I pulled the instrument cluster, radio bezel and upper dash plate out of the '69 and will be restoring them over the winter.
At one point it was sprayed with flat black, likely because the vacuum plating was deteriorating.
When I pulled the cluster all lights worked except the right turn indicator. All gauges work although the fuel gauge only shows a little over 3/4 full when it's topped off, but I don't think the issue is with the actual gauge, likely it's the float.
The rheostat does not work, the dash lights are on full all the time and I cannot control the dome light, it only lights up when I open the door.
Question 1: I have a spare rheostat that came with the car, how can I test if it works? I have to say I do not have access to my car at this time so can't pop something in the dash to give it a test run.
Question 2: When I want to install the performance car graphics decals which is the best black paint to use for the gauges? I had it written down somewhere but lost it. EDIT: should I use performance car graphics decals or premium dash decals? Which are better?
Question 3: Do I need to remove the speedo needle to install the new decal and if so how? Any other needles that need to be removed?
Question 4: The panels will be redone in satin black, does it matter which brand I go with? Anyone have a favorite?
Question 5: What is the best way to paint the lettering white and which paint to use? I'm thinking a tiny roller would work great if I use a 'dry' painting technique and use multiple thin layers to slowly build up the intensity.
When all is taken apart, I will use easy off oven cleaner to remove all the paint and old chrome from the trim, sand smooth the edges and paint them with high gloss black followed by spaz stix ultimate mirror chrome. If I prep it right it should be really close to the real deal.
Anything else I'm missing?
I have used both premium dash decals and performance car graphics decals and they are both great quality. I liked the performance car graphics a bit better though, some of the numbers just looked better than the premium ones. But for the gaskets and turn signal lenses go with premium dash decals. As for the needles you need to remove them from the speedo and of course the clock. For the speedo needle you need to hold the the round cylinder peice behind the plate in place so it doesnt move and gently pull the needle off. (if you get the performance car graphics decals it comes with detailed instructions on how to do this.) For the small gauges I used a piece of straw to manuver the needle out of the way while I got the decals in place. For paint I used flat white for the inside of the cluster and the needles and flat black for the gauges. And for the dash bezel I used SEM trim black and a duplicolor chrome for the surrounding trim.
Here are some pics of an old cluster I redid with performance car graphics decals. (this is not the one in my car, I went with the white decals for mine)
:cheers:
That looks great! Thanks for all that info!
Rather than a small roller to do the lettering, I used a paint pen.
You shake the pen with the lid on (don't ask me how I know you should have the lid on) and dab in onto a scrap of paper or any other non associated surface. This brings the paint to the tip of the pan. Then carefully dab the lettering on the dash fascia. Worked a treat for me.
I just finished stripping the paint from the three bezels, it's nice clean plastic now. I have pics but have yet to load them on the pc and resize them. I sprayed the bezels with easy off oven cleaner and wrapped them in saran wrap for several hours. Then used a fine wire brush and scrubbed them in a basin with water. I repeated this two or three times for the bezel above the glove box and the radio bezel, a few more repeats were needed for the instrument bezel but they all turned out great.
I'll get one of those elmer paint pens for the lettering. Not sure which black to get for the main color.
Quote from: doctor4766 on November 29, 2011, 05:38:51 PM
Rather than a small roller to do the lettering, I used a paint pen.
You shake the pen with the lid on (don't ask me how I know you should have the lid on) and dab in onto a scrap of paper or any other non associated surface. This brings the paint to the tip of the pan. Then carefully dab the lettering on the dash fascia. Worked a treat for me.
Yep, did the same with mine. Some are better than others as some are self leveling. The brush strokes will all even out. I used the Testors "Chrome". It's not really chrome but a bit brighter than plain silver.
Don't do it at an angle ... flat and they come out great.
That looks great! Nice job! :2thumbs:
Here's spme pics of the current progress. I don't have any before shots of the radio and RH trim pieces but they were covered in flat black paint like the cluster bezel. Those two pieces are a green-ish plastic while the cluster bezel is black. There's a few more specs of old paint or vacuum plating left but they are tiny. I'll get those off by hand later this week.
There's one small crack in the radio bezel at one of the mounting studs and a very tiny part of the bottom edge on the cluster bezel is nicked, easy fixes and the they'll be ready for paint.
Easy off is awesome!
Btw, does anyone know where the short brown wire goes on the cluster, I kinda pulled it by accident...
Before and after one round of easy off.
Last ones for now.
Cluster bezel after a good 4 rounds of easy off. I think I did the other parts twice, the cluster still had decent vacuum plating (except where I needed it), so it took some more oven cleaner!
Nice work.
I think the brown is off the wiper washer switch
Quote from: doctor4766 on December 15, 2011, 03:41:47 AM
Nice work.
I think the brown is off the wiper washer switch
I checked the fsm and found there's a wire running between the washer button and wiper switch which I would have never found if you hadn't told me.
Thank you much my good man! :cheers:
That's the one. :cheers: I got mine from eastwood but they have a different product number on it. Same stuff though.
http://www.eastwood.com/trim-paint-satin-black-aerosol-15-oz-net.html
Quote from: WHITE AND RED 69 on December 20, 2011, 01:56:45 PM
That's the one. :cheers: I got mine from eastwood but they have a different product number on it. Same stuff though.
http://www.eastwood.com/trim-paint-satin-black-aerosol-15-oz-net.html
Great! I think one of the local auto parts stores has those, if not then I'll get it online. Did you use a primer? I have an adhesion promoter for plastic and I'm hoping it'll be enough. I don't want to put too many layers on that plastic to preserve the crisp texture and lettering.
I just ordered the spaz stix chrome paint and high gloss black backing. I may have to wait a while to paint though as it's getting a bit cold here.
