69-72 cluster questions

[PapaSmurf]

with my mechanical issues worked out I have turned my attention to my shabby interior. figured i would start with the cluster, ive done some searching and seen a few custom clusters and rebuilt factory ones. neither stands out as what i want. so i figured id rebuild/customize my own. i want to retain the factory like appearance and add a tach (HEI friendly), incremented ammeter, temp, and vacuum gauges and i want to use LED's to illuminate it. im looking for suggestions, pics of anyone who has done or seen something like this and where i can get new gauges that fit and look factory maybe clear or blue in color not the stock green color.

 

[lectric80]

Can't speak to the sizes in those years, but ditch the ammeter in favor of a voltmeter. Far less problems using them and less likely to burn the truck down or lose charging from a bad wire or connection.

I personally like Autometers, pretty much any size is available, and all have an optional LED lighting system if they don't use LED by default. Be warned, they aren't cheap to purchase, complete set I have planned for Krusty includes speedo, tach, voltmeter, fuel, oil pressure, and water temp and comes out to around $6-700 depending on where I get them from. Lately I have been thinking of adding a second voltmeter and a trans temp gauge which is just going to add more cost.

You may want to try to locate some angle rings to help the gauges be more visible on the flat dash that is in there. Of course that assumes you don't have a CNC machine to possibly machine a solid piece of aluminum and angle the gauges by default. It may not even matter in those, I know the later models it helps a lot.

 

[Greg72]

You can mount Autometer gauges from the backside of the bezel for a stock look. I did that with mine. Just pull off the trim ring and glass and use the bare housing behind the stock plexiglass.

LEDs aren't dimmable (at least not easily) so it's going to be hard to get the illumination correct without blinding yourself at night.

 

[PapaSmurf]

Checked out the Autometer gauges, im not sure they have the look i want still need to think that over. yes the LEDs will be troublesome i know pots dont work well so im either going to build a PWM or just used fixed resistance and not have a variable dimmer. the reason im considering LED's is there size im mulling over the idea of having different colors i can switch between. LEDs take up less space than standard bulbs and generate little to no heat. still not sure on what direction i want to go yet just trying to put some ideas together.

 

[pmpski_1]

This is for my 71 C20. Like lectric80 said, they aren't cheap, but I collected them over a couple years. They had a decent rebate on the tachs last year so I completed the set at that point.

 

[PapaSmurf]

This is for my 71 C20. Like lectric80 said, they aren't cheap, but I collected them over a couple years. They had a decent rebate on the tachs last year so I completed the set at that point.

i like that setup the larger tach is nice id rather not see how much gas im using have any pics of the backside of that id like to see how you mounted everything just to get an idea of the work involved i may toss out the LED idea having a PWM is one more thing that can go wrong.