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Tachometer cluster repair

Lolz_cats

Lolz_cats

Uga duga
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I've picked up a factory tachometer gauge cluster to install in my 1980 k30. The cluster was in pretty rough shape but I figured I would just use the housing and the tach and small fuel gauge and swap the rest of my old gauges into this one.

After getting it torn down and cleaned up the best I can, I have realized that both of the gauges I want to use have a considerable amount of surface rust and the paint is in bad shape.

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I guess my main question is what are my options to refinish the face of the gauges. Are the only overlays available the white set? I figure worst case I could sand them down and repaint them black. Then just install an overlay. I was really hoping to go with the factory look but they are just in too poor of shape.

My other concern are a few cracks in the housing. What is the best way to repair these? I've never done any plastic welding.
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I plan on painting the housing chrome and doing a lighting upgrade as well.
 
How hard is it to find another small fuel gauge? You can pull the pointer and drill rivets to get the faceplate off. The tach faceplate is the valuable one. If you do spot repair on it, maybe it wouldn't be noticeable in the full assembly?

Now that you mention it, I drew both a large tach and small fuel gauge in some program many years ago when I reworked a SunPro tach into the cluster. They are printed on the back of clear transparency film, but I think modern photo paper would also work well. The curve of the backplate is the challenge, so you have to keep it small.
 
As for the housing, if it has that many cracks/breaks, the whole material is probably wasted. You might look around for another donor cluster. The only part hard to find (as of like 10 years ago when I last looked...) is the clear plastic face that includes the lower, left-most small gauge. A lot of those in the 80s were just empty.
 
The long term goal is to get a set of digital Dakota gauges since I want to run efi. I was really looking to keep this a low cost upgrade so completely replacing them seems out of the question budget wise. The bezel covers virtually all of the curved edges of the gauges so I'm not too worried about how an overlay will fit. This cluster came out of a wheeler so I'm not surprised the housing is cracked. It's still fairly pliable so I dont think it's too far gone. If I was going with a full restoration I would be replacing anything of question. But like I said I was trying to keep it a low cost upgrade. I will already be into it a printed circuit and the cost of the whole cluster.
 
Blue85 said:
How hard is it to find another small fuel gauge? You can pull the pointer and drill rivets to get the faceplate off. The tach faceplate is the valuable one. If you do spot repair on it, maybe it wouldn't be noticeable in the full assembly?

Now that you mention it, I drew both a large tach and small fuel gauge in some program many years ago when I reworked a SunPro tach into the cluster. They are printed on the back of clear transparency film, but I think modern photo paper would also work well. The curve of the backplate is the challenge, so you have to keep it small.
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I do believe both gauges are available through lmc
 
Lolz_cats said:
I do believe both gauges are available through lmc
Click to expand...

They are all available for sure. I had to buy a new tach and I bought the new fuel gauge at the same time to keep all mine looking sharp…. The prices weren’t terrible either.
Just epoxy the housing and be careful with it.
No need to use chrome paint. Just toss in new led bulbs and you will be happy, I bought a 12 pack off Amazon super cheap and they work amazing.
 
It's just abs. You can glue it back together with MEK which chemically welds it back basically.

You can also get small portions at hobby lobby type stores for model building.
 
obijuank5 said:
It's just abs. You can glue it back together with MEK which chemically welds it back basically.

You can also get small portions at hobby lobby type stores for model building.
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So standard abs solvent cement will work?
 
I'd buy them off you if you want to put in Dakota Digital.

Martin
 
Regular super glue with baking soda sprinkled on the glue. It creates a nice strong bond that bridges the gap of the crack.

@mrk5 made me a gauge overlay for a Sun tach that matched the factory font and style. If you give him some detailed pics with measurements it can be done. The only issue I see is dealing with the curved section at the outer edge of the gauge. Might be tough to get the overlay to go up the edge without wrinkling.
 
82355 said:
I'd buy them off you if you want to put in Dakota Digital.

Martin
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You were technically second in line when I had this set for sale originally...

I have used metal banding commonly used for mounting radios in the 70s to reinforce the end tab that is now broke off. Glue the tab back on as best as you can, then epoxy the metal band bent in a 90* angle on the back side.
 
TJ1978 said:
I used super glue...worked good enough. You could just use jb weld......
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Just FYI, JB Weld is not made for plastic. At least not the "standard" stuff. Only putting that out there as you kind of have to dig for that information. IIRC JB Weld makes plastic specific formulas, but if superglue works, easy and cheaper solution probably.

I've used JB Weld on plastic before I knew this, but not on anything that takes any stress.

If the gauges are just a temporary, cheap upgrade, I'd run them as is. Motivation to swap them out sooner lol. If new can be bought, and they aren't stupid expensive, then refurb makes little sense from a cost perspective either.
 
I'm a big fan of using plastic glue or plastic welding, then backing it up with sheet metal and pop rivets, also glued on.

I also just picked up a $25 plastic repair tool off Amazon. It comes with these metal staples that get hot when the trigger is pulled and you sink them into the plastic. Could work well for some of your straighter cracks.

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Blue85 said:
I'm a big fan of using plastic glue or plastic welding, then backing it up with sheet metal and pop rivets, also glued on.

I also just picked up a $25 plastic repair tool off Amazon. It comes with these metal staples that get hot when the trigger is pulled and you sink them into the plastic. Could work well for some of your straighter cracks.

View attachment 411053
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I just bought the same kit and couldn't get the staples to cooperate. It probably doesn't help there are no instructions on the kit.
 
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