Gauge Cluster Restoration, and switch repair/restoration

[DadsCharger00]

Probably met one of the most informative, and talented people in a long time yesterday. I found an add for gauge restoration. Charger Ralley (68-70) gauges and so I called the gentlemen up. Long story short, pry one of the COOLEST garages I've been in for quite some time. In his past life he was a utility lineman, but has since started a hobby restoring all the gauges, switches, clusters etc. for these cars. First thing ya see in the garage is a 69. His original car bought in 1970.  Fender tag, original sales sheet, build sheet.....all look brand spankin new.  :cheers:Car is mid restoration, but coming along very nicely.  The man is organized. Has shelves full of gauge clusters, gauges all sorted out, and rowed. Drawers full of switches, and switch parts, and volt meters, and even a machine he created to test Tachs to ensure they are accurate. whats sitting on the shelf there? an original tic toc tach....ticking away keeping time like it did back in 1969.  Likely has 30+ clusters, TONS of face plates, and micellaneous parts. Does all this for fun. As a hobby. Sells them at 500$. Just enough for him to make enough money to buy the parts to make another one. Quality of work is great. I was impressed. Hes very meticulous in his work.  Tought me a few tricks of the trade. Showed me a few, and we discussed hundreds of other things. He is certainly going to be a valuable resource for me going forward. We talked for over 3 hours. It was a great time. I should have my new cluster in a week! I'll be taking pictures and such and posting em then.  He took my cluster and is going to use it as well. Couldn't be happier at this point....now just to put it all together and for the first time have working gauges in the beast! Pictures soon!

[twodko]

Looking forward to the pix!

[pro451bee]

How can the guy be contacted?

[DadsCharger00]

At this point me.  I told him for the time being I wouldnt give out his info.

[Dino]

an original tic toc tach....ticking away keeping time like it did back in 1969. 

So was it 15 minutes slow or fast?   

[DadsCharger00]

  nicely put! I wasnt aware but he said it could be adjusted too? Ya know...to fix that haha!

[Dino]

Yep you can adjust it...sorta.     It'll still be off though.  The only way to make it run correct is to convert it to quartz.  I make it a habit to adjust my clock when I roll down the driveway and yes I need to adjust it pretty much every day.

[DadsCharger00]

TEASER PHOTO! Got em back yesterday. Didn't get a chance for a good photo opp, but heres the one that I did get....It turned out great! I'm super happy with it!

[DadsCharger00]

Painted the bezel tonight

[DadsCharger00]

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[DadsCharger00]

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[DadsCharger00]

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[tan top]

looks good 

[Dino]

Looking good!   

Did you have the bezel plated or did you use paint for the chrome trim?

That odometer can be set to 0 real easy should you want to do that by the way.

[DadsCharger00]

Looking good!   

Did you have the bezel plated or did you use paint for the chrome trim?

That odometer can be set to 0 real easy should you want to do that by the way.

I just painted it.  Not plating.  I had the option to go back to 000000 but chose to go to the miles that were on it at the time.  No reason I guess. 

[Dino]

Looking good!   

Did you have the bezel plated or did you use paint for the chrome trim?

That odometer can be set to 0 real easy should you want to do that by the way.

I just painted it.  Not plating.  I had the option to go back to 000000 but chose to go to the miles that were on it at the time.  No reason I guess. 

I reset mine to 0 just because the odometer wasn't showing the real miles anyway.  Nothing wrong with leaving it as is.

The whole thing looks great and it's by far the best thing to do for instant gratification.  Evry time I got in my car that old worn cluster made me a bit sad, now that it's all looking like new it's awesome!

[DadsCharger00]

I would agree. Cant wait to get that thing in the dash! So its pretty easy to reset it to zero? Do share!

[Dino]

I would agree. Cant wait to get that thing in the dash! So its pretty easy to reset it to zero? Do share!

I'll scan and post the instructions from performancecargraphics.  It's not hard to do, but I'm not good at explaining it.

[Dino]

Sorry bud, forgot to scan it,  I'll try not to forget tonight.

Btw, don't foreget to get rid of that stock voltage regulator and buy a solid state type.  This one's about the best you can find.  http://rt-eng.com/rte/index.php/RTE_limiter

[Hard Charger]

how did you paint the bezel? it looks great.

[Dino]

I looked high and low but I can't find the instructions anywhere.  I must've pitched it.  Sorry man...

[DadsCharger00]

how did you paint the bezel? it looks great.

Couple of different ways to do it.  U can either take it all the way down to bare plastic with oven cleaner or what I did. All I did was use a soft wire brush and steel wool to take the sheen off it and get rid of the chrome still left. Then I used multiple light coats of rattle can paint.  Bought some fine tip paint pens and finished it off!

[adauto]

I think its lookin' great!

[Hard Charger]

it must have been difficult painting the chrome area, how did you tape it off?

[DadsCharger00]

Actually I didn't tape if off at all. I just used that fine tip pen, and as steady of a hand as I could! I had a black pen around just in case my "steady" hand got a little unsteady, and some tooth pics to paint the super small areas. It takes some time, but can be done in an evening. The paint pens dry really fast. So even if you make a mistake you can cover it pretty easily and quickly.

[Hard Charger]

Are you going to put a clear coat over it?  Where did you pickup those paint pens? a art store?

[DadsCharger00]

The paint pens you can actually just find in wal mart.  So that's an easy find. like 4$ or something apiece. I'm not sure if I'll do a clear coat or not. At this point I'm not thinking so, but I'll see what happens. I still have the rest of the bezels to do, so when they are all done, I'll sit and look at em and decide. Are you working on your bezels as well? What about your cluster? 

[Hard Charger]

i am still on the suspension, but I am planning ahead as this can be a big dollar item.

i hadn't planned on taking out the dash until i saw it on this forum. Now i am going whole hog. every thing is coming out and getting redone.

it is great seeing the clusters and panels being done at home with out spending the big time dollars to have someone else rebuild them.

this forum has really motivated me on doing a complete job.