Ace Hardware. The coating will secure and weatherize the connections. The end of a zip tie was used to coat the wires and plug; the zip tie also allowed the coating to be pushed between the wires much better than a small brush.

A Vintage Air 68000-VUZ-A Gen II Compac heating and air conditioning system will be installed in the Scrambler, so we mocked it in place to locate the underdash wiring. The unit is easy to install, and the heat and air will be welcome in this adventure Jeep on long runs. We’ll show you more of the system’s installation in the next chapter of the build.

Since we mocked in the heating and air unit, we had to locate and cut the holes for the windshield defroster vents in the Aqualu Jeep tub.

It will also help us with the placement of additional underdash and wiper motor wiring.

The Hotwire Auto engine harness is designed to be installed in the cab of a vehicle. We mounted the ECM to an aluminum mounting plate, which also held the engine harness in place on its way out the front of the firewall. The plate also holds a fuse block and relays and is mounted on rubber bumpers for vibration resistance.

We made a firewall grommet out of 1⁄8-inch aluminum sheetmetal and 1⁄4-inch sheet rubber. The thick rubber seal will safely keep the harness in place and not allow it to chafe against the firewall.

The homemade grommet will also seal the hole and keep water, dirt, and dust from entering the cab of the Jeep.

This is a trick through-the-firewall connection for the heating and air system we picked up from Vintage Air. It allows for an extremely clean and sealed pass-through of the A/C fluids and coolant for the heater.

When you’re running a wiring loom through any part of the vehicle, always make sure no wires are rubbing against any parts that could chafe or tear them, causing a short. It was a tight squeeze running the headlight loom by the steering shaft and box. But with some good stainless steel fasteners, we did it right.

We used a stick of 2x1⁄2-inch 6061 aluminum to make a battery hold-down on our dual battery box. The stick of aluminum was about $2 at our local metal supply store, and it will also hold some of the winch and battery cables. We will tap the aluminum and use stainless steel clamps to hold the wires in place.

We are using new high-quality Bosch products for the starter, alternator, O2 sensors, and a few other components. We like the Bosch stuff because it’s not remanufactured Chinese junk that usually only lasts a year. We know the alternator and starter will give us years of dependable service even in the harshest conditions.

We installed a new Digital Power Manager for our Optima dual battery setup. The easy-to-install manager is a weatherproof, solid-state dual battery control unit that automatically engages an auxiliary battery when a large load is placed on the vehicle’s main battery.

t will not allow the electrical loads on the vehicle’s main start battery to drain the auxiliary battery.