This will be my modest attempt at a Tech week post. The 53 Chevy truck I picked up recently had been sitting for about 30 years. After the usual stuff to get it on the road I decided to fix the broken fuel level gauge. I figured while I was at it I'd try and freshen the rest of the gauges up a little. The decal sheets are available at most truck places - I got mine from "Chevy Duty" or whatever they are now. I also bought a new speedo needle, the old one wobbled back and forth a few times then turned to dust. This is a pretty simple, inexpensive little project with nice results. Here's the before, the fuel gauge is broken and the speedo needle has crumbled. You also can't read the odometer. Each pod has four 3/8the nuts. Remember to disconnect the battery! Here's the speedo removed: There are two screws in the back the hold the speedo and odometer to the case. You'l' also need to bend the case with a pair of needle nose pliers or screwdriver to gain access. Remove the speedometer needle and odometer. Pull the needle straight out or you'll break the shaft - ask me how I know! Remove this small clip and the odometer will come out of its housing. This is the decal sheet, it has new faces for all the gauges and the odometer numbers too. It was about $10. Clean everything with alchohol or prep-sol. It's a little tricky getting all the numbers to line up, but be patient. Make sure the new decals match up with the correct digits or the odometer won't be accurate. Line up all these tabs and re-install clip. I used a small plastic squeegee to work the air bubbles out on the face. It's no different than putting on any other decal. Press the new speedo needle back on, then re***emble. You'll need to bend the case back to secure the ***embly. Here's the finished speedo: Now for the other half.
Here's the rest of the story. This pod also has four 3/8ths nuts and houses the fuel, oil, water temp, and ammeter gauges. Remove and label the nuts and wires for the fuel/ammeter gauges. The oil and temp gauges have mechanical senders, so you may have to remove the senders from the engine. There was actually enough slack in mine that I didn't have to remove it, it's just a little more of a h***le working under the dash. Bend the tabs back on the case, same as on the speedo. Here's the gauges pod dis***embled. This is the new fuel gauge, it slides into place and the nuts on the back secure it in place. Again, clean the faces with a good degreaser and carefully slide the decals in place. They go under the needles, so take your time. Here's the finished pod, and the finsihed pair of gauges cleaned up and installed. Everything works now, and it looks a lot better.
Nice job, Gator. Court and I were just discussing this the other day. He wants to swap the colors to be a little different.
Thanks guys. The hardest part was trying to take pictures with one hand. The kit came from www.cl***icparts.com who used to be 'Chevy Duty' Different years had different color faces, so like Danimal said you could change the look if you wanted. Here's a pic of the 47-51 decals: I actually have another set of the decals like I used minus the odometer numbers, first one that shoot me a PM can have them.
Nice work there. Jim Carter also has the Chevy gauge kits. When I did mine, I found that 1960-1990 (or so) gauge innards can be made to fit behind the Chevy steel faces, which is how I converted my ammeter into a voltmeter, and made the oil and temp electric instead of mechanical.
I would also like to convert my ammeter to a voltmeter. Where would you get the correct decals for a voltmeter face?
I just left the ammeter face on mine, but any local sign shop can make you a decal based on the other gauges fonts and colors.
Not to hijack your thread…(You know that means that somebody’s gona’ anyway) but since a lot of AD guys may read this I had an idea I’d like to try. I want to try to convert an old AD truck speedo to a tach and mount it in the spot were the gauge cluster used to. (I’ve moved my gauges to after markets in the dash using the spot were the factory radio was) To do it I’ll need the bucket and face of a broken or discarded speedo from a 48-53 Chevy or GMC truck. I don’t need the gl*** or trim ring as the ones from the gauge cluster should work. I’ll try my hand at making new face decals in the style of the originals (aftermarket gauges included) I plan to do a tech on it if it works, and toss it all in the trash if it don’t. That being said if anybody has those parts for cheep (or free!) shoot me a pm. Ok, I’ll un-hijack the tread again… Thanks!
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