custom low budget guage build

[steel horse]

Ok so ths is my 1st how to thread so please cut me some slack and feel free to throw in any pointers, ideas or criticisms (but please be gentle).

So as someof you may have red Im building a 68 and am trying to do it on a budget(5,000 total all done) and have it look really different and not like a cheap build. As such I got a complete 95 suburban for the motr/tranny and realized that guages are really expensive, especially for something different than everyone else has BUT i left the guage plug in the wiring harness intact so "in theory" since all the sensors are intact in fuel injected motor they should all work except the gas guage (but im working on that).

Just in case in of you wanted to do something like this I figured id post it up as i go along. so here it is:


THE STOCK CLUSTER FROM THE BURB


The cluster with the "face plate" and needles removed (my advice here is patience, the glue is old and will give but dont pry to much or you could damage the plate. i used a really dull butter knife)


back of the cluster


cluster emptied with circuit board removed since itll have to be relocated to fit (dont pry too hard again), and the front next to it for mock up, also the donor original cluster


Back of the original cluster after cutting down the back edges


Inside of the burb cluster


Original cut out (not sure if itll stay this "shape" but we'll see)


Clusters just laid on top of each other for mockup with the top face plate of the burb cluster already cut out (bottom which is the hard part still to come). this gives you a basic idea of what it'll look like tho


And heres the burb guage overlay im gonna use when its done


and i might use this stainless overlay on top of that but id like your opinions on that please cause im not sure (plus its a $100 so thats not really a "budget gauge" then so im not sure)


im planning on using fiberglass resin to fill in the rest of the panel completely and smooth it out then paint (prob gonna be ALOT of sanding). but as it looks now the total cost will be:
overlay - $20
stainless overlay - $100
bondo/resin - $10
total - $130 (less than the cost of one quality gauge)
or if you had to buy the cluster prob add $50 for that from the junk yard

will post updates as they come

please bring the comments