I like the look of lucite. It's usually black and bloody hard to work with. I don't know where you'd get some, but I'd start at trophy and plaque manufacturers.

If you know what you're doing, I suggest getting a modern auto fuse box as the fuses are much easier to get, and are simple snap-ins.

I'm going to do myself a few interesting circuits on a single small PCB, such as:

* headlight warning beeper
* delay interior light dimming
* LED power bus (1.7v DC) to replace all mini-bulbs in the instrument cluster with blue LEDs and the correct associated colors for generator (red), oil (red (steady=engine overheat, flashing=pressure warning) and amber (normal start up) and blue (engine cold)), and high beam (blue), and indicators (green)
* additional fused relay power circuits for remote central locking, immobiliser and power windows
* electronic blinkers driving LED arrays (using Golf or NB LED side clusters). Probably still use a small relay to make the "noise" even though the current required for the LEDs does not require relays to switch.

Blue auto-spec LEDs:
http://www.osram-os.com/applications/dashboard.html

I was thinking about putting my unused Palm m100 to use as the car's computer, but I felt that this is probably overkill and more to the point the m100's daytime visibility is awful, making it only safe to use for things that do not require any interaction whilst driving.

Using the Palm would be cute though as then I can easily reprogram the computer to do various things, such as being the "key" rather than the old fashioned mechanical version. The Palm could also collect telemetry from various additional sensors attached to the car and display them if required, or keep them for later.

The PCB is definitely do-able - all of the circuits for that are dead simple to design and layout even by hand, but using the Palm would add complexity and cut into my restoration time so it'll be pipe dream #435 for a while.

Andrew

banaman, I'd agree with Andrew about the modern fuse box. You can get some really neat stuff form the speed shops now. Also consider adding a few junction connectors for the major components. Tidys it up no end.

Andrew, I'm really interested in the led oil light thing you talked about. sounds like a brilliant idea. Would like to talk some more about it with you at some time.
Dean

Bananaman,
Not sure how bad your wiring is, but I faced the same thing when resotring my Kombi ('77 bay). Luckily it was a full strip down so the dash was out and I was left with a huge bundle of cables.
Like you I had 20-30 years of age, and a number owners hack jobs to sort out.
The first thing I did was get a good original wiring diagram and removed anything non original (not too hard as the hack jobs were fairly obvious). From there I didn't have too much trouble resoring it to original, mostly repairing the cuts, and re-connecting removed wires. I made sure I cleaned and checked all connections as I went. From there I proceeded to do my own mods (adding relays, spotties, horns etc) and made sure I added it to a copy of the wiring diagram for future reference.
Mind you, all that said I spent 2-3 days on it (also included reinstalling the dash, lights etc).
It's one of those daunting tasks (I can understand why and electrician would avoid it), but as long as you proceed logically (and are patient and have the time) it's not too difficult.
Hope this helps.
Andy.

Andrew/Dean,
I'd also be interested in any info you have regarding LED's for the dash.
I'm thinking about changing all lights to LED's, particularly the parkers, tail light's, brake lights and indicators. But I wasn't sure on what to do about the dash lights, and was considering making my own. It would be handy if they were commercially available.
Andy.
PS: I have a current Hella catalogue and they have a full range of lights (mainly meant for trucks) in 12V using LED's that can be used, and I was thinking of modifying them to add into the existing tail lights.

Check out the link I put in. This is where all the OEMs get their dash lights.

If you have any info on Hella's 12V LED kits I'd be interested. I was going to create a regulated 1.7 v DC bus for them, but if there's 12V versions out there, that will be way simpler.

The oil thing would require a modern temperature sensor or two as well as the current oil sensor light line (I take the current one is a pressure sensor?). Using an optical thermometer on the engine to calibrate a couple of micro pots on the PCB to the right temperature with a simple tri-state circuit (a few transistors at most) would do the trick. Obviously the outside of the case is cooler than the oil temperature, but good guesses can be made (I usually believe an engine is warm enough after around five to ten minutes of city driving).

Andrew