***UPDATED*** See further down for my homemade stainless dash panel and completed job.... Ok, I knew this going into it, but decided to go for it. I bought a set (5) of autometer antique beige gauges. The smaller gauges should fit ok, but the new round speedo gauge is 3 1/8". My original 56 speedo gauge is right about 4 5/8". So I am looking for the best way to create a "step down" to install this new gauge in the larger hole, and make it look like it was supposed to be that size. I have the gauge cluster section out of the dash, so fabricating and testing should be simple. Has anyone done anything like this, and could share pics or info on what you did? My original thought was to use plexigl***, cut a piece the correct size to mount in the speedo hole, paint a dark color and then cut a hole through the plexi that will align/hold the new 3 1/8" gauge dead center. Thoughts? Thanks
I would be more inclined to make a new face plate for the whole cluster, with a smaller hole for the speedometer. Sheetmetal will work just fine, I think, or you could get fancy and use turned aluminum or something. Aluminum plate 1/16-1/8" thick is pretty easy to work with if you have a drill press and you're patient. It's thin enough to work by hand but thick enough to hold its shape and to allow filing or sanding of the edges and the holes. Heck, even thin plexigl*** could probably work.
I could try the aluminum to, shouldnt be to hard. I definitely dont want to make another piece from scratch, that would be a project, as is has part of the dash as well attached to it, not just the face plate. My gauges will be here tomorrow so I will see things more clearly when i have them here to play with. Anyone else done this, would love some pics of what you did?
I put the Moon set in my 57 Ford. I had to make a plate to go over the whole cluster. That piece of the dash is pot metal if my memory serves me correctly, so modifying it is difficult to impossible. Your best bet is to make a face plate and paint to match. What's wrong with the factory gauges? I actually think the factory gauges look good, and don't look a whole lot different than the aftermarket ones. You could have spent that cash on a new steering wheel
I agree, modifying the dash itself would be a job, not one that I will do. I do think one could easily fab up something to go behind the dash for that one hole to make it a tad smaller, but maybe I am the only one that ever wanted to do this I cant find anything anywhere about doing something like that. A faceplate painted to match is a thought, and may not be too hard. The only problem with that would be the paint. I never painted the dash, so something newly painted would not match, unless I pulled the rest of the dash and painted it all. I dont know if i want to do that right now, although it could use it. Hey, I agree the steering wheel has to go. This car hasnt been driven since early 90's when I was in HS, so it was cool then. I wont be going back to the bus steering wheel though, I aint that old yet .
you could just buy another factory gauge cluster off ebay or a yard to mock up on the bench, if you cant find one let me know, I know someone with few lying around. Brad
Ok, got some pics to help see things. Brad, I actually still have the gauges that came out, thanks though. My speedo gauge is in excellent shape, the temp is ok, but the oil pressure is shot, and the fuel is gone. Maybe i should run the original speedo and the other 4 new ones, or would that look like ****?? hell i dont know.
Hard to tell from the pic, is that just a new faceplate you put on there? Would you share more details about what you did, what you use, how you attached, etc... are your blinker flashers still there, cant tell in the pic. thx
Well, I finally made some progress on this. I took a large piece of construction paper and made a template. Then I put that template on a piece of poster board and traced it, cut it out. I had a friend copy that template onto a piece of stainless and cut it out for me and CNC the gauge holes so the new autometer gauges would fit. Turned out real nice. I still have to drill the blinker holes and high beam hole, but that will be the easy part. Total cost to me was $8 on a hole saw blade I ruined trying to cut holes. This is a THICK piece of stainless, and made no progress after an hour. Now I just have to decide if I want to paint it while the dash is being painted, or engine turn it. I am leaning towards painting it, it doesnt seem to blend well with the gauge color. BEFORE STAINLESS CUT GAUGES INSTALLED
Well, the dash was painted and clear coated this weekend, as well as the stainless dash panel. Here are some updated shots of that I didnt know they made Alpine cd players with bluetooth in 56
The Jalopy Journal
