MI 60-66 gauge cluster restoration

[Budman56]

TBONE those are some nice cluster!

[Bigru]

Pm sent

[TBONE1964]

Originally Posted by Bigru

Pm sent

Hi Rudy,

Nice to talk to you today. I found some photos of some past work I have done that show the tach and the clock together. Just so you can see.

Let me know when you are ready and I will take care of a cluster build for you.

Take care,
Tom

[yote1234]

... P U R D Y !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
very nice job !!!!

[Bigru]

Thanks Tom, you will here from me soon.

[MP33]

I'm considering send my 63 tach dash in to you. What do you do if I have a non working tach? Do you fix it, or have a place you send it to get worked on? Just curious. Thanks......Mike

[TBONE1964]

Originally Posted by MP33

I'm considering send my 63 tach dash in to you. What do you do if I have a non working tach? Do you fix it, or have a place you send it to get worked on? Just curious. Thanks......Mike

Hi Mike,

Is your tach for a V8 or I-6?

From my experience, the best thing to do in your situation is to go with an aftermarket. They look very close to original and they work. I have 6 of the factory tachs and only 1 of them work and I am not sure I would trust it to sell as a working tach.

Getting these repaired is much more money than they are worth in my honest opinion. You can get a new aftermarket V8 tachometer for around $220.00 shipped to your door and have the piece of mind that it is going to work.

Let me know if you want to get a restoration done and I will be happy to do a restoration on it.

Take care,
Tom

[MP33]

Truthfully I'm not sure which one it is, I'm hoping its for an I-6 because that is what is in the truck. I was gonna hook it up and test it and go from there. I bought the dash at Iola swapmeet and I'm not sure of the working condition of it.

[TBONE1964]

Originally Posted by MP33

Truthfully I'm not sure which one it is, I'm hoping its for an I-6 because that is what is in the truck. I was gonna hook it up and test it and go from there. I bought the dash at Iola swapmeet and I'm not sure of the working condition of it.

If you take the tach out of the cluster and remove it from the tin, you should see an ID tag on it. These factory tachs were all made by Sun and should have information on if it is for a V8 or a 6 cyl.

Also, the tag will or may say "use with EB or WPA transmitter" if it does, you will need the transmitter to go with it or it will not work at all. I believe the early 60's (60-63) tachs required the transmitter and the (64-66) did not. The tach tag will let you know for sure. If you can post a photo of the tag, I can help you ID it.

Hope this helps,
Tom

[NEWFISHER]

Bump for a great guy who does fantastic work!

[TBONE1964]

Originally Posted by NEWFISHER

Bump for a great guy who does fantastic work!

I just noticed this post. Thank you for the kind words sir. See you soon.

As always, anyone who needs restoration services or cluster parts for the 60-66 gauge clusters should contact me.


Take care,
Tom

[TBONE1964]

Weekend bump

Have a good weekend all,

Take care,
Tom

[TBONE1964]

Bump for a new week.

Looking forward to the new year and some new customers.

Thank you,
Tom

[Black Burban]

I have a 66 C10 gauge cluster with mechanical oil pressure gage (copper line from gage to engine block) do you have or can you do an electric oil pressure gage that matches the original? Also can you do the clock hands on orange to match the other gages?
Thanks

[MP33]

Here's a pic of the back of the tach. Says Nothing about V8 or I-6. I'm gonna hook it up to my I-6 and see what it does. Do you know if it will read higher or lower if its for a V8 and not a six?

[TBONE1964]

My thought is it will read lower if hooked to an I-6 and it is a V8 tach.

If you hook a I-6 tach to a V8 engine it will read higher RPM. I am not at my shop now or I could give you the exact difference in readings.

I will try and get you the exact readings and post them soon.

Hope this helps,
Tom

[LosBarberos]

How long does it take you to restore and ship back the cluster?

[TBONE1964]

Originally Posted by LosBarberos

How long does it take you to restore and ship back the cluster?

