third gen gauge cluster

[moparguy01]

I'm sure someone will say this is in the wrong spot, but its only alittle bit in the wrong spot. I found I was unhappy with the choices of gauge clusters for my 74 charger, as I wanted to put aftermarket gauges in. First i tried to find a way to use flat panels and welds. This ended disastrously. So i formulated another plan. Using my limited skills in sculpting clay and building fiberglass from start, here is what i've managed to come up with so far.

First I bought 25 pounds of crayola air dry clay. I then sculpted how i wanted to make my cluster look off of a cut up standard cluster i had sitting around. Here is to hoping that this works


I found to make the cut out for the speedometer (3-3/8") that a red solo cup was that diameter, so i used that as a "cookie cutter" to make the hole. To make the raised areas, i bought a set of the angle cups for mounting autometer gauges from autometer and filled one with clay and stuck them where I wanted them.

The next step is I needed something to try to keep the fiberglass from sticking to the clay. I used vegetable oil and wiped it down. It helped, however the clay mold did not survive the making of this cluster.




and then I cut off most of the excess, and checked the fit in the dash hole.



This is as far as I've gotten so far. I still need to do final shaping on the edges of the cluster, and some trimming. then cut out the holes for the gauges. Then I get to start laying out some body filler and smoothing it all down.
And if my measurements are correct, not only can I still put the factory heater controls where they went, I SHOULD be able to just barely fit an aftermarket cd player under the gauges on the right side. but just barely.

The clay mold did not survive this. I think the air dry clay absorbed moisture and caused it to crap and fall apart. I am thinking if I had used regular clay not only would it have ended up looking nicer, i could have had it kiln fired and probably used the same mold a few times? I just wanted to show some of you guys that you can try some of these things. Some times they work, other times they fail miserably. But sometimes you just have to try.

I'll post more updated as I continue on this next week. But the plus side is that the main shell is there and it fits quite nicely into its future home!

[SG1022]

Awesome! Keep us posted. 

[xpbprox]

Interesting 

[Dino]

Very creative!

When you fire the clay it'll shrink so you'd have to make the dash in a bigger scale, not very practical.

The best thing to do is sacrifice the clay (which you did) and make the fiberglass mold the master.  With that you can make a negative and start making duplicates.  Use wax as a barrier between the two.  Even wax paper will work.