I made a custom gauge panel for my 64 Riv. It's going in place of the radio. I'm using angled aluminum spacers to aim the gauges to the driver's side. The gauges are Speedhut 2-1/16", and use the VDO style screw on ring to hold them in place. With the spacer installed, there's not enough thread for the ring to grab. I need to fasten the angled bezel onto the panel to keep it from spinning by vibration, and then to retain the gauge from falling out. Only thing that comes to mind is hot glue. I thought maybe drilling a small hole, and using a cotter pin in the spacer bezel to keep it from spinning. I want to avoid drilling holes in the backs of the gauges for SW style studs and brackets. Anyone tried this before? Any ideas?
I used Stewart Warner at a angle in my Olds with no problem you dont have mounting studs ,you might have to glue them in with two part epoxy.
I did this once but with generic VDO gauges and their angle mount rings. Worked perfectly. I suspect your gauges’ barrels are just too short, so you may need different gauges.
Try a hose clamp around the gauge and aligned parallel to your panel. Maybe place some rubber from an old inner tube between the gauge and the clamp to aid with friction to hold the gauge better?
There is enough material on the bezel to drill it end on and use fixing screws through the panel. Bond the gauges to the bezel using silicone gasket sealer so you can remove them in future if needs be.
Increase the ID of the spacer? Make a deeper but thinner-wall screw ring, which will fit into the larger ID. That screw-ring detail doesn't feel happy to me. My instinct would be somehow to subvert it and render it redundant, even if it means making an entire new case for the gauge.
I would try hotglue, it has some give to it, yet hold pretty darn good. It comes right off when you need it to, silicone would also work, but clean up will be worse.
I was disappointed in the Speedhut gauges I bought in the past. The bezel trim rings used such an extra fine thread, plus the soft plastic of the can body threads, caused the chrome trim rings to pop off from the slightest amount of pressure and the gauges to fall down inside the dash. I suppose if my dash was as thin as a piece of paper I may have gotten one or two more weakass threads but apparently 3/32" was too thick. Grumph! How about for your situation, JB Weld a piece of aluminum flat stock with a 1/2" of overhang on each side on the back of the can(s)....... drill and tap the "overhang" and plain, hex, or thumb screws of your choice to clamp 'em from the back? .......assuming the bezels can hold a little tension.
I had the same issue on my old C10. I used hose clamps and a few dabs of silicone on each gauge. They held up fine in that rattlin' ass truck.
Add in my vote for silicone. The benefit of using silicone is that they are relatively easily removed if they need to be changed/repositioned.
A modified version of @The Shift Wizard 's proposal: Use JB weld or 3M badge glue to affix a short piece of flat stock to the back of the gauge that has two studs on it. Them make a clamp bracket with two holes that is held to the studs with nuts. This clamp bracket could be a U-bracket with different length legs, or a flat bracket drilled and tapped for different length thumb screws. Done this way, the bracket and gauge are easily removed and/or indexed.
Can you angle the panel some to cut down on or reduce the angle the gauges need? Maybe split the angle between the gauges and the panel?
Op , how crafty do want to get ? It looks like a lathe was used , Before the bevel was cut , you could of on bottom side drilled & tap for set screw on bottom to lock gauge in bezel, On bezel used 2-3 #6 to attach bezel to plate, or use a wedge style clamps""L"" Tig weld ,split collar clamp & other methods
Why not remove a little TINY bit of material from the base of the spacer, and a TINY bit less from the front side as well? If you're super careful, you should be able to fine tune it enough for the threads to grip.
If that panel is separate from the dash and you can install the gauges on a workbench, that's half the battle. The ring for clamping the backside of your gauge, shown in your first photo, is great raw material for 'plastic welding' on the backside of the gauge cans. A soldering iron (like the woodburning 'kits' when we were kids) can be used to melt 3 or 4 boogers of plastic spaced around the back of the 'cans'. Just be careful not to totally melt or perforate the cans like a putz. Certain plastics, such as ABS, can be dissolved into a thick liquid with acetone. I've done small casting, molding, and welding projects myself. If the acetone is the right solvent for that plastic, you can make a paste from shavings and "cold weld" booger tabs on the back to hold the cans in position. You can do the "welding" in more than one step if you want to build it up extra sturdy.
Some very useful ideas here, really helps a lot. I've been struggling with it for a bit, couldn't think of anything other than gluing it in place. I think i'm going to try to drill a hole in the bezel backside, and put a pin in it. Then, notch the hole so that it locks it from spinning. I'll try a hose clamp, and see how that works. Thinking combo of a clamp around the gauge, holding a fabbed C-shaped clamp against the back of the gauge to act as legs, in turn holding the gauges against the plate. Gave me a lot of ideas. Appreciate the help!
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