Nope, no primer on mine. Same as you I didnt want to add too many layers of paint cause it would hide the detail so I just cleaned it a few times with soap and water after I scraped off the old paint.
Dino,
Are you planning on spraying the chrome (base, chrome, then clear?) first, then masking off to spray the black textured areas? Is that paint used with an airbrush?
That easy off looks like it really worked well...no damage to plastic at all?
...nice job on the gauges WandR 69! :2thumbs:
Quote from: WHITE AND RED 69 on December 20, 2011, 04:57:10 PM
Nope, no primer on mine. Same as you I didnt want to add too many layers of paint cause it would hide the detail so I just cleaned it a few times with soap and water after I scraped off the old paint.
Excellent! Just what I wanted to hear. :2thumbs:
Quote from: richRTSE on December 20, 2011, 05:37:57 PM
Dino,
Are you planning on spraying the chrome (base, chrome, then clear?) first, then masking off to spray the black textured areas? Is that paint used with an airbrush?
That easy off looks like it really worked well...no damage to plastic at all?
...nice job on the gauges WandR 69! :2thumbs:
The easy off is amazing, it takes it off gently so it doesn't do a thing to the plastic. As soon as I removed it from the saran I started scrubbing it with a steel wire brush, tootbrush style, under warm water and it didn't even scratch the plastic. As loong as you have a bit of time it it is perfect, if you want all the paint and old chrome gone fast you'd have to go to something a bit agressive.
Ideally I would like to do the chrome first yes, then mask that off and do the textured area. However I still need to find out for sure, by way of experiment, if the chrome will dull once I hit it with clear. Alclad does that, I'm hoping that either I can clear the chrome and not lose any shine or that the chrome is so tough that I don't need to clear it. Seeing these chrome paints are usually pretty easy to scuff I'm hoping the clear will work. Then I sand the overspray and spray the sem trim black. The smooth chrome parts are much easier to mask than the textured part so it would make sense going this route.
I will document the rest of the work so I can share the good and bad with this way of doing things.
Edit: Sorry, missed that one. I will be using the airbrush paint yes, for both black and chrome, but you can use any high gloss black aerosol and the spaz chrome is available in aerosol as well. Since I have a compressor and airbrush I see no reason to buy a spraycan but if you lack those items then it's by far the cheapest route and should work fine. It's spaz stix ultimate mirror chrome, bought it right off their website as I couldn't find it locally.
I just cleaned up the clock and it looks like new. Do you guys ever reface these or will it match if I leave it as is and reface the rest of the gauges? Seems a bit silly to get a decal for it now. I do need to get a new stem for it, it's $13 with shipping so I hope this is not too hard to do. Only want to do this once.
There are a few ways to go on the face Dirk. You can buy the decals as you mentioned, but I'm fairly certain you'd have to get them all and would probably want to so they all match.
Or polish. Bring back the black with some compound or car wax. Don't press to hard, or the black will come off (ask me how I know that!!!). Or if they're not too bad and just need a little brightening ... VinylX works great. There is other stuff I've used too ... Back To Black (by Mothers). I like the vinylX a bit better , it doesn't attract the dust like some of the others will. :2thumbs:
do u repain the brown on the ralley dash or just clean it up n where do u find the right tone of brown if u paint it i want to redo my guage cluster on my 73 and 74 rr just not sure how to do it any help would be great
Quote from: roadrunner440 on December 26, 2011, 06:25:02 PM
do u repain the brown on the ralley dash or just clean it up n where do u find the right tone of brown if u paint it i want to redo my guage cluster on my 73 and 74 rr just not sure how to do it any help would be great
Those are tough. The first thing I would do is look for a used one. They are all over, e-bay, Craigs List, swap meets. If you don't need the gauges, they should be reasonable. OR buy it all and flip the gauges, you can probably get all if not most of your moneys worth out of it.
Repainting the bezel is tough because of the "grain" look of it. As far as the paint if you want to try, it is plastic ... I'd try a hobby shop or furniture repair place.
ive got 3 uncut rally dashes just thought u could freshin it up some how n make it look like new again
Quote from: ODZKing on December 26, 2011, 12:36:13 PM
There are a few ways to go on the face Dirk. You can buy the decals as you mentioned, but I'm fairly certain you'd have to get them all and would probably want to so they all match.
Or polish. Bring back the black with some compound or car wax. Don't press to hard, or the black will come off (ask me how I know that!!!). Or if they're not too bad and just need a little brightening ... VinylX works great. There is other stuff I've used too ... Back To Black (by Mothers). I like the vinylX a bit better , it doesn't attract the dust like some of the others will. :2thumbs:
Hey Bob, I also found out that you can't go nuts with the polish as my speedo now has a big white blotch where the black simply rubbed off! Oops... :icon_smile_big:
Since I will not be ordering every single decal in one go as I need to look at the car this spring and see what else I need, I will order all the gauge decals except the clock. It looks absolutely mint now. If I really can't make the clock and speedo match then I'll order the clock decal with whatever else I need. I just feel it would be a shame to put a decal over a perfectly good clock.
I'm almost done repairing the bezels, only a few tiny details left to do and they'll be ready for paint.
Dino, where are you getting the stem?
Steve
Quote from: Dino on December 27, 2011, 09:48:25 PM
Quote from: ODZKing on December 26, 2011, 12:36:13 PM
There are a few ways to go on the face Dirk. You can buy the decals as you mentioned, but I'm fairly certain you'd have to get them all and would probably want to so they all match.
