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| upgrade to gauge cluster https://slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=62438 |
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| Author: | '67 Dart 270 [ Sun Jun 03, 2018 9:29 pm ] |
| Post subject: | upgrade to gauge cluster |
I bypassed my amp meter per SSD's procedure (thanks Dan) so I installed a voltmeter in its place. Also, replaced idiot light with an oil pressure gauge. I have green LED's in there, the one's in the two new gauges are brighter, so it was hard to get clean pics with them on. But, it is awesome to actually know what my oil pressure is and have a working gauge where the dead amp meter was. Here are some pics: https://www.flickr.com/photos/151192512 ... 7029834174 Brian |
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| Author: | Dart270 [ Mon Jun 04, 2018 3:35 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: upgrade to gauge cluster |
Cool gauges and nice work on integrating them. Where did you get them? Lou |
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| Author: | '67 Dart 270 [ Mon Jun 04, 2018 6:13 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: upgrade to gauge cluster |
They are VDO gauges, 2 1/8"; I had to modify the cluster housing (cut out a lot of metal and rework the circuit board, fit and mount them custom in there). I basically had to ruin a dash cluster housing, but it was worth it. I cut the face plate to remove the "ALT" and "OIL" letters, using a 2" hole saw, touched up the edges with flat black. I used the small faceplate for the amp gauge and idiot lite, cut out as you can see, for the round gauges. Painted all the needles to match. brian |
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| Author: | '67 Dart 270 [ Mon Jun 04, 2018 6:15 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: upgrade to gauge cluster |
Oh, I modified the VDO gauges as well, had to remove the cover glass and cut some of the plastic on one side to fit them closely enough to make them align with the small modified face plate. |
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| Author: | Dart270 [ Mon Jun 04, 2018 6:58 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: upgrade to gauge cluster |
Great. Thanks for the rundown. Lou |
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| Author: | '67 Dart 270 [ Mon Jun 04, 2018 6:32 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: upgrade to gauge cluster |
Happy to share more if wanted. Now I have actual oil pressure numbers for my slant. Cold idle 55 psi. Hot idle 20-25 psi higher rpms 55-60psi Let me know if these numbers are not OK for some reason. Voltmeter reads almost 15 volts at startup but settles down to about 14v while driving, sometimes 13 volts, but never lower than 13 so far as I noticed. Brian |
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| Author: | Dart270 [ Tue Jun 05, 2018 6:04 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: upgrade to gauge cluster |
All those numbers sound about perfect to me. Lou |
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| Author: | '67 Dart 270 [ Tue Jun 05, 2018 10:06 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: upgrade to gauge cluster |
Thanks Lou. b |
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| Author: | SpaceFrank [ Tue Jun 05, 2018 7:53 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: upgrade to gauge cluster |
Very nice work, and those numbers sound good. Do you have any pictures of what you had to do to the backside of the instrument cluster? My '64 has a pretty different cluster arrangement, but I'd like to do something similar. |
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| Author: | '67 Dart 270 [ Wed Jun 06, 2018 12:49 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: upgrade to gauge cluster |
Sure, I'll dig up some more photos and post. It all started with an old cluster I had, and an "F" it attitude. I was playing with a 2 1/8" gauge and the cluster, doing measurements and there was just no way to fit in in there at the correct level to match the existing gauges, BUT, hey if I just drill out all this pot metal, I can put them at any level I want.... |
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| Author: | OGLeanDart270 [ Wed Jun 06, 2018 7:08 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: upgrade to gauge cluster |
I like the way those turned out, looks like they belong there even with the extra spaces cut out. Would really like to do something like that on my 64, but the dash looks great and being chrome would stand out more if I cut it up. Are there any smaller rectangular gauges out there? Brandon |
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| Author: | '67 Dart 270 [ Thu Jun 07, 2018 7:33 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: upgrade to gauge cluster |
Brandon, that is where I started. I looked high and low for small rectangular gauges. Perhaps some of the mid-60's larger cars, Coronet or Plymouth Fury had some. The early 70's Chevy Nova had some, but I never took measurements. I finally did some measurements and came up with this because the 2 1/8" rounds were the only option available to me. I figured I'd conceal their roundness by using the factory cover plates, but in the end, I had to cut those hemispherical sections so you can see the dials enough. b |
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| Author: | '67 Dart 270 [ Fri Jun 08, 2018 8:11 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: upgrade to gauge cluster |
OK, I added some more pics showing what it looks like (a little messy) on the back of the cluster. Read the descriptions with each pic. I had to use 90 degree boot bulb sockets for the gauges, and I swapped out the super bright LEDs in the gauges so they match the rest of the cluster lighting level. NOTE: I tried LED's in the turn signal bulb cluster but my turn signals didn't work, so put back incandescents there and it's fine. https://www.flickr.com/photos/151192512 ... 937791814/ |
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| Author: | '67 Dart 270 [ Sat Jun 09, 2018 8:41 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: upgrade to gauge cluster |
Maybe the administrator should move this to electrical, my bad. b |
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| Author: | '67 Dart 270 [ Sat Jun 16, 2018 5:56 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: upgrade to gauge cluster |
OK, I've been running these gauges for two weeks now; I'm very happy with how it turned out. They really look like they belong in there and no more idiot light or heavy amperage running under my dash (thanks to Dan's alt to battery shunt setup). It's really nice to know how much voltage is running through the system and what my oil pressure actually is. B |
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