Been thinking of keeping my factory 53 chevy dash and not swap over to the 59 chevy unit. If i keep mine I want to replace the factory gauge surround with one that has been modified with the center removed to allow it to take 4 gauges and a speedo. I was thinking of having a new surround fabricate/milled with out the speedo circle (see pic) so only the perimeter woudl exist. I want to either polish or chrome it which is why I dont modify the existing unit... I was even thinking I could build a few sets and start selling them as a side business other owners of 53 & 54 chevies.. Not sure where to start so I thought I would ask.. See the two pics First is stock
Here is a concept of what I want (the center is removed) Is it possible to braze material into the potmetal to fill the cut out area? If I machine one I thought of leaving a back plate that the gages could mount to plus enlarging the speedo area to accept up to 5" speed also.
It'd be pretty easy to mill those outta BILLET! Then, you could treat the surface any way you chose... Would even polish up like chrome, but you'd have to put some coating over it to keep it from oxidizing and looking like alum. again. Somebody will pipe up and say what this mystery stuff may be, I've had ok luck with just turtle wax... -J
Or a hunk o' stainless. You'd wanna CNC that baby to get all the contours in there. Simichrome works great to polish either one of these materials.
Once you had the CNC Program done it is easy to find a shop that can do small runs. I have two guys here that specialize in that stuff. I can definatly see a demand for that. You need to make it a bolt in though, many guys just dont want to fuck with something to make it work. I am talking about NON-HAMBers
Tman - I was hoping that it would be pretty straight forward install. Require cutting some of the factory web metal out of the center of the dash (like you have to when you install aftermarket gages.) but use all the factory stud/bolts... If I could mill it with a backing plate attached it would be a real straight forward set up... Just cut out some of the webbing, install gages in surrand/panel and bolt in... I figure billet would allow it to be polished, unpolished, painted or chromed.. What ever the owner wanted... Now I need to do some research on where to get a program written and a prototype made...
Unk, I have seen the plates that go behind the bezel but never the bezel.. If you know of where I can get one, that would be bitchin....
boones that could be reproduced through several methods rather easily. as someone said you could draw it in autocadd and have a job shop knock them out. you could also use a hand held router IF you had aluminum soft enough. AND if you machine the center out first.. also IF you have access to a ROUTER DUPLICATOR. you could copy the perimiter of the piece into foam then have someone cast them using the lost foam process.. now do i think they'd be a hit? no, because I dont have a chevy .. YET. however I think they'd make a cool gauge cluster/ bezel for the tank on a chopper.. turn it 90 degrees and stick a speedo in the top hole!! good luck ps there are most likely other methods these were the ones that I know I could use if I were going to do something like what your suggesting thanks jeff
Joe, I could build a fiberglass mold for you if you wanted to do glass lay-ups. There are many different finishes available now, chrome, carbon fiber, etc. You could even build the guage panel into the surround and make it one-piece...
Uhm, Motorcycle tank bezel? maybe they would do a TV show about me,.... Charlie, I would want to do the unit as a one piece as you mentioned. As a poor man I do not have a ton of dough but think there are enough out there that would buy them to make it worth making a few extra..
Try and get them cast in alooominum,maybe Obrian truckers might be able to help with the casting. john
I can do the design/program, but due to time constraints, you'd probably have to go somewhere else to get them cut in a timely manner for a reasonable amount. We're busy as hell right now.
In aluminium? Seriously, casting them in aluminum yerself, in your own back yard, is doable. Famous quote from my ancestor, Sir Edward the Pallid, is known for: "MEN...charge the castle! (Ummm, you go first...)" Plenty of information on aluminum casting on the web--I've been edging ever closer to doing it m'self...Umm, you go first... Eddie
just in case you didn’t pick up on it, please allow me to bring to your attention that the last post on this thread was over - 17 years ago.........
Only laughing at the date of the thread. It's good to see old threads come to life. Lots of good information.
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