Or polish. Bring back the black with some compound or car wax. Don't press to hard, or the black will come off (ask me how I know that!!!). Or if they're not too bad and just need a little brightening ... VinylX works great. There is other stuff I've used too ... Back To Black (by Mothers). I like the vinylX a bit better , it doesn't attract the dust like some of the others will. :2thumbs:
Hey Bob, I also found out that you can't go nuts with the polish as my speedo now has a big white blotch where the black simply rubbed off! Oops... :icon_smile_big:
Since I will not be ordering every single decal in one go as I need to look at the car this spring and see what else I need, I will order all the gauge decals except the clock. It looks absolutely mint now. If I really can't make the clock and speedo match then I'll order the clock decal with whatever else I need. I just feel it would be a shame to put a decal over a perfectly good clock.
I'm almost done repairing the bezels, only a few tiny details left to do and they'll be ready for paint.
The whole gauge overlay kit is like 25 bucks or so,and that usually includes tach OR clock optioned cars so it makes sense just to get them anyway. Always good for spares down the track if you dont use them now.
Quote from: Roth68rt on December 27, 2011, 11:37:04 PM
Dino, where are you getting the stem?
Steve
Steve, I'm ordering it from Instrument Services, Inc. http://clocksandgauges.com/
The stem is part #34139 and it's $9.95 + $3 shipping from IL to Mi, but it's likely the same to all 48.
This is the stem for the regular clock, the one for the tic-toc-tach is different so email them first if that's what you need.
Clock set stem is in the mail!
Unfortunately, several weeks after ordering the spaz stix chrome paint, numerous emails and no response, it looks like this stuff will not be arriving any time soon or ever. I called the company today and the phone is disconnected, that's usually not a good sign.....
So beware, do not order from spaz stix inc. I'll now have to file a complaint with paypal to get my money back.
Seems like nobody else has the brand in stock either so I have no clue what to do next.
There's other chrome paints but most of these are really tricky. From what I can tell you can't clear coat the chrome paint since it will dull it and if you touch it it'll leave a mark. So it's no good on a dash. By the time the parts are installed the chrome will be all messed up. Chrome foil is an option, I've never tried it so I might give it a shot.
Or I may have to end up using a spray can of chrome (shiny silver) paint and hope for the best. Bummer....
can u paint the black on the guage bezel on a raley dash for roadrunners n chargers on 73-74 stuff? if so is it flat black or semi gloss?
Thanks for the link Dino.
Steve
Quote from: WHITE AND RED 69 on November 29, 2011, 01:58:36 PM
But for the gaskets and turn signal lenses go with premium dash decals.
I saw that premium dash decals has a gasket kit that includes the brake decal, which I need. The price is certainly right @ $10.99 but just out of curiosity, why do you prefer these over the performance car graphics gaskets and lenses?
Quote from: Dino on January 10, 2012, 08:10:46 AM
Quote from: WHITE AND RED 69 on November 29, 2011, 01:58:36 PM
But for the gaskets and turn signal lenses go with premium dash decals.
I saw that premium dash decals has a gasket kit that includes the brake decal, which I need. The price is certainly right @ $10.99 but just out of curiosity, why do you prefer these over the performance car graphics gaskets and lenses?
Mainly cause they sell the whole kit and I prefered the dark grey gaskets to the tan. Just thought for some reason if the gasket somehow was showing through the bezel the dark grey would blend in better than tan? They are both great quality products. The lenses are the same, it was just a choice of color for the gaskets. :cheers:
Quote from: WHITE AND RED 69 on January 10, 2012, 01:53:54 PM
Quote from: Dino on January 10, 2012, 08:10:46 AM
Quote from: WHITE AND RED 69 on November 29, 2011, 01:58:36 PM
But for the gaskets and turn signal lenses go with premium dash decals.
I saw that premium dash decals has a gasket kit that includes the brake decal, which I need. The price is certainly right @ $10.99 but just out of curiosity, why do you prefer these over the performance car graphics gaskets and lenses?
Mainly cause they sell the whole kit and I prefered the dark grey gaskets to the tan. Just thought for some reason if the gasket somehow was showing through the bezel the dark grey would blend in better than tan? They are both great quality products. The lenses are the same, it was just a choice of color for the gaskets. :cheers:
Good to know! I do need the brake decal and the gasket for it, it was toast. I don't really need the turn signal lenses or gaskets, they're fine but I guess it wouldn't hurt to swap them anyway.
That's $8 at pcg just for the brake lens decal/gasket but for $11 at premium I'll have all the gaskets and lenses. I'll have to find out how much their shipping is, it would be easier to get everything in one place. It is a bit weird that the gaskets are tan at pcg.
Ah another decision to make :icon_smile_big:
Thanks again for the help! :cheers:
what"s pcg?
Quote from: roadrunner440 on January 11, 2012, 09:03:53 AM
what"s pcg?
performance car graphics
www.performancecargraphics.com
Well I got the new clock stem and then I found out that my chrome adjuster knob doesn't have the internal nut anymore....must be stuck on the old broken stem, wherever that is! Dammit.....
Edit:
Checked the clock knob again, isn't there supposed to be a hole in the top to get to the iner screw? Mine's closed. The inside of the knob as something brass in there but nothing that fits on the stem. Looks like I'm buying a new knob and nut...boy these little projects get out of hand fast....I'm afraid to start the bigger ones!
Do you do 3rd gen instrument cluster restoration.
Quote from: Dino on January 11, 2012, 09:51:53 AM
Well I got the new clock stem and then I found out that my chrome adjuster knob doesn't have the internal nut anymore....must be stuck on the old broken stem, wherever that is! Dammit.....
Edit:
Checked the clock knob again, isn't there supposed to be a hole in the top to get to the iner screw? Mine's closed. The inside of the knob as something brass in there but nothing that fits on the stem. Looks like I'm buying a new knob and nut...boy these little projects get out of hand fast....I'm afraid to start the bigger ones!
