Hot Rods Making a 37 Chevy dash insert

1060 West Addison. Chicago, IL

At least that’s what it says on my license.



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Thanks. Check your PM when you get a chance.



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Progress, finally. My 3” Lenox carbide hole saw arrived yesterday. Zoro has the best price on this, but glacially slow shipping.



One 3” hole, four 2” holes. In less time than I spent not making a 3” hole with a bi-metal saw. If you’re going to do this, pony up the money for the carbide cutters, they’re well worth it.



Still need to locate and drill the indicator lamp holes, and adjust these holes so that the gauges fit, but it’s getting there.




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Thinking...



Was going to put the red high beam indicator above and right of the speedometer, but that looks too crowded. Thinking this top tight corner has more room.



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Looks great . Thank you for sharing your ideas and progress.

 

So, it’s been a while since I worked on this. Today was a garage day.

I started with the small gauge holes.



The Lenox carbide cutter makes nice holes, but they’re slightly too small. Die grinder made the holes slightly bigger, until the gauges fit.





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Next challenge, mounting. The mounting hardware for the speedo is long gone, and VDO no longer sell or stock parts for this model. Previously I wandered around Farm & Fleet looking for ideas, and found that this oil filter is almost exactly the right diameter.



I fed it to my bandsaw to reduce the height.



Drilled some holes in the end, and added a nut from McMaster Caar (had to buy a 10-pack to get one, it’s a weird metric fine thread size...)



And now it’s a mounting cup for a VDO speedometer.





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One more mock-up




to figure out where to put the indicator lamps. The upper right is blocked by the wheel, so I moved the high beam indicator to the upper left.




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Marked the hole locations to match the cardboard mock up



and drilled




I kinda like that pic, showing how far this has come from the rough cuts with my grinder, using this same piece of plywood.



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I never did get around to making or buying a break, so improvised one from some scrap steel and 1/4-20 bolts.



It must be nice to have all of the right tools to do stuff like this. Probably easier, too.


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And, after some modifications to the mounting tabs, it fits








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Assembly complete.




Fortunately, VDO do still sell the mounting hardware for the small gauges.

Tomorrow I’ll wire up a harness and I should be able to install the finished insert.



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Great job David, it looks great!!!!!
The best part is that you did it yourself.
Be proud!!!! There is nothing greater than when asked “hey, where did you get that part?” And you answer, I made it myself

 

It’s not pretty, but the wiring harness is done and ready to go back in.


I reused as much of the old harness as possible. With stuff moved around, some of the wires are a little more bunched up than I’d like, but the electrons don’t care.

Tomorrow it goes back in.



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Done.




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Well done!!!
It looks awesome

 

Looks great ! Thanks for sharing your whole process from an idea to a very well done project!