Moving on to the larger instrumentation such as the tach and speedo these were also Auto Meter units. The tach being model 4898 and the speedo yet to be purchased. (have to save up some scratch for that) The trim ring on these 5" units measure 4 15/16" so to inset them like we did for the smaller gauges required a 5 1/2" o.d. exhaust pipe. Now not everybody handles that big so  we called on The Custom Exhaust Shop in Myerstown, Pa. http://www.customexhaustshop.com/ They also cater to the diesel crowd so that size was not a problem for them. We had them cut a 1 foot section in half on 26 deg. to cut down our time and at least we knew that would get us close to

what we needed. We would fine tune the exact angle during mock up. Speaking of mock up, the firewall section that we saved came in handy again. We sat in the Jeep and recorded our eye height and distance from the dash and duplicated that in the warm shop with the firewall section sitting on the floor, an old 14" high pretzel can as a seat was the perfect height. The angle was confirmed then ground on the pipe, then using that end flat on some cardboard the elliptical shape was traced, then that was transferred to the dash. An old dash was used to mark the locations of the heater cables since they had to be relatively close to stock for the cables to function properly, but had interference with the

identification lights for the cables to the right. Shouldn't be a problem they can be mounted underneath each cable. The elliptical holes were cut with a jig saw.  The straight end of the pipe was cut with an air cut off wheel after length was determined. A 5 1/2" o.d. disc was then cut with a 4 1/2" i.d. hole using a hole saw then opened up to the required 4 5/8" to mount the gauges. That was then tack welded to the straight end of the pipe. The angled end was a bit trickier to align. Jeffrey sitting on the pretzel can in a cool "I'm the man" position of driving dictated how the pipe was aligned for clear viewing of the gauge. Tack welding the pipe then commenced to the dash. Recessing and angling takes up alot

more real estate behind the dash so alterations will have to be made for a defroster duct over stock. (What else is new) Since we are using a YJ defroster with a CJ dash pad helps because there would not be enough room for a stock CJ defroster duct and now with the gauges there isn't any room for a YJ duct either. But by using a piece of square vinyl tubing mounted up high in the cowl with flexible hoses off each end will get the job done. The fabrication of that will be another post. As for now some final welding and

 body work like the console mounted gauges is next.