Can anyone say LORENA BOBBITT?
Aarrghhh even just seeing that name makes me cringe!!! :eek2:
71charger, I no longer do any restorations professionally. Just trying to make my own dash a bit more presentable.
Little projects always turn into larger ones... much much larger ones...
They sure do, and it shouldn't surprise me as I've been there and done that plenty times. But since I knew I had the little knob I didn't think I'd be shopping for another one. Oh well...
If anyone is looking for gauge work/repair:
http://www.thegaugedoc.com/
He does 66-74.
I had my 73 clock converted to quartz. I used Instrument Services. They did a great job, they know what they are talking about and were very knowledgeable. Turn around was 10 days.
http://www.clocksandgauges.com/
thanks anyway. you do some top notch stuff looking good.
I just ordered the decals from performance car graphics. I look forward to seeing those gauges and a/c buttons sparkle again! I also got a new clock knob, airtemp decal, brake lens decal and turn signal lenses with gaskets and the odometer lettering. I'm gonna be busy! I just remembered I need to find matching black paint for the surroundings. If I recall pcg says duplicolor flat is a close match, Lilwendall says krylon semi flat is a good match, will have to try one of those.
This past weekend I prepped the bezels for paint. I made sure that all that will be chrome was smooth as glass first. Since spaz stix never delivered, I got my money back from paypal and got some alclad chrome paint. Experiments start one of these days but it needs to be above 50 at the workbench.
Since it got pretty warm this weekend I decided to paint the bezels with sem trim black just to see if I like the sheen and it looks absolutely perfect! I then tried to do the white lettering with a pilot pen and the results are amazing. I gave the letters three coats with plenty time between them and it's perfect.
The interior may still be green but at least the dash will be a bit more pleasing to the eye!
The weather finally turned and it was gorgeous in SE Michigan yesterday. I prepped my radio bezel and started experimenting. I did not touch the other two bezels until I know exactly how to use this alclad chrome paint.
Since you get 6 different answers when you ask five people how to spray the chrome I thought I'd try a few things myself.
My first experiment was to spray an enamel gloss black, let it dry to the touch and then mist on the chrome paint. The next experiment will be to spray the black, let it dry for a week or so and then sand and polish it untill it is smooth as glass.
I first masked the bezel so I could sand and clean the parts that will be chrome. I then masked front and back and used a fine line tape to get a nice, crisp edge.
I used a small rattle can of black which left a very nice smooth finish. Next time I'll use my airbrush to get it even smoother because honestly, sandingg and polishing such small parts is asking for trouble.
The sun was out in full force so I was able to get it covered pretty fast. I then waited about half an hour and misted the chrome on and it looks pretty damn good.
It's not as good as chrome but you'd have to look really close. The pictures with flash make it look like silver but in normal light it's pretty much like polished stainless. I would have no problem leaving it as is but will still try the other way to compare.
more
last ones for now
Glad the weather was nice yesterday - it sucked when I was there Saturday! ;)
The trim looks nice! I may have to test that process on some junk I have laying around.
Troy
Quote from: Troy on March 12, 2012, 08:39:26 AM
Glad the weather was nice yesterday - it sucked when I was there Saturday! ;)
The trim looks nice! I may have to test that process on some junk I have laying around.
Troy
Yeah Saturday was only so-so but I was in class most of the day anyway.
The chrome paint is definitely worth a shot, I'm sure I can get it closer to chrome even although as I said, it looks just fine as is.
The way it works is pretty cool. This is not like spray can chrome paint. The chrome is really thin, you won't see the first few coats really. What happens is that the gloss from the black enamel becomes the gloss of the chrome, so in effect you are changing the black into chrome.
The chrome bottle is real small but I think I can do several bezel sets with one bottle.
:coolgleamA: nice work :yesnod:
Looks mighty fine from way over here Dino.
Good work mate.
Thanks guys!
Few more pics. First one is a bit blurry but shows well how the new decals look compared to the yellowing gauges.
I still have to do the clock and the a/c buttons. The bezel above the glove box is done as well but I have a small paint spec on it I need to correct.
Does anyone have some detailed pics of the instrument cluster bezel? I'm not positive where the chrome around gauges and switches needs to be exactly.
I also redid the black bar on the ac control plate with SEM trim black and it's as new again.
Looking much better. Great work! :2thumbs:
Looking great :2thumbs:
Thanks!
I redid all the chrome yesterday but I'm not happy with it so will be redoing all of it.
The radio plate looked great until I did the bezel above the glove box. That turned out so well I was shocked to see how much more shine it had just by using a different black base. Unfortunately I also had my airbrush spit some droplets on there which look like silver splatters. Yesterday I redid both and the instrument panel bezel but again I have a few drops in it and it's not as shiny as it should be.
Lots of work but that's how it has to be. Hopefully I will have these done by next weekend so I can do the gauge housing and get this project finished.
Progress report!
After redoing the parts I'm quite happy with how it turned out. This is as close to chrome as I can get it and it's pretty damn close. I tried capturing it with my little camera but it's easier said than done. It doesn't help that I'm not the best photographer.
Alas something had to go wrong. When I shot the last coat of gloss black on the parts a fly decided to land on the top edge of the ps bezel. It managed to crawl onto the front edge (the most visible) and ruin the paint. Since I knew a storm was coming I had no time to clean it all up and redo it so I decided to finish the instrument and radio bezels, I'll redo the ps bezel some other time. It's the easiest of the bunch anyway.
At this point the radio bezel is done and ready to go back in the car. The instrument bezel needs a bit more work. Before I shot the gloss black and chrome I sanded the whole thing so all that is left is to mask the chrome that stays, do some sanding and shoot the whole thing with trim black and then redo the lettering.
Enjoy the pics!
