For context I'm talking about my '79

I installed a set of Dakota Digital gauges recently. The speedo and tach are set back from the outer surface of the bezel a bit more than the factory instruments are, and I found that in a normal seating position I could not see the top ~15-20% of the gauges due to the bezel overhang. Any attempt to 'straighten' the way the panel faces forces me to adjust my steering column downward to get it the bezel to fit properly, which I tried and even the slightest shim downward makes the car much more difficult to get in and out of. I'm a fairly skinny guy and if the column is just about touching my legs, it's way too low. I then had to tilt the wheel itself up far enough that it feels like I'm driving a bus...

I contacted Dakota Digital about this and was told they have not encountered someone who could not see the full gauges from a normal seating position, including in their test fitting.

Anyway, it seems as though if I could sort of 'aim' the whole dash where it faces the cockpit about a half inch up from where it is now, these issues would all be resolved. Is there adjustability somewhere to do this?

I'm relatively certain that the dash has been out of this car before and a half-assed re-install would be extremely on-brand for everything else I've encountered.

 

Could you take a photo and post it ? It usually helps a lot ,

 

This is the driver view of the speedo and tach.

It's screwed into the same mount holes as the OEM cluster was - it looks like there's more room on the side by the console to come forward because I still have a few things unscrewed from other work, that will get pulled back when it's all back together.

I'm not able to pull the bottom of the gauge cluster forward due to interference with the steering column, which is what makes me wonder whether either the whole dash is sort of 'aimed downward' from where it should be, or maybe the column itself is out of line somewhere, though if I shim the column any lower it interferes with me.

I'm right at 6' tall and tend to sit with the driver seat slid about 75% to the rear - the only way for me to view the entire speedo/tach is to slide the seat all the way to the back and then slump down, so something is definitely not right.

 

i can find no 3/4 or all the way back that limits my visibility.. 2 pics at eye level.. 6'3
yours does look jacked at depth points.. i snapped some pics if helpful..

79

 

Thanks for the comparison pics! When I get home I'll take a look from similar angles and see if I can figure out what's going on

 

THere must be something keeping the gauges back from the console face. Is there some locating tabs that need to be removed?