First, a bit of background on the project at hand....... I picked up some gauges out of a '59 GMC truck a while back. I thought maybe I'd use them in my '47 Ford truck: I like the way they mounted, but there was an ammeter, which I won't run, and the sending units were questionable. The bezels are plastic, and mount from the rear of the gauge panel. I really like the look of the '64 (I thought....turns out it's a '61-62) Impala gauges I grabbed a while back: The Impala gauges included an idiot light for the temp. I have the temp light and a fuel gauge, not a full set. I do, however, have a few aftermarket gauges on hand though, SunPros and such: They work, but they don't look vintage or cool. What's a guy to do? Machine work, that's what! With the help of a die grinder, i removed the bezel from a broken SunPro temp gauge to use as a template. Armed with the GMC setup, a drill press, a lathe and some 1/2" aluminum plate, I decided to give it a shot. Naked SunPro temp gauge. I used a 2 1/2" hole saw to cut rounds out of the plate. A 1 3/4" hole saw was used to cut another hole in the round, leaving a ring that was about 2 3/8" od and 1 3/4" id. Oh, and, no, I didn't get any pics of the actual work in progress - I kinda had my hands full. I chucked the ring up in the lathe and cut the od down to 2 1/4" for about 1/2 of the 1/2" thickness. Cleaned up the id to a touch under 2". Then I cut an angle on the outer portion - 35 degrees and left a flat area about 1/16" before the step back to 2 3/8". On the inside, I cut the angle at 10 degrees, then did a 25 degree backcut at the outer edge, leaving 1/16" of flat across the face. Should have taken pics to explain it better, huh? Used a piece of aluminum round stock for the center button, like the Impala gauges, and put a divot in the ceter using a 1/2" ball end mill in the drill chuck of the lathe. I cut off the button, leaving a round "tab" on the backside. Anyway, the result was: And the assembled unit: Still needs a proper blackout installed and a new face (easy enough to do). Does it look okay? Too billet? I'm thinking the parts need to be polished. The next challenge is making 3 more just like it and a bigger one for the GMC speedo. Oh, and that lense is just a quicky made from a clear plastic welding lense shield, they'll get done right too. Personally, I'm stoked to have made some hot rod parts and something I can call progress! Tim D.
'63? '62? It was one of those three years......but it was in a junkyard about 2 years ago and it was an an old Chevy (Impala, Bel-Aire or Biscayne). That would explain the "'64(I think) Impala". My junkyard run memories are a bit fuzzy sometimes So....what is it? Tim D.
61-62 full size. (same dash, might be a slight difference in gauges but i'm pretty sure it's one of the two) Nice tech too.
Yep, just searched it......Tony nailed it. Makes me wonder what I grabbed out of the '64s that were in the yard at the time? I know the '64 SS was missing the tach before I got to it. Oops! Tim D.
Na, its not a '63 either. The '63 and 4's have all the guages behind one long plastic window that runs the entire length of the drivers insturment pannel. Those would have to be '61 or 2. Those two years had individual guages in that type of plastic chrome ring. The '59 and '60 had individual guages in metal cone shaped housings. Michelle I only know cause I have had two '64s and a '63 in my short life time.
I think in this case the B is for billet and bitchin'. Some folks get touchy about billet aluminum. Personally, I love billet aluminum! I think it's a great material to work with.............not so good when it's a title on the blister pack. Actually, does homemade billet fall into the "billet trap'? Would something like this keep my truck out of the Pileup or Billetproof? I'm just a poor boy, so if I want something cool I gotta make it myself. Yeah, yeah, that's it: Not billet, built-it! Thanks for the compliments! Like I said, it's cool to make even a little bit of what I can call progress. Tim D.
The Jalopy Journal