Two more
Damn good work :2thumbs:
Thanks buddy!
I have to say that it would be a whole lot easier to just buy a new set or have your old set vacuum plated, but of course the price for the diy route cannot be beat. Because of my experiments I'm a bit low on chrome so I hope I have enough for the ps bezel but at $9 for a bottle, it's not too bad. I think I paid $7 for the gloss black but any gloss black enamel will work. Of course you do need an airbrush and compressor to spray the chrome as well.
For those who want to try this at home, this is what you need to do/buy:
First of all you want to sand what needs to be chrome as smooth as a baby's butt. The chrome paint only works if your gloss black looks like a mirror. Any texture in it and the chrome will fail. The gloss of the black will be the gloss of the chrome.
I used Alclad Chrome II #107 over Alclad gloss black #307 but something like modelmasters enamel gloss black will work as well. DO NOT USE LACQUER....EVER.
Now a lot of people spray the gloss black, let it dry for a few days and then sand and polish it. Now this will definitely give you the smoothest possible finish but I have two issues with that method. First of all, it's near impossible to sand and polish those narrow parts on a bezel and second, once you polish it there's not a lot for the chrome paint to grab onto to. Hence you will find a lot of reports of people saying once the chrome is on, you cannot touch it or it'll rub off. Obviously that's not going to work for dash bezels, you'll never get them back in the car without damaging them.
What I do is shoot 2-3 coats of the gloss black real wet, close to it's running point, that gives me the smooth finish I need. I then let it sit out in the sun for a good 20-30 minutes until it is dry to the touch. Then I mist a few ultra thin coats of chrome on top until it's the shade I want. Now the chrome has the soft enamel to bite into. After a few hours it's so sturdy I can take a cotton rag and polish it up without fear of rubbing it off.
Have you done a wear/scratch test without a clearcoat?
Quote from: 440 on March 26, 2012, 08:05:12 AM
Have you done a wear/scratch test without a clearcoat?
Yes, the chrome will wear if you keep rubbing it, it's very thin. It will scratch just as easy as any other paint because you are in effect scratching the black underneath the chrome. You'd have to put some effort into it to get the crhome off though. I have handled these pieces a lot in the last few days and they are in no way wearing faster than anything else, it's pretty sturdy paint. Don't touch it with polish though because the chrome will rub right off and you're left with gloss black. I polish the chrome with a cotton cloth and nothing else. I forgot to mention that when you dust the chrome onto the black it will be dusty, there will be a layer of dust on the chrome when you're done. All you do is let it sit for a while and simply wipe it off with a cotton rag or a soft brush.
There's no clearcoat I found that won't dull the finish. I tried some really mild waterbase clears I use on wood projects and it changes to chrome to shiny silver immediately. The protection would be great yes but what's the point if you lose the shine right?
Once it's in the car, all I will have to do is dust it off from time to time and I don't foresee any problems with it coming off.
Wow that looks phenomenal. I'm going to do the exact same thing to my 68, the dash is pretty gross and the speedo face has rusted over. That seems to be common.
Do you have any masking pics of the speedo portion before you applied the alclad? That looks like a pain to mask properly and was curious how you did it...
Quote from: hatersaurusrex on March 28, 2012, 11:56:30 PM
Wow that looks phenomenal. I'm going to do the exact same thing to my 68, the dash is pretty gross and the speedo face has rusted over. That seems to be common.
Do you have any masking pics of the speedo portion before you applied the alclad? That looks like a pain to mask properly and was curious how you did it...
Masking is pretty easy just a bit time consuming. I did the instrument panel bezel twice, didn't like it the first time around. When I masked it the first time I maksed everything so only what needed to be chrome was exposed. This took a while. Second time around I didn't mask the inside of the gauge holes and around the buttons. It's easy enough to quickly sand those areas anyway.
Easiest way to mask it is to get some wide painters tape. Blue, tan, green, doesn't matter. Press it around the gauges and use your fingernail to press it against the outer rim of the gauges and knobs. There's a tiny ledge there. Now take a very sharp blade and cut against that ledge to remove the tape from the gauges. Put on the next piece of tape, overlapping the previous part and repeat. Now when you paint the chrome it'll stop at an edge so you don't accidentally create one that shouldn't be there. After it has dried thoroughly you can mask the chrome parts with a fine line tape and spray the black parts.
I also used fine line tape against the top chrome border. Fine line tape always goes on last so get real close to the top ledge with the regular painters tape, then do the fine line.
I hope this make sense, if not I'll do a mock up tonight and snap a few pics.
Looking good! Looking dam good! :drool5: I know what thread I will be checkin out when I get to this. :2thumbs:
BTW - DIY might be more work, but soooo much more satisfying. :yesnod:
Quote from: bakerhillpins on March 29, 2012, 06:39:52 PM
Looking good! Looking dam good! :drool5: I know what thread I will be checkin out when I get to this. :2thumbs:
BTW - DIY might be more work, but soooo much more satisfying. :yesnod:
Very true, the satisfaction of doing the work yourself AND saving the original parts is much more rewarding than ordering new parts. Not easier, but definitely makes you feel better. :icon_smile_big:
Quote from: Dino on March 30, 2012, 06:52:24 AM
Quote from: bakerhillpins on March 29, 2012, 06:39:52 PM
Looking good! Looking dam good! :drool5: I know what thread I will be checkin out when I get to this. :2thumbs:
BTW - DIY might be more work, but soooo much more satisfying. :yesnod:
Very true, the satisfaction of doing the work yourself AND saving the original parts is much more rewarding than ordering new parts. Not easier, but definitely makes you feel better. :icon_smile_big:
I agree as well. And inventing ways of doing something that solves a problem is too. Nice work.
