Has anyone here ever repainted an old gauge cluster and restored it to look factory again? I just bought a cheap Duster cluster because I want to see if I can restore it. If I can, then I'll fix up the one in my car as well. I'm just picky about having that cheap and thick/shiny paint look when the original looks nothing like that. Anyone have before/after pics or any tips on the best paint or techniques to make it look factory again?

The chrome is actual vacuum plated chrome. There are no substitutes that look decent that I have found.

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Joshua

Even on a Duster cluster where just a few of the borders are chrome? I figured since there are no large chorme areas, it might not look that bad. If you've tried it though I'll just take your word for it.

Yep, anything other than chrome looks cheap. My Valiant has essentially the same instrument cluster as you Duster, just older and somewhat more simple. Be glad you aren't having a Barracuda dash rechromed.

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Joshua

I went cheap on my '67 dash by repainting all the black metal a semi gloss, the black plastic in gloss back. The chrome had been all rubbed off, and just nasty yellowed plastic was left to look at.

Josh is correct nothing looks like chrome, but.... Here is what I did:

I removed all the plastic dash trim from the dash, including the gage cluster, and the chunk covering the glove box.

I disassembled the gage cluster removing all the gages, cleaned & polished the clear plastic window.

Cleaned everything with paint prep to remove all grease, wax, and silicone so the new paint would stick, and not have fish eyes.

I very meticulously masked of all the black plastic exposing just the sections that were chromed from the factory. Than I sprayed several light coats of chrome paint on those areas, and followed with several clear coats, let it dry for a day or two. True rattle can chrome doesn't look like the original chrome, but now it is all the same color across the dash.

Removed the glove box door striped it of locks & hinges etc. than sanded, primed, masked the openings, and painted the metal sections of the dash in the car a semi gloss black, including both sides of the glove box door.

The plastic dash chrome painted sections were then masked off being very careful to make sure the tape aligned perfectly, than several "light" coats of gloss black were applied so as not to fill the stippling, and make any runs.

Then the fun began, I used a very fine artist brush to apply white paint to the embossed words around the heater controls, and over control knobs for lights wipers etc. being very careful to only coat the top face of each letter.

Than carefull reassembly taking care not to scratch anty thing.

This was a time consuming project, but my dash looks clean and crisp now.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Auto Instruments did a beautiful job rechroming and repainting the dash trim for our TMC 68 Fury.

Yeah but for what price TMC? A few hundred dollars?

wjajr, I've heard that clearing over chrome paint immediately dulls it. Was that true with your application?

I believe you're looking for this information over here.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

ESP47: It did not dull the so called chrome paint, it was all ready dull from the can. The reason I clear coated the silver/chrome was to keep it from eroding when being cleaned. Aluminum paint tends to rub off easily.





Perhaps I post a daylight shot tomorrow after completing the install of my tubular upper control arms. The flash illuminated the different surfaces unevenly.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Yeah Dan I was checking that stuff out, but $100+ is just too much to paint the trim on a Duster gauge cluster. Although I can't tell if you can just buy their 1 can of chrome paint for $30 and then put your own cheaper clear over it. Knowing my luck it would dull it and that'd be $30 down the drain.

Wow wjajr, now thats a clean ride! I'd definitely like to see some up close pics of what you've painted in the daylight.

ESP47:
Thanks for you kind comments.

Your are in luck, the sun is out for the seventh day this summer. Soon as I'll get the front end back together, and the wheels back on, I take a few for yeah.

Fast forward a few hours:

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Auto Instruments did it for us for free, as the car was to raise money for charity. If we had to pay for it, it would have been expensive.

Here's a place that puts real chrome on plastic: www.paulschrome.com

I did this for my '63 Dart GT convertible.

The parts look MUCH better than new and are much heavier with all the metal plating on plastic.

Pricey, but you get what you pay for . . .

--Walt Jackson

You could try c.v. vacum platers up here in B.C. they do excelent work for a fair price. They actually vacum plate just like the factory. My buddy just had his dash done & it looked like brand new. Very impressive.

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mopar or no car
68 Valiant 100 2dr post /6 a-904 susp mods
78 Ramcharger 4x4 360 727 3/4t 33"
67 Charger 383 4bbl 727 trick suspension

Here's another Idea if you wanna try it. There's this stuff called bare-metal foil, which is adhesive backed metal cut to fit trim. Ideal for model cars, but also it has lots of other uses as well. If you are poor like me, it's a good alternative to try.

www.bare-metal.com

Just a suggestion...