Highpsi
Wrencher
Chevy 4 life
Posts: 157
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Post by Highpsi on Dec 30, 2006 14:58:49 GMT -5
Got my new gauges in for the gauge install project the other day! I screwed up and ordered the 3 3/4 ones for the tach and speedo though. I sent em back for the 5" instead. Looks like this will be a really easy swap, just cutting out the back of the bezel a bit with a trusty air saw. Good thing Scott has a housing I will be getting from him since I broke the tabs off my old one when removing! DOH!!
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Post by 19_Chevelle_69 on Dec 30, 2006 23:40:28 GMT -5
Sounds awesome, be sure to post pics in progress and the finished product!
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Post by Bent on Jan 13, 2007 16:30:27 GMT -5
A writeup I have been waiting for excellent
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Highpsi
Wrencher
Chevy 4 life
Posts: 157
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Post by Highpsi on Jan 21, 2007 11:42:08 GMT -5
Here's the first part of what I will be doing with the cluster. I had a couple Autometer liquid filled pro comps laying around I aquired long ago that I figured would be perfect to find a home in this bezel. Since I have no A/C in my truck I didn't have a vent in the upper part of the bezel anyway. Here's the back of the factory Bezel. I had to cut part of the back out to make my aluminum plate fit in there. If you don't have an air saw and you want to do this gauge install, I guess you could try a dremel, but the air saw is a PERFECT tool for this job. Making the plate..... The end fit of the plate ended up being so tight that the thing almost would have retained itself just sitting in the bezel. The awesome thing about this little spot in the bezel is that it accomdates (2) 2 5/8 gauges almost like the darn thing was made for it with the right plate. There is a 2nd ridge that reduces the size of the opening below the top of the bezel, perfect for the plate to butt up against. I used a 2 part epoxy and plus when I put the backers on the gauges, 1 arm will hold behind the bezel. I decided to use emory cloth to sand and then just clearcoated the aluminum, it ended up matching the brushed aluminum on the bezel almost perfect. Here's the finished product. By the way, this is a pretty easy job. With air tools and some patience, anybody could do it. You can even find little sheets of aluminum like this at Home Depot or Menards. The other half of the job for the pressure gauge requires installation of the isolator, since you don't want to route fuel up to your dashboard. I made another plate to cover the huge hole I had in the firewall from where the harness used to route through for the old ECM I won't need anymore. The Isolator uses anti-freeze for fluid inside the cab to match pressure seen on the engine side of the system. Just this part of the gauge install has taken significantly longer then I had wanted, lots of little details I didn't think of when I just decided to "drop these in". I sill have to install the oil temp sender in the pan too. The primary gauges should be pretty easy with all electrical senders. More to come! When I get the cluster housing I bought, I can start the install for the other 6 primary gauges.
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Post by Bent on Jan 21, 2007 13:05:08 GMT -5
That looks perfect!!
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Post by Pontiac1976 on Jan 21, 2007 17:15:24 GMT -5
Kool that coming along very nice the. Can't wait to see how you do the case for the gauges.
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Post by ottaway on Jan 30, 2007 22:37:55 GMT -5
ive always wanted to do that!! i just didnt know how difficult it would be... keep posting
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Highpsi
Wrencher
Chevy 4 life
Posts: 157
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Post by Highpsi on Mar 18, 2007 10:47:21 GMT -5
The install continues. Here's the modification I made on the cluster housing to accept the new gauges. I cut the back out with an air saw. I also decided to make a new inlay, out of sheet aluminum. I picked this piece of aluminum up at Menards for $15. The measuring and cutting took forever. Don't know if I would do this again, but smaller diameter of the gauge holes now ensure the aluminum goes all the way under the gauge bezels and it didn't before. I used the old inlay for a template, that was just glued on (and coming off by now anyway) This is the finished inlay. I know the circles look pretty jagged, but you can't tell once the gauges are installed. I was able to cover up the spot for the transmission indicator too, since I am running a stick shift. I made plates for the stereo area, and another with two toggle switches over on the spot by the light switch. I will be sorting through the last details of the wiring today, and will epoxy the plates and inlay on since the clearcoat is dried on them by now. More to come!
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Post by Pontiac1976 on Mar 18, 2007 12:47:30 GMT -5
Nice to see things coming along. Ah a new plate kool yes that a bit of work doing that, looks like it will be worth it. Keep it coming nice cut out & no missconduct on the backing this time.