Quote from: ODZKing on March 30, 2012, 08:11:01 AM
Quote from: Dino on March 30, 2012, 06:52:24 AM
Quote from: bakerhillpins on March 29, 2012, 06:39:52 PM
Looking good! Looking dam good! :drool5: I know what thread I will be checkin out when I get to this. :2thumbs:
BTW - DIY might be more work, but soooo much more satisfying. :yesnod:
Very true, the satisfaction of doing the work yourself AND saving the original parts is much more rewarding than ordering new parts. Not easier, but definitely makes you feel better. :icon_smile_big:
I agree as well. And inventing ways of doing something that solves a problem is too. Nice work.
Thanks Bob! It sure is satisfying to find your own ways of doing things. I'm waiting for the temps to go up a bit again and the humidity to go down a notch or two so I can finish the bezels.
Quote from: Dino on March 29, 2012, 06:22:36 AM
Quote from: hatersaurusrex on March 28, 2012, 11:56:30 PM
Wow that looks phenomenal. I'm going to do the exact same thing to my 68, the dash is pretty gross and the speedo face has rusted over. That seems to be common.
Do you have any masking pics of the speedo portion before you applied the alclad? That looks like a pain to mask properly and was curious how you did it...
Masking is pretty easy just a bit time consuming. I did the instrument panel bezel twice, didn't like it the first time around. When I masked it the first time I maksed everything so only what needed to be chrome was exposed. This took a while. Second time around I didn't mask the inside of the gauge holes and around the buttons. It's easy enough to quickly sand those areas anyway.
Easiest way to mask it is to get some wide painters tape. Blue, tan, green, doesn't matter. Press it around the gauges and use your fingernail to press it against the outer rim of the gauges and knobs. There's a tiny ledge there. Now take a very sharp blade and cut against that ledge to remove the tape from the gauges. Put on the next piece of tape, overlapping the previous part and repeat. Now when you paint the chrome it'll stop at an edge so you don't accidentally create one that shouldn't be there. After it has dried thoroughly you can mask the chrome parts with a fine line tape and spray the black parts.
I also used fine line tape against the top chrome border. Fine line tape always goes on last so get real close to the top ledge with the regular painters tape, then do the fine line.
I hope this make sense, if not I'll do a mock up tonight and snap a few pics.
Makes perfect sense, no need for a mockup, but thanks for offering :) Building a catalog of how-tos so I have everything organized when the process starts. Thanks again!
Alright, I heard this wild rumor that you guys like pictures and who am I to interfere with that request!
I put the decals on the clock and replaced the broken stem. Unfortunately I lost the small spring and cog that were on the old stem but luckily instrument services had them in stock and two days later they arrived. I now have a functioning clock again. That was the last of the gauges, they're good to go back in the cluster. I reassembled the speedometer and refaced the odometer. The pics show the difference between original and decals, quite a bit brighter now! The far left wheel is original while the others have the decals on them. It was hard to capture it with my camera but you get the idea.
I spent quite some time today cleaning up the clear plastic gauge cover. It was so scratched you could barely see through it. I sanded the whole thing starting with 600 grit and ending with 12000. Then used a coarse polish and a fine plastic polish to finish it up. I used a dremel with polishing pads and a small polishing pad on a drill. Looking good now!
The cluster housing is done, new brake system decal, new turn signal lenses and all new gaskets.
I also did a few a/c buttons and I have to admit that for $12 for the set, this is definitely worthwhile. If this had failed I would have used transfer letters but it's really nice.
I'm waiting for the humidity to go down and the temp to go up a bit so I can finish the bezels. The passenger side needs its chrome and black redone, the instrument bezel just needs the black and the white lettering done. More pics to come.
Gauge cover
Clock
Speedometer
Damn, lookin good :2thumbs:
Mine next ;)? Looks awsome :2thumbs:
Thanks guys. 'Next' may be a while, I got a lot more work than I have free time...but uhm I have to go to Ohio from time to time so if I could be ignored by law enforecement maybe we can set something up. :icon_smile_big:
I see you are from Ann Arbor so that might be hard to get you through Buckeye country safely ;D.....Actually I have three friends that are big U of M fans (me included)..we have gone to the Big House at least once in the past 7 years!
Nice work on the panels.....thats on my list of stuff I want to do
:smilielol:
I thought about putting a big block M on the charger but figured I'd have to run from the rivals too much.
I may end up writing a how to from start to finish on bezel/gauge restoration but I'm not sure its something needed.
Well it looks like I'm almost done with the cluster. Everything is assembled and ready to go back in the car. One last thing I'll do is go over the white letters again and do any touch ups with an x-acto blade and a toothpick. I have an 'A' and an 'F' or two that got a bit too much paint. :icon_smile_big:
I tested my old rheostat which seems to be as dead as they get. Luckily the '70 rheostat I have seems to work fine so here's hoping.
Pics to follow
And here they are. Haven't done the touch ups yet or screwed the bezel to the housing. I tried once more capturing the painted chrome and it does show how similar the reflection is between the paint and the switches.
I'm very happy with how it turned out, it looks better than new and not counting my time but materials only it was about $100-$120 to redo the cluster and 3 bezels.
First pic shows the chrome paint masked so I could redo the black. I had to do it this way because my experiment painting chrome turned out so well and I didn't want to redo it. Normally you paint the black first since it's much easier to mask afterwards. Whichever route you take you will need a seriously sharp x-acto knife and good masking tape, best you can find.
Some more
Last ones for now, more to come when it's all back in the car.
I think there's quite a bit of info in this thread to get you started but at this point feel free to post questions in this thread so we can all help you with your instrument cluster/bezel restoration.
:o Nice work!!!
Quote from: mpdlawdog on April 24, 2012, 07:29:45 AM
:o Nice work!!!
