OK - been working on my 40 gauge cluster adn I finally have a couple pics. Gauges I'm using are some swapmeet, some new 2 1/16" units I've picked up for a project I started a long time ago, my 40 p-up. Anyway, I'm on a roll and will give more details as I get a few more pics ... The upper right and left corners of some of the gauge openings show through - I've got some black hard, thin board I'm going to cut and put to the backside of the gauge openings in the upper corners to stop that view ....
I'm getting there - the insulation of the gauge posts from one another on each individual gauge is a problem I now have. Even though I have used nylon screws to isolate the gauge, I have not isolated the posts per gauge - I may have to resort to making the gauge backs as you did ..... live and learn!
Good job! Fun isn't it! The abs was the easiest for me and I could mount the gauges where I wanted them for centering. I mounted the speedo in abs only because I didn't have a original backing. If you look in this photo you can see a couple screws on each side of the speedo to mount it to abs. I just drilled the metal speedo support and mounted that to the abs before mounting the face plate back on.
Just reading this awesome write up and thinking...for an original look, how about scanning a set of good original guage faces. Scanners have come a long way, and my bet is that someone out there has the Photoshop skills and could even adjust the guage markings to read accurately with whatever guage is found. Then print and mount. The nice thing about that is you could make other modifications such as the placement of the odometer and turn signal openings to align with the new guage.
Superb! Love this thread. Look at the fuel gauge: Note the 'pump' has the nozzle on the right, denoting which side of the vehicle the fuel fill is on. I take it youse guys are changing the fuel fill to that right side... (just joking) Orv Elgie did some pioneering on this gauge-tech back in the '70s, basic stuff...(Street Rodder magazine article, green '37 Ford Sedan Delivery) This thread takes it to the stratosphere.
very nice work--love the final product-way to go one of my favorite tech threads--found a few std clusters recently and bezels are now straigtened and rechromed $50 each--there are nice repos too--I think they are $75. May try to do one myself for the next 40 project after current one in progress is done. THX
Very cool stuff! I like how the "sweep" of the speedo indicator is square and matches the opening, versus the "arc" of the original.
Thanks everyone! One of my simple ideas that works and looks good installed. Now I need to remove that digital crap out of my coupe and make it right. mj40's
They look really great and saved quite a few dollars. Good intel on the 5.1 volt, tried a few and could not make them work, know what I was doing wrong.
Good info. I have picked up the donor gauges for the conversion. Now to get a cluster. Oh, I might need a car to put it in
Good information and tech. I was wondering about the ignition switch in this photo. Was it chromed or were you able to polish/buff the metal to get that finish? Also is the original column plated or did you find a chrome plated pipe to use?
It is a stock 40 car column. I took it all apart and sanded and buffed the column lock housing hoping that once chromed it would look better. I just did their job for them. It looked pretty good but didn't want to be polishing it all the time to keep that look. Then I sent it all to the chrome shop. It all came back looking great. I used the stock tube because the cast bell is attached and figured I would damage the bell taking it apart.
OK, I have a question. If you choose to use the ford truck ammeter, what is the proper way to wire it? It is a shunt type ammeter that expects only a small amount of the total load. Thanks, Rich
Great thread!! Great tech! I did something similar on my 49 F1 truck. My long term goal is to adapt a gauge cluster from a 58 Pontiac into my dash. In the mean time I needed some gauges so that I could drive the truck. My original cluster was toast so I took some measurements and headed out to the wrecking yard. Since I'm running a 500ci Caddy and also using a GM fuel tank with sender I limited my search for GM stuff so that the fuel gauge would match the sender. I found that a mid 90's GMC van gauges would fit my original cluster housing. I had to pay $9.99 for the cluster. Then I stopped a local plastics store and, for the price of a few cold drinks for the shop guys I was able to find a thin piece of black plastic and another thin piece of clear acrylic. I stripped the Ford cluster, cut down the GMC cluster to fit, laid out and used the thin black plastic to cut out a surround for the gauges, cut the clear acrylic to fit the Ford cluster face and put the whole thing together. I've got just shy of $20 into this cluster. The only thing is the clock didn't work, so I set it for 12:05 so that it was always on "Beer Time"
If you want the stock look, the gauge faces are even interchangeable. Add some decals and you have a new gauge.
Looks great - I have had one nearly complete for my 40 pickup project. Yours really looks good - any pics of it lit up at night?
No. The illumination is kinda uneven; doesn't yet look good. Thanks! That really was my objective going in.
I'm really glad that someone resurrected this thread so that I could find it just when I needed to deal with my '40 gauge cluster. I even had the right Mopar speedo in my junk pile. The only thing that went missing over the years was that panel with the pinstripes so I overcame that with painting it onto the backside of my clear plastic face. I kind of scaled it from the photos you posted of the build. Oh the money I saved by not getting the Classic Instruments unit! well, not really, I'm cheap.
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