I would go look for the schematics for the "PIC-Agoras by John Becker "
that Nigel mentioned.
I pulled the code myself, I have a lot of mini bikes, motorcycles and gokarts, so I will maybe use it on one or more of them for fun.
If you start from scratch, see what kybert wrote, a lot to think about just to get to lighting an LED (mind you if you want to learn the PIC, that is the right was to go). The Agoras way (hard parts done), you have the code and the chip PICked, just get a programmer and assembler, build a board and learn the code from the example. Then add sensors to other items, like oil pressure, etc..
Side note:
Like to see the one dean_c38 did with the HUD, I have no windshield on most of my toys, but I do have a 1978 vette with a speed-o that is way off, that would be REAL neat in there. Does the HUD work well? Have you posted the project anywhere? Maybe another thread for this.