:yesnod: :yesnod:
nice job :2thumbs: :coolgleamA:
Nice.... Can't believe how well the chrome turned out for paint!
Were did you get that chrome paint?
Thanks gents!
I got the paint at the local hobby shop, you can find it pretty much anywhere.
This is what I used:
Alclad gloss black base ALC-304
Alclad II chrome ALC-107
Both were less than $10 each and it's plenty to do all 3 bezels.
You can use any gloss black for base but it MUST be enamel, don't even think about putting anything else down because the chrome will NOT stick! Testors modelmasters gloss black works fine as well, I have a small spray can of the stuff and the results between that and the alclad black are identical.
The ALC-107 chrome is for an airbrush, you can buy it in spraycan as well but to be honest it will be damn tricky to paint as you need to put a fine mist down over the black, if you spray it like regular paint your chrome will be plain silver.
Again this is not for everyone, I've been painting for a very long time and it's pretty hard to get right but when you do it's friggin' awesome!
Quote from: Dino on April 24, 2012, 11:06:19 AM
Thanks gents!
I got the paint at the local hobby shop, you can find it pretty much anywhere.
This is what I used:
Alclad gloss black base ALC-304
Alclad II chrome ALC-107
Both were less than $10 each and it's plenty to do all 3 bezels.
You can use any gloss black for base but it MUST be enamel, don't even think about putting anything else down because the chrome will NOT stick! Testors modelmasters gloss black works fine as well, I have a small spray can of the stuff and the results between that and the alclad black are identical.
The ALC-107 chrome is for an airbrush, you can buy it in spraycan as well but to be honest it will be damn tricky to paint as you need to put a fine mist down over the black, if you spray it like regular paint your chrome will be plain silver.
Again this is not for everyone, I've been painting for a very long time and it's pretty hard to get right but when you do it's friggin' awesome!
Lookin darn good Dirk, but I think I'll leave things like that to the Pro's (such as yourself) :yesnod:
Quote from: AirborneSilva on April 24, 2012, 11:14:29 AM
Lookin darn good Dirk, but I think I'll leave things like that to the Pro's (such as yourself) :yesnod:
Nah, if you follow the rules you can do this as well. The only difficult part is the chrome and fixing cracks and chips. Painting it black and doing gauges is easy.
Yesterday I cleaned up the white letters with an exacto and of course I had to slip and carve right into the top chrome edge. :brickwall:
Nobody will be able to tell when it's in the car but damn did this have to happen right before I finished the damn thing!? I also messed up a switch, see my other thread. :rotz:
Dino, Let me get this strait. you painted the whole bezel with the sem trim paint, Then sanded the chrome area, then used alclad gloss black followed by alclad chrome. Will the lacquer paint eat this plastic. It says the alclad gloss black is Lacquer. Or did you paint it in enamel gloss black then paint chrome on that. I would like to try it i love what you did. :2thumbs:
Quote from: montana bird on April 27, 2012, 02:45:00 PM
Dino, Let me get this strait. you painted the whole bezel with the sem trim paint, Then sanded the chrome area, then used alclad gloss black followed by alclad chrome. Will the lacquer paint eat this plastic. It says the alclad gloss black is Lacquer. Or did you paint it in enamel gloss black then paint chrome on that. I would like to try it i love what you did. :2thumbs:
First of all, Alclad is a bit confusing. The name of the company is Alclad lacquer or something like that, but the paint is actually enamel. I know, it's crazy but it's true! :icon_smile_big:
The chrome will not stick to lacquer at all. Many people have used Tamiya gloss black lacquer, which is a great product btw, and the chrome never dries, it just won't fully adhere or cure.
Second, many people will say to shoot the gloss black, let it dry overnight and if possible sand and polish it because the better the base, the better the final finish. There's only one problem with that, the chrome paint doesn't stick to cured, smooth as glass enamel.
This method works on something that you paint and never have to touch again but that won't work for our application becuase the chrome would be rubbed off by the time you had the bezels back in the car.
I actually went backwards with the order of paint as I didn't think the first experiment would turn out so well but here's the way I would do it if I started over.
When your bezels are ready for paint you shoot the SEM trim black, or any flat/satin black of your choice, and let it cure thoroughly.
Mask all the black and sand everything that will end up chrome. This needs to be absolutely perfect, cut a corner and your chrome will be silver.
In one sitting shoot all the gloss black, again it has to be perfect. If a fly gets into it, as happened on one of mine, remove all the enamel and start over, don't even think of doing a touch up!
Give it enough time in a nice warm environment (had mine in the sun with 65-70 degrees outside) for at least 20 - 30 minutes. When you run your finger over the enamel black on the masking paper it needs to be pretty dry, not tacky.
With the airbrush on low pressure evenly mist a very very thin layer of chrome on. so thin you're not sure anything came out of the airbrush. The chrome dries almost istantly so when you reach the end go over it again, same technique. The black gloss will now turn into chrome.
Before you do all the bezels you may want to just do the radio bezel like I did, if it fails it won't take 5 minutes to sand it and start over. All the gauges is a different story!
With this chrome paint less is more, one mist too many and it'll turn silver so beware.
In the sunlight when it looks like black chrome you pretty much got it.
Also, the chrome leaves dust behind, this is normal so don't panic. After you're done leave it alone for a little while, take a brand new soft brush and simply brush the dust off. By the time you have everything assembled you can wipe down the chrome with a cotton cloth and it will actually polish it a bit. DO NOT USE ANY CLEANING OR POLISH PRODUCTS AS THE CHROME WILL DISAPPEAR!!!!!!
I have handled these parts a lot since I finished and no chrome is wearing off, I've also stuck several different masking tapes on chrome you can't see once installed and left them there for several days and again nothing came off when I removed them, be it slow or fast.
