Project X-CLEAN, 1981 Trans Am 2nd Gen, LS2, 6 spd

[Young Gun]

Clean, really nice job!

[oldguy]

Thought I'd share the custom gauge update for X-Clean.

We wanted to maintain the stock dash and the look of the stock gauges but with a more modern flair. As we now have a t56 6 speed the mechanical speedo just wouldn't cut it. Additionally the tach in the stock Trans Am configuration redline quite low. The ls2 has a much higher redline and the customer wanted an 8K tach. Also wanted to delete the clock.

We have a talented graphic artist in house and he designed the gauge faces to somewhat mimic the Ferrari 360 gauges with some mods. The idea was to keep the faces as clean as possible. We think he did a fantastic job.

Additionally the bezel will be CF twill and the trim rings will be chrome or brushed aluminum. We'll update the pics when we get it all mounted.

The tach and speed were Autometer Ultra light 5". The tach is really a 10K but we only designed it around 8K. The speedo is also an autometer Ultra Light.

Hope you enjoy

Stock tach and speedo as removed from the trans am gauge housing.


Removing the Autometer trim rings. We could have saved them, but we were not going to reuse the stock housings. All we wanted was the "guts"


Here the autometer tach with the housing removed.


Here's the autometer speedometer with the housing removed.


We modified the stock housing to accomodate the new autometer speedo and tach.


We wanted to make sure the gauges were centered and spot on, plus mock up of the housing and autometer gauges.


Mounting the stock gauges and autometers.


New led lighting installed and tested.


Painting the gauges faces. We used Ferrari Daytona Yellow


A little needle work


Gauge faces ready to install



Finished gauges yet to be installed in dash.

[srh3trinity]

Very cool upgrade

[oldguy]

Very cool upgrade

Thanks Stephen.

[CruizinKev]

wow good work on the gauges!!!

[Chadman27]

My Autometer gauges in my T/A suddenly seem very inadequate... well done!

[ryeguy2006a]

That is a fantastic job that you have done on the gauges. I have actually wondered what the gauges would have looked like in yellow. Thank you for posting up. You are doing some great work. Nicely done.

[LeighP]

Great work...love the way you went about it. I was right there with you till you went for the yellow gauge faces, lol....but hey, its not my car.
I love seeing class work like this.

[oldguy]

Here are the gauges mocked up in the test dash. The dash that is going in the car is black. Trying to keep it clean.

[oldguy]

Great work...love the way you went about it. I was right there with you till you went for the yellow gauge faces, lol....but hey, its not my car.
I love seeing class work like this.

When the dash is done it will look fantastic.

Here's another dash and other interior and exterior mods we did for a Ferrari F360. Did quite a bit to that car. Nicholas Cage used to own it.

Here's some pics.

[srh3trinity]

I am not a fan of yellow, but that looks awesome against the carbon fiber. The Ferrari ain't half bad either.

[oldguy]

I am not a fan of yellow, but that looks awesome against the carbon fiber. The Ferrari ain't half bad either.

Thanks. We work on everything, exotics, PT, classics, motorcycles, everything!

[bhcustomdesigns]

Great build,very nice job on the gauges!

[kochevy67]

I'm taking it the car is going to be yellow?

[oldguy]

I'm taking it the car is going to be yellow?

No, the car will either be painted black or red (same color as engine), still out on that. Interior will be black leather or alacantra

[bonecrrusher]

Are the lines on the gauge face them self glow? With the yellow paint - doesnt look like they would - I see the LEDs mounted on the perimeter...

[oldguy]

Are the lines on the gauge face them self glow? With the yellow paint - doesnt look like they would - I see the LEDs mounted on the perimeter...

No, just lit like the factory gauges. We could have used EL backlighting but this is what the customer wanted.

[ryeguy2006a]

What radiator are you using for this swap? I may be doing an LS1 swap in the near future, so I was just wondering what you ended up using.

[oldguy]

What radiator are you using for this swap? I may be doing an LS1 swap in the near future, so I was just wondering what you ended up using.

The PO just replaced the factory radiator with a new gm style appropriate to the year. It is a 4 core, HD. We are using this radiator with the stock hose locations. I'll post some pics later with the hoses we made.

[coolwelder62]

Very Cool.