DYI cluster restoration

[emac]

dang, guess I will have to tune in next week for the final episode! Good work!

 

[rrv333]

Excellent work

 

[Martyt]

I stand corrected; nice job!

 

[troy scott]

I got my fiberglass polishing pen today. so I decided to give it a try. wow that deal really made short work of polishing the copper on the board.

before

after...
I like working on these small parts I can do it in the house in the a.c. while I watch Gunsmoke!

 

[troy scott]

Today I got my winter green oil in the mail I read a thread by @bapmia about restoring rubber the rubbers in my cluster weren't real crusty but the ones around the small glass were a little stiff and cracked in the corners so I thought I'd try to boil them in the oil as instructed by the thread

made a wire bottom not sure this was necessary

i brought to a boil and simmered for 45 min the thread said not to do this inside I second that after the fact it's real strong and our faces are burning be just a little

im a believer my rubbers look brand new and are flexible and clean

 

[troy scott]

Next day report. yes my house still smells like can of skoal

 

[emac]

but the rubber looks good!

 

[troy scott]

but the rubber looks good!

Ya!

 

[dmaddox]

Nice job man - keep up the good work.

 

[troy scott]

Nice job man - keep up the good work.

Guage stickers should be in tomorrow

 

[cruiserboy14]

I'm keeping an eye on this! you never know when you have to fix a gauge cluster. lol

 

[troy scott]

I'm keeping an eye on this! you never know when you have to fix a gauge cluster. lol

It's been kinda fun and not real tough to do

 

[Simcoe]

Impressive! Keep up the strong work. Can't wait to see the finished product

 

[troy scott]

So I decided while I'm resting, waiting for my guage stickers to come in. I'd work on my glove box door.

first I pulled everything off and took it to my handy dandy homemade sand blasting cabinet

then I primed and painted then cleaned up the door pull

 

[troy scott]

Final product

 

[troy scott]

So my numbers came in thank you Daniel from Gauge M arks for the friendly service and fast shipping also for a quality product

my ask if i would like her help. shes got some experience in with vinyl so i said yes i would! then i pretty well just watched and held the light. it's a little tricky to do to be honest. i have giant hands that just act retarded with dainty small items.

the others are a little easier to do cause, they have some line up dots. the speedo takes a little eyeballing

 

[troy scott]

On to the gauges

and whatever this piece is called

done with the stickers

they look really really good

 

[troy scott]

Thank you to my wife for her help with the vinyl now. I've got to attach back the gauge plates to the gauges.

the amp meter uses screws it was simple. the rest use rivets i had a time finding some small enough.

i had to make the holes just a fudge bigger and then it worked great!

all like new again

 

[troy scott]

Now for the odometer i really hadn't planned on getting to deep into this part. I figured i could just spray some cleaner in there and move on. But the more i cleaned on it the more i realized it was going to have to come apart. basically the numbers were stuck with dried up old grease.

Tried to keep everything together and clean one at a time and put it back the way it was. I was a little nervous about screwing up and ended up forgetting to take pictures.

 

[troy scott]

Put together time! Hope i remember how it goes back together. First the turn signal arrows get glued in.

then the high beam indicator light cover.

mounted the speedo and siliconed all the rubbers in and mounted the glass.

i shined up this grounding block and the spring on the fuel gauge that mounts to it. (sorry about my sucky pictures)