Dino....your a Master-Masker! What did you use to mask with? :scratchchin:
Thank you dino. The lacquer name got the best of me. I understand now. :2thumbs:
Quote from: b5blue on April 27, 2012, 05:38:52 PM
Dino....your a Master-Masker! What did you use to mask with? :scratchchin:
Not to mention EXTREMELY patient :yesnod:
Patience is a must, you can't rush this stuff.
I use frog tape and 3M blue painters tape. As you can see, the green frog tape is my fave for this job. :icon_smile_big:
Any painters tape with medium tack will do fine. I would avoid low tack as you really need a good bond on the corners. I have a certain way of masking these corners so I'll do a small write up with pics on it but it'll have to wait until next week, this weekend's a bit busy for me.
Apart from tape you'll need an x-acto knife and new blades and a few toothpicks. Compressed air is a bonus, be it an airgun or a can.
I installed the cluster yesterday but will have to pull it out again, the spare rheostat switch I had is also not doing anything, one of the bulbs on the circuit board is either loose or busted and for some reason the clock no longer works.
I'm a bit worried about the rheostat but the rest is hopefully an easy fix.
Here's a few pics.
Veeerrry nice! :2thumbs:
Once I have the cluster repaired (see my thread in electrical) I'll post some pics of it with the lights on. These are pics of how it sits now. I still have to finish the bezel over the glove box and then align the radio plate, it's a bit crooked right now.
I'm very happy with how it turned out, it's so nice to look at a cluster without seeing the paint or chrome peel off.
In the last picture you can see how warped the a/c dash pad is, it's actually coming off the frame creating quite the gap. That'll be a project for another day though. :icon_smile_big:
It's lookin' very nice. Arm rest fits right in. You going to paint that to match?
Thanks Bob! Yeah the armrest is great! Thanks again for hooking me up!
Since the interior will not remain green I'm going to leave the armrest as is. If the interior becomes black then it'll match, if I go the saddle route then I'll dye it.
I also may end up making the armrest pad a bit thicker because right now it's a very nice height, but my seat foam is pretty much non existant so once I have new foam and seat covers, the armrest may be a bit too low. I may end up matching the height a bit closer to that of the door rest so maybe add an inch with soft foam, I have tons of material at work I can use and even have black leather to recover if I wanted to. But that can wait, the armrest looks fine as it sits.
Regardless it's the best mod so far, I love that armrest!
i really wish somone would redo a 71-74 ralley dash for b bodys i want mine to look perfect not sure how to paint the brown or the black n have it look perfect or event the right shade and wood grain and where to get the parts 4 the guages and the new guage decals
Quote from: roadrunner440 on May 10, 2012, 10:18:05 PM
i really wish somone would redo a 71-74 ralley dash for b bodys i want mine to look perfect not sure how to paint the brown or the black n have it look perfect or event the right shade and wood grain and where to get the parts 4 the guages and the new guage decals
Are the gauges suffering from the same 'rust behind white lettering syndrome' as the 2nd gens? That's strange that nobody is remaking these then. I've never had a 3rd gen dash in my hands, is is a plastic molded instrument panel with simulated grain or is it smooth with painted grain or a decal?
Dirk, the bezel is molded plastic and has the wood grain pattern molded in it, if that's what you were asking.
Quote from: AirborneSilva on May 11, 2012, 07:02:42 AM
Dirk, the bezel is molded plastic and has the wood grain pattern molded in it, if that's what you were asking.
Yes I was but it's early and I can be very confusing if I'm not loaded up with coffee! :icon_smile_big:
Thanks for clearing that up. :2thumbs:
So it's pretty much the same way they did the woodgrain steering wheels and those wear, become smooth and lose their pattern. How does the dash age? Does it become smooth around switches and knobs or is the main issue the colors? A good airbrush artist can redo the grain with paint, and so will those steering wheel resto guys, but I'm sure there will be a high price to pay.
Mine doesn't show any wear around the switches and or knobs, it's just from abuse (not much there thank God), and from the moron painting the dash baby blue and not bothering to mask :slap: I'll try to post a picture in the next couple of days, or maybe someone else can...
nice
Dino, I can't believe how good of a job you did on these bezels. Oh my Lord!
Thanks! :cheers:
This is kinda on topic, sorry for stealing the thread :icon_smile_big: but, what's an un-restored 69 Chrager gauge cluster worth? Thanks and back to your regularly scheduled thread :2thumbs:
I've seen them on eBay with and without tachs going for around 3-400 on eBay with bids on them.
There was some bullshit TV show (Maybe Counting Cars?) where they were restoring a Coronet. The shop monkeys went shopping for a rally cluster and bought one, taking it in the ass for something like $1200! The cluster was core material needing restoration.
I have 2 now that I am installing the Dakota Digital guages. $2400 would be over halfway there to a 4 speed OD trans kit!
Quote from: rikubot on November 22, 2015, 10:59:52 PM
I've seen them on eBay with and without tachs going for around 3-400 on eBay with bids on them.
Did I mention eBay? I meant to say eBay two more times...
Damn I'm an idiot and shouldn't respond when I'm tired haha
Quote from: Kern Dog on November 25, 2015, 05:13:34 AM
There was some bullshit TV show (Maybe Counting Cars?) where they were restoring a Coronet. The shop monkeys went shopping for a rally cluster and bought one, taking it in the ass for something like $1200! The cluster was core material needing restoration.
I have 2 now that I am installing the Dakota Digital guages. $2400 would be over halfway there to a 4 speed OD trans kit!
How much is the Dakota Digital setup? It is pretty badass.
Mine was $950 through Summit.
Damn thats quite a bit cheaper than I expected. Nice!