Instrument cluster restoration (update w/ pics 5/7)

[doctor4766]

Looks mighty fine from way over here Dino.
Good work mate.

[Dino]

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.

[Dino]

I also redid the black bar on the ac control plate with SEM trim black and it's as new again.

[WHITE AND RED 69]

Looking much better. Great work!    

[Fred]

Looking great 

[Dino]

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.

[Dino]

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!

[Dino]

Two more

[AirborneSilva]

Damn good work 

[Dino]

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.

[440]

Have you done a wear/scratch test without a clearcoat?

[Dino]

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.

[hatersaurusrex]

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...

[Dino]

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.

[bakerhillpins]

Looking good!  Looking dam good!   I know what thread I will be checkin out when I get to this.  

BTW - DIY might be more work, but soooo much more satisfying.   

[Dino]

Looking good!  Looking dam good!   I know what thread I will be checkin out when I get to this.  

BTW - DIY might be more work, but soooo much more satisfying.   

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.   

[ODZKing]

Looking good!  Looking dam good!   I know what thread I will be checkin out when I get to this.  

BTW - DIY might be more work, but soooo much more satisfying.   

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.   

I agree as well. And inventing ways of doing something that solves a problem is too.  Nice work.

[Dino]

Looking good!  Looking dam good!   I know what thread I will be checkin out when I get to this.  

BTW - DIY might be more work, but soooo much more satisfying.   

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.   

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. 

[hatersaurusrex]

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!

[Dino]

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.

[Dino]

Gauge cover

[Dino]

Clock

[Dino]

Speedometer

[AirborneSilva]

Damn, lookin good 

[mpdlawdog]

Mine next ?  Looks awsome