mk 5 smiley clocks in a mk 3 dash

[MrTransit]

Heres a few shots of the inside of my van and a few of the freshly washed and polished outside!

[john leeman]

Hi Mr transit, those clocks look very good. I have Mk3 5 & 6 transits just spoilt for choice, Still love my Mk3 though the oldest.

[jay]

where is that light unit from thats over the rear mirror?????and how did u fit the dash??do you have to cut anything/wiring??
looks very good

[MrTransit]

thanks for the replies people!
That handy console over the rear mirror is from a toyota carina/avensis, its only for sunglasses but has useful map reading lights built in. The mirror on the passenger sunvisor is is from a jeep cherokee, the lights on the vanity mirror can be dimmed too, real posh
Now the clocks were a big job. Firstly, I had to wire up the new connectors from the donor van to my existing loom. The lower mountings on the the mk 5 clocks themselves line up with the original mk 3 dash mountings as far as i remember. however, i had to make brackets for the top mountings. These were just small pieces of mild steel "extensions" from the original dash mountings to the mounting holes on the clocks. Then, the original fascia surround was cut and bonded to the inner fascia surround section from the donor van, This was tricky and many hours of cutting and re-cutting and swearing followed! I used normal body filler to blend in both sections and sprayed it all matt black for a factory look! Its not perfect and if i was doing it again i'd spend more time finishing and sanding.
Haynes manual was used for matching the wiring. A new line from the alternator is needed for the rev counter but the rest is concentrated to connecting up to the loom behind the dash.
The only thing is that the temp gauge never moves into the 'normal' section so maybe the engine temperature senders between the mk 3 and mk 5 are different or there may be a problem with my gauge. The fuel gauge goes well below the empty line before i run out, but reads to full just fine.
By the way you don't need to take the dash out of your van to do this.
Hope this helps you out

[maxlee]

likes very tide

like it was the from new