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Highpsi
Wrencher
Chevy 4 life
Posts: 157
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Post by Highpsi on Mar 20, 2007 19:46:05 GMT -5
Nice to see things coming along. Ah a new plate kool yes that a bit of work doing that, looks like it will be worth it. Keep it coming nice cut out & no missconduct on the backing this time. Heheh.. Yea, some carnage on the upper left gauge hole huh? It was more or less an excuse for me to dump the old inlay, I wasn't really happy with some of the imperfections in that blasted inlay already anyhow so I decided why not. I have so much time and money into this project already I don't want to settle for anything less then what I think is acceptable at this point. Wanna hear the real lousy part? I ended up giving up on trying to get that custom aluminum inlay to sit in correctly and ordered the billet one from LMC anyway. #$@!... I should have just done that long ago now for the $99 that thing cost.
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Post by eatchevyshtf@#d on Mar 23, 2007 17:25:23 GMT -5
hey i like that.......but i know i can't do it myself....don't have the tiime or the ability..lol
quick question, i see those type of gauges in the part stores all the time, to install those, i wuld have to take those meassures, correct?
good job
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Highpsi
Wrencher
Chevy 4 life
Posts: 157
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Post by Highpsi on Mar 24, 2007 12:10:48 GMT -5
hey i like that.......but i know i can't do it myself....don't have the tiime or the ability..lol quick question, i see those type of gauges in the part stores all the time, to install those, i wuld have to take those meassures, correct? good job Nah, you wouldn't really have to go through quite the hassle I have created here. Making that inlay plate was a mistake. #1 I should have picked a thicker gauge aluminum had I wanted to try that. It ended up being a huge waste of time after I had some spots that ended up creasing and dinged that just wouldn't clean up without looking unsatisfactory. I bit the bullet and bought the LMC truck billet inlay instead! DOH!! But no matter what, this job will require grinding and reworking the original parts (or filing). Plus there will be a pile of different ground, power, and signal connections that must be considered. Definitely not a "plug and go" type mod.
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Highpsi
Wrencher
Chevy 4 life
Posts: 157
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Post by Highpsi on Mar 25, 2007 11:36:39 GMT -5
Well, its done now. Better planning on my part would have helped some of the small hang ups through this project. Oh, as a note it didn't really take me 3 months to do this, so don't let that stop you if you are looking at the dates. The original cluster housing was really hacked out by now. But I did manage to keep the lower section with the turn signal lights. I modified the printed circuit, and soldered some connections on to it, and then completed the end with a weatherpack connector that is fastened to the cluster body. I probably should have just gotten two green indicator lights in the first place! I cut this part out of the other inlay I tried to make to cover up the tranny indicator area. Just dabbed a bit of silicone on the inside and sandwiched it between the new billet cover and the factory bezel. Here's the finished bezel with the new inlay, and the 3 other plates I fabbed for the 2 switches on the lower corner, the stereo, and the 2 extra gauges. I picked up that nice little blue indicator bulb at car quest for $8. That had to be drilled and mounted there too. The inlay was $100 at LMC. You have to grind out those holes too! (I am SICK of grinding and filing!) And here's the final product. Man, I am thrilled with the outcome. The only thing I anticipate to be a bit messed up will be that the gauges won't have an upward tilt. There's just no real way to deal with that without a lot of extra work at this time, so I am not going chasing after that, I am just ready to be finished at this point! The one thing I would point out about this job if anybody wants to try it, is that you must remember about all those little indicator and idiot lights if you want to keep them. Heck, half of mine were long since non-functioning and I just don't care about an "e brake" indicator for instance anyway. I'd like to have kept the 4wd indicator, its kinda cool, but that was just adding even more work I wasn't interested in at this time. Lots of the indicators show up in the lower portion of the big 5" stock gauges, so if you put the 5" auto meters back in place, you will have to find a new home for those little lights. Indeed, this can prove a bit tricky!
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Post by Pontiac1976 on Mar 28, 2007 22:37:41 GMT -5
Well it looks pretty good . So what size gauge did you use that, how much thicker is the one you got from LMC ? ? with all that work it will be worth it.
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Post by 1985gmc on Mar 29, 2007 0:37:41 GMT -5
Looks fantastic NO MORE 5 INCH FUEL GAUGE
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