Custom dash?

[84chevyguyid]

I want to add 2 gauges to my cummins/chevy crew cab dash, need a boost gauge and a pyrometer. Two essential items when you start turning up a diesel. My plan is to move the right side ac vent down where the radio currently resides and add the two gauges to the spot where the vent was but make it look factory using the 2 holes with the gauges recessed like the other gauges are. I am going to have air ride/assist on the front and rear suspensions so I needed an air guage also. I went to the truck wrecking yard the other day and scored a guage cluster with the air gauge in the lower left position. I also found a gauge panel with a 5000 rpm tach with the fuel gauge under it and a 100 mph speedo. I am going to have an overhead console and can put the radio up there so deleting it from the dash is not a problem. Does anybody have any pics of a dash with gauges put in the right side vent position? I did find a pic of what looks like a truck dash with those 2 extra holes added. I have seen a few where they made a plate and mounted them in the plate but I am after the factory look so I hate to do them that way. Any suggestions on how to construct it?

[RandyP]

I'd get my hands on a few extra bezels, ones that are damaged and basically worthless. That way you can practice and learn and end up with a better final product without as many "oops". You might even think of using a 90/91 suburban bezel, it has a different radio opening which might be easier to convert to an AC duct. Of course this matter what year your truck is I guess, since the wiper and headlamp switch will be a huge factor.

Is a good idea, can't wait to see some work on the design and a final bezel!

[Corts60]

I made that photo above awhile back throwing out ideas for this. It didn't seem like too many people had opinions at the time. I am currently in the middle of doing this to my truck right now (also diesel) and it is not easy. I found a spare bezel that I cut the upper left corner gauges out of and have shaped to fit in the old a/c vent spot. The problem is the gauges on that side are molded for the angle they are at and when you flip them to the other side, they look a little off. You can't flip them upside down because of the deep wall /short wall in the gauge hole. So right now I am scratching my head trying to figure out what is the best to do.

Also, I think the only bezel you could get away with doing this to is the '78 and later bezels. The early ones wouldn't even look close to factory because there is no square edges around the gauges to hide the modifications to.

This bezel you could buy extra brushed aluminum and cover up your mods:


And if the bezel itself wasn't hard enough, figuring out mounting for the gauges so they sit right will be a bear too.

I am not giving up though and am going to make more progress today. I'll post pics.

[84chevyguyid]

Yeah the funky angle on the openings makes it tough. How about cutting each circle out and rotating them some? I dont have a panel in front of me right now, but would that be close to the right angle by doing that?

[Corts60]

Here is what I have accomplished so far: The angles actually aren't that goofy. Forgive the rest of the beat up bezel, I am waiting to figure this out before I order a new one.




When I order a new bezel, I am going to order an extra set of brushed aluminum pieces to cover this area.

[Corts60]

At the very least, we can make it look like a dealer add on.

[84chevyguyid]

Heck yeah! So where did you get the dash pic in post 3? Is that a real item? I have a friend that has several cnc machines, I thought I would show him these pics and maybe he could whittle out a new faceplate the right dimensions and I could build backwards from the face. I probably wont get time to mess with it much till this winter, just getting ideas.

[JRANGER]

hmmm....I have 3 bezels right now....Might see what i can come up with for yall...One is trash so instantly it gives me the ability to do some cutting on...The other 2..1 is perfect and the other if for my truck so....I dunno i will see if i can do some cutting and mocking up

[wilkin250r]

I've done quite a bit of plastic welding on ATV fenders and such, and matching the right plastic is a pain. I do it with a soldering iron that has a special tip for welding plastics, and I usually find some inconspicuous spot to cut strips of plastic to use as filler material.

[JRANGER]

Nice....Since im going to use an existing bezel to cut the plastic will match and on top of that I have an idea that may just work perfectly...

[76C10Stepside]

I need to replace mine too (same kind). I'm gonna make a new faceplate out of heavy aluminum plate and either paint with black crinkle or cover it with something, maybe veneer. Will surface-mount new whiteface guages in it for maximum visibility for my bad eyes. Can't even read the speedo at night!

[JRANGER]

Looked at the setup last night and its definetly possible to put two stock size gauges in there...I dunno if i will have time this weekend but I will try to make some cuts and see what I can do

[76C10Stepside]

My truck has a factory Tach. Maybe I should not be so quick to throw it away!
My dash has three annoying issues:
1. Top-left corner is broken off (this seems to happen a LOT).
2. The clear plastic lenses are all "foggy". Polished the outsides with Mother's Chrome Polish (works on plastic). It removed the scratches and some of the "fog", but the insides are still foggy.
3. Backlighting is WAY too dim, and the lights keep blinking off. Already replaced the bulbs, no difference. May be a ground issue, but can't get under there to work on it and could not get the dang thing out. Why didn't they make the entire dash panel (easily) removable for servicing???!!! Is there a step-by-step How To Remove Dash Panel for these?

[motornut]

Originally Posted by 76C10Stepside

My truck has a factory Tach. Maybe I should not be so quick to throw it away!
My dash has three annoying issues:
1. Top-left corner is broken off (this seems to happen a LOT).
2. The clear plastic lenses are all "foggy". Polished the outsides with Mother's Chrome Polish (works on plastic). It removed the scratches and some of the "fog", but the insides are still foggy.
3. Backlighting is WAY too dim, and the lights keep blinking off. Already replaced the bulbs, no difference. May be a ground issue, but can't get under there to work on it and could not get the dang thing out. Why didn't they make the entire dash panel (easily) removable for servicing???!!! Is there a step-by-step How To Remove Dash Panel for these?