It depends on my work load and also what type of restoration it is. Stock cluster restorations go a little quicker than ones that require fabrication.

Currently and normally, I have about a 4 - 6 week back log.

Thank you for the interest,
Tom

[dodgiesdad]

Tom built me a gauge cluster with some custom touches needing some special fabrication including a clock and tach, it is absolutely beautiful! I installed it for my test fire last fall everything worked great. Me being me I didn't believe what all the gauges read so I put my test gauge set on as well, all the gauges agreed. Accurate, beautiful, thank you so much Tom it exceeded my expectations, I cant wait to finish the paint and put it in for real.

Doug

[Acsb1]

Hello Sir, your restorations look great, I have 2 66 custom gauge clusters that I would like done if you are still doing them, I will pm you to get more info
Thank you Allen

[TBONE1964]

Originally Posted by Acsb1

Hello Sir, your restorations look great, I have 2 66 custom gauge clusters that I would like done if you are still doing them, I will pm you to get more info
Thank you Allen

Hi Allen,

I got your voice mail and returned your call yesterday. Not sure if you got it. I am looking forward to helping you out with your clusters.

You can try me anytime but most likely better to call after 5:30 pm if you can.

Thank you and take care,
Tom

[Isaiah92260]

How do you get the lense to look like glass?? I just got a great deal on a Cluster for my 63' everything is perfect and looks amazing once I polished the inside and the Gauges, but I can't figure out how to get the hairline scratches out of the plastic lenses and polish it out, it's not glass so I'm not sure how to make it look new, I don't want to damage it.

[TBONE1964]

Originally Posted by Isaiah92260

How do you get the lense to look like glass?? I just got a great deal on a Cluster for my 63' everything is perfect and looks amazing once I polished the inside and the Gauges, but I can't figure out how to get the hairline scratches out of the plastic lenses and polish it out, it's not glass so I'm not sure how to make it look new, I don't want to damage it.

It is possible that the scratches you are referring to penetrate all they way through the lens. This is a common problem on a 50+ year old piece of plastic. It is not actually a scratch at all but a result of old brittle plastic.

Here is what I would suggest. Use 800 grit wet sand paper with water and a sanding block and go over the entire surface of the lens. Be mindful of where the scratches are. If you notice the scratches seem to be getting smaller, continue with 800 grit until the scratch(s) is completely removed. Then progress up to 1500 and then 2000 grit removing the sanding scratches from the previous grit.

Then use a good quality rubbing compound followed by Mothers mag wheel polish to bring out the luster.

If your scratches penetrate all the way through the plastic the only solution is to replace the lens. They are very difficult to find for a 60-63 pick up in restorable condition.

Hope this helps. I can provide the restoration of the lens for you for $50.00 plus shipping both ways if you have a lens that is worthy of it.

Thank you,
Thomas

[Isaiah92260]

Originally Posted by TBONE1964

It is possible that the scratches you are referring to penetrate all they way through the lens. This is a common problem on a 50+ year old piece of plastic. It is not actually a scratch at all but a result of old brittle plastic.

Here is what I would suggest. Use 800 grit wet sand paper with water and a sanding block and go over the entire surface of the lens. Be mindful of where the scratches are. If you notice the scratches seem to be getting smaller, continue with 800 grit until the scratch(s) is completely removed. Then progress up to 1500 and then 2000 grit removing the sanding scratches from the previous grit.

Then use a good quality rubbing compound followed by Mothers mag wheel polish to bring out the luster.

If your scratches penetrate all the way through the plastic the only solution is to replace the lens. They are very difficult to find for a 60-63 pick up in restorable condition.

Hope this helps. I can provide the restoration of the lens for you for $50.00 plus shipping both ways if you have a lens that is worthy of it.

Thank you,
Thomas

Thank you very much, I'll consider sending it off to you more, I have a very good lense in my opinion, does that price also include new decals on the lense as well?

[Thiessen1960]

Also how much to restore a basic gauge cluster of the same year?