Productive Saturday

[Palf70Step]

Fianlly figured out electic choke problem on the 82, evidently the prior owner reassembled the linkages wrong. They looked and worked fine except the choke movement was reversed.

Bad photo-chop, but flipped lower linage around 180, and now she works great and smoother.

[Palf70Step]

Like many had mentioned I tore the dash apart and cleaned out the bexel and gauges.

[Palf70Step]

This was done last weeked, but I painted the reflector area Wally world chrome and added new bulbs (168s for more light) Redid the needles in red, not correct shade, but it is what I had. The real bummer was, the temp guage needle fell apart when I went to paint it. I was not a happy camper, especially at looking what new gauges cost.

[Palf70Step]

I couldn't find a decent gauge locally and did not want to buy a new one. At first I was thinking of using a shaved piece of model car plastic and super glueing it on, but ended up taking a small safety pin. The point is tapered just right to go in the center hole. So I bent the tip, cut it to length, red paint, touch of super glue, and ta da, a working guage again. It's not a perfect match, but for 1 hr's work, it does the job and looks good.

Make sure you turn on the key, and mark the shaft with the engine cold so the needle will line up.

A productive Saturday, finally!!

[Zilverado]

Looks Good Bill

Good to hear you got your choke figured out. Neat trick with the gauge needle. Hope it holds for you - - at least until you can find a good replacement.

It thrills me everytime I see someone using that chrome painting trick.

I've seen alot of talk about those 168 bulbs being brighter. I'm looking forward to getting my truck back into town so I can swap out the bulbs. I was impressed when I initially did the "chrome" thing, but if the bulbs can make this mod even sweeter, I'm all over that.

[Slonaker]

I keep reading the "how-to" for making the gauges brighter, but don't understand what to paint with the chrome paint. Will it be obvious if I take it apart?

I never have, which may explain why I don't get it. Or maybe I'm just a little dense...

Slonaker

[Slonaker]

Do you paint the parts I circled in red?

[Palf70Step]

Paint everything that is used to reflecdt the light onto the guages. In the pictures you, after you remove the gauges, paint the entire inside of the light green plastic thing (hi tech term), then you'll paint the dark grren pirece. That is the back of the piec that goes over the guages before you put the plastic lense piece on. Yes, when you take it apart it will be very obviouse what you need to paint.

[Slonaker]

Thanks. It probably NEEDS to be obvious for me...

Slonaker

[Palf70Step]

Maybe these shots will help some more

This piece is the back of what goes over your guages and it needs all painted. Make sure you tape on the black side around the edges,so the chrome doesn't bleed over to the side you see.

[Palf70Step]

When it does go back together, the one piece fits over the gauges like so. With the chome paint on the back side of it now, it's like a high policshed mirror to reflect the lights onto the gauge faces.

[Palf70Step]

As you can see, the back of the one pisec is nice and shiney now.

Before you paint the gauge bucket (guess that is good a thing as any to call it), you need to unscrew and remove the gauges. and your lightbulbs.. You could even remove the gauge socket clips and the circuit board. I didn't, I just covered the socket clipss with tape and put maskiting tape over the bulb holes (from circuit board side) to prevent the paint from getting on any electrical contacts. The you just paint the entire inside of that shell. Now everything is nice and shiney and reflects the light much easier.

Like i said above, once you open it up it is pretty obvious, but hope that helps. I forgot to take a picture of it with all the guages out. Guess I was too excited about getting it done.

[Lynx]

I tried to do this mod in the summer, but i couldnt even get the damn cluster out of the dash, it kept getting caught and then i couldnt undo the speedo cable so i said " i dont drive at night anyway!" and put it back in replacing the bulbs i could reach.

[Zilverado]

Originally posted by Palf70Step
As you can see, the back of the one pisec is nice and shiney now.

Before you paint the gauge bucket (guess that is good a thing as any to call it), you need to unscrew and remove the gauges. and your lightbulbs.. You could even remove the gauge socket clips and the circuit board. I didn't, I just covered the socket clipss with tape and put maskiting tape over the bulb holes (from circuit board side) to prevent the paint from getting on any electrical contacts. The you just paint the entire inside of that shell. Now everything is nice and shiney and reflects the light much easier.

Like i said above, once you open it up it is pretty obvious, but hope that helps. I forgot to take a picture of it with all the guages out. Guess I was too excited about getting it done.

Well said Bill - - that's pretty much exactly what I did originally. For the original description and "before and after" photos, you can check out my description on www.73-87.com

http://www.73-87.com/7387garage/interior/dashlights.htm

Ben (Lynx),
Getting the gauge cluster out of the dash is a bit tricky. It takes a little "english". I have to put my tilt steering all the way down and move my column shifter into 1st gear. Then by lifting the dash pad and wiggling it around it finally comes out. The first time I did it I was afraid I'd break it, but now it's "old hat".

Good Luck

[Blue Beard]

Good looking job........ever thought about hiring out...?

[Palf70Step]

Hmmmm.....Might be worth it...You think I could get some typing skills in exchange???

Dang...I think my typing is getting worse the more I do it!

[CRRoy71]

Looks good Bill. How many bulbs are back there that you had to replace?

[updatelee]

with a little time and a lot of effort I replaced every bulb in my dash by reaching up and underneeth and behind. just to prove to a friend it could be done. most werent even that bad. the hardest was definitly the high beam bulb in the dash. lol.

Chris Lee
mrclee@telus.net

[Russell]

hey bill, I got a needle for the temp gauge here if you want it, just PM me your address and I'll pop it in the mail the next day or so.

If you've toasted your other gauge's ability to take new needle, I could also just send the whole gauge for $5.00 USD shipped, its identical to yours except is has some minor chrome overspray on it (can't even see it unless you are looking for it) and it has the word TEMP written on the bottom rather than the little picture that your current gauge has.

[Palf70Step]

CRRoy71...I replaced 10 bulbs. I believe there are 12 total, but one of is for the 4wd engagement...I sorta didn't need it. I also left the bulb for the choke as was since it I miscalculated when I bought the bulbs

Russell....PM me your address, I'll take the whole gauge.

[8t5Silverado]

Are you saying that the whole job only took you one hour? I am trying to figure out how much time to alot for me to do this.

[Prerunner1982]

if you just paint the blue part you dont even need to remove the whole cluster.

[Palf70Step]

8t5silverado - Between both weekends it amounted to about 2-3 hrs...Most of that was waiting for paint to dry though. It was pretty warm and dry, so the paint cured pretty quick. The south does have some virtues!!