Look up about painting the in side of the cluster and reg bulbs light up better
I did mine in the sig below 78/79
Posted via Mobile Device

[Corts60]

Got the vacuum gauge installed this weekend. Now I am just on the hunt for an air gauge to put next to it for my on board air. I still don't have the plastic lens on yet or the lights hooked up.

[motornut]

Originally Posted by Corts60

Got the vacuum gauge installed this weekend. Now I am just on the hunt for an air gauge to put next to it for my on board air. I still don't have the plastic lens on yet or the lights hooked up.

kooks like it's gona blend right in ,cool

[84chevyguyid]

I stopped by my friends body shop last night, he does lots of plactic repair, and had him take a look at the bezel. Turns out its made from abs, which he says is real easy to glue and or melt/weld together. He says just use broken pieces of your old bezel for welding material. He actually likes using a soldering iron with a wide tip to weld with. He added a rheostat, like you would use on a ceiling fan to adjust the speed, to control the temp and has it heating continously. I need to catch up with my machinist friend and have him make me a new aluminum faceplate to fit the existing gauges with the two extra holes on the right for the new gauges then I should be able to cut the dash piece for the two gauges and glue it into place behind the faceplate. since the thing is constructed out of abs, it should be easy to glue together and also glue some mounting tabs on the backside so the two extra gauges can attached. Gee, sounds so simple...

[76C10Stepside]

Originally Posted by 84chevyguyid

I stopped by my friends body shop last night, he does lots of plactic repair, and had him take a look at the bezel. Turns out its made from abs, which he says is real easy to glue and or melt/weld together. He says just use broken pieces of your old bezel for welding material. He actually likes using a soldering iron with a wide tip to weld with. He added a rheostat, like you would use on a ceiling fan to adjust the speed, to control the temp and has it heating continously. I need to catch up with my machinist friend and have him make me a new aluminum faceplate to fit the existing gauges with the two extra holes on the right for the new gauges then I should be able to cut the dash piece for the two gauges and glue it into place behind the faceplate. since the thing is constructed out of abs, it should be easy to glue together and also glue some mounting tabs on the backside so the two extra gauges can attached. Gee, sounds so simple...

I'd like to know the details of how he welds these! Does he just melt the edges and push the two pieces back together? Does it leave a crack that needs to be filled? What does he fill it with? How do you match the "grain" pattern on the face? etcetera...

[JRANGER]

looks good corts...I started cutting away at some stuff but didnt get too far.

['79squared]

I think thats going to turn out pretty dam good Corts. And as for 76c10, paint the back white like this and take off the clear and use a polishing wheel on a drill to apply the mothers.

[84chevyguyid]

I havent watched him weld plastic so I'm not sure of the exact process. There is no way to match the grain that I know of. I have a vinyl repair kit that I use to patch school bus seats and it has a silicon pad with a grain pattern on it that you can use to somewhat match the stuff you patch and maybe that would add a little grain pattern to it. Thats why I think you need to start with the aluminim face first as all your patchwork will be behind it.

[TheApocalyptican]

Never seen someone match the grain before. Wouldn't be easy tho. As far as the welding process...typically you weld plastic just as you would metal. Best is to cut a "v" where the parts match up and either use abs rods or even pieces of other broken parts to weld it up. I've done quite a few interior pieces in my Mercedes this way. They however were just cracked, and also are leather wrapped, so any grain pattern is unnecessary, but the process is the same.
An old soldering iron with the tip smashed flat works well, or you can get a plastic welder. There's the type that's just basically a soldering iron with a special tip, or there is an air tool kind that uses super heated air thru a maybe 1/4" tip to melt the plastic.

[76C10Stepside]

Thanks! If I can manage to get the dash panel off in one piece, maybe I can weld the corner back on from behind. The aluminum veneer definitely looks like the way to go. Will cover everything but the edges.

[84chevyguyid]

I cut the top two gauge hole piece out, then cut the vent section out and fitted the gauge piece in. Took it down to Chris (my friend since jr high) and he glued it together. He stuck the corners together with a little plastic then used a product called Fusor142 and ran a bead all around the back of the patched piece to strengthen it then he used his soldering iron welder tip and ran it around the seam on the face to smooth the seam then he hit it with a little sandpaper to clean it up a bit, and it turned out really good. I whittled on the vent piece I removed earlier and cut the radio spot out to fit it. The vent is recessed quite a bit more than the left side vent so I removed some of the depth to try and make it match, its probably a half inch deep now. The right side of the opening has a taper and its the wrong direction to sit in the bottom section so I cut the side and corner loose and heated it and pulled it over some so it more matches the right edge of the dash. The tricky part now is to get the slot filled it so it blends in good, will find out tomorrow. I really like the white face gauge faces that the place in Utah does so I called them today about all my gauges and they said no problem. I will have temp, volts, oil pressure and an air pressure gauge in the four stock holes with a 100 mph speedo and a five thousand rpm tach with the fuel gauge in it in the big holes, then a 60 lb boost gauge with a 1600 degree pyrometer in the two extra holes. I am getting autometer gauges for those two, then taking the bezels and glass lenses off so they can cover them to match the rest of the gauges. Should look pretty sweet! The next challenge will be getting the brushed stainless insert whipped up to cover the extra gauges, still thinking on how to do that one.

[84chevyguyid]

A couple more