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Custom 7 Gauge Panel for 68 RR cluster

Budnicks

Jackstand racer #1 & proud of it, Sir Posts A Lot
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I'm not a very good photographer , Pattern & gauge panel for a 68-69 RR, GTX, Belevedere, Satellite etc. Self made with Autometer Traditional Chrome Analog gauges w/ black back grounds white numbers & red sweeps... Custom 7 gauge instrument panel for a 68 RR, 1) 3-3/8" 160mph mech. speedo, 1) 3-3/8" 8000rpm tach, 5) 2-1/16" gauges in angled pods to aim towards the driver, 1) Voltmeter, 1) Fuel Gauge, 1) Water Temp, 1) Oil pressure, 1) Clock & 5) 5/16" LED lights w/chrome bezels, , 2) green for rt./lft blinkers, 1) Blue for High Beam Lights in the center, 1) Red for E-brake warning light on the left 1) yellow for low oil pressue light on far rt. ... Just wanted to share... Any thoughts..
 
I should have taken the photo on a light colored back ground, oh well...
 
Thanks

look good Bud!

Thanks Ron old Buddy... I know I'm a lousy photographer, I will learn how to use the dang digital camera some day, still haven't figured it out yet & don't have much patients for that stuff... :nike:
 
i had something similar in my 65 dodge coronet.it was covered in carbon fiber .
you did a great job.
 
nice job. i like it.
 
"Thanks guys" when I started to do the custom gauge panel, I never thought it would have got to the extreme that I did, my car has an original crappy inaccurate 68 RR 120mph gauge cluster with a factory tach, I will be removing it, I just wanted to have a decent looking panel with accurate gauge cluster that dosen't look like it's 43 years old, I don't know if I will sell the original cluster or not yet, I may keep it just in case I ever sell the car... I probably have $500 total in the new panel, not including my time of course...
 
Thank you

i had something similar in my 65 dodge coronet.it was covered in carbon fiber .
you did a great job.

Thanks, I thought about the Carbon fiber Look also Just ended going with a textured black paint instead
 
thanks

Looks pretty good.I like:headbang:

I tried a few different ways of lay out, staggering the gauges diagonally & big 3-3/8" gauges to the far left or right & the some what centered, 3-3/8" speedo & tach. as you can tell that's the one I settled on...
 
I will sooner or later...

Mock it up in the dash so we can see how it will look.

I'm not there yet probably, still need some more stuff/parts for the under dash electrical, column, fuse box etc. & I'm freaking broke, with very little work in site for the immediate future at the moment, my Golf Business is really slow at the moment... I will install cluster latter in the year hopefully, when I have some funds to purchase more stuff/parts to complete, I want to do it all at once, column, gauges, dash & electronics... I don't want the car down for any period of time, I need to be able to move it, without any problems, I have little to no help or room, I have garage size issues, constantly moving truck/cars/stuff to get to other stuff...
 
Baby steps

You're hilarious man, you can make something that kickass, and not work a camera?? too funny lol

Baby steps man I'm pretty much a camera virgin, just got an old digital camera from my nephew a few months back, with no instructions I might add, I will figure it out sooner or latter, I'm just not into camera's, videos or photos of my own stuff, never have been... I think the camera is a piece of crap also... It's a Vivitar from like 2000 era, or it could be just I'm using the wrong settings or something, or I just don't give a crap... You can be the judge...LOL... All I ever had prior was an old Polariod Instant Camera previously, just never cared for photography & still don't really, always had something better to do & to spend my cash on...
 
I'm sorry, I was just ribbin ya. I think you might just have something there. I'd pay you to make one of those for me, if I was lookin. you might need a new side hobby. Can you get those with white backs? I might be interested.
 
LOL No offense taken

I'm sorry, I was just ribbin ya. I think you might just have something there. I'd pay you to make one of those for me, if I was lookin. you might need a new side hobby. Can you get those with white backs? I might be interested.

Don't be sorry, No Offense taken at all, I'm so lame with a camera (& a computer) & I'm the 1st one to admit it, never really got into it... I think there are gauges with similar sizes, 3" would be ideal for the larger gauges but I couldn't find any, that I liked anyway... The opening were the Autometer 3-3/8" speedo & tach. gauges is the biggest problem, part of the chrome bezel will be covered by the lower dash pad (with out altering the lower dash pad which I'm not willing to do), the pad should only cover the very bottom of the bezel on the 2 large gauges (the opening is 3-1/8"or so at that point so about a 1/4" will be covered), I think it should look OK, when I mock it up again finally I will show how it fits & looks... There are some gauges with white back grounds, I'm not sure they make them in 3" - 3-3/8" range for speedo & tach., I liked the period look of the Black Autometer Traditional Chrome bezeled gauges... I need to check to see if they are available in the proper sizes with white backgrounds, it dosen't have to be 7 gauges, I just wanted all of those gauges & clock, it could be 6, 5, 4, & still look good & fit easier, I think... VDO make some nice vintage looking gauges, with white back grounds, when I finally get around to installing it, if it works out like I think it will, I may be willing to make a few of them for other people for a slight profit... The biggest problem is the cost it would be hard to make much & be able to sell them, I've got probably 8hrs labor & at least $500 for the gauges, pods, LED lights, different colored wires, shrink tube & connectors etc. in it... I'm sure if I had a resale # to buy in bulk at cost, I could get a better price on parts, but the time to build the harness & fabrication would probably kill any profit... I'm sure if I did several of them at a time, I could kind of mas produce the harness & plates a little quicker I'm sure....
 
Don't be sorry, No Offense taken at all, I'm so lame with a camera (& a computer) & I'm the 1st one to admit it, never really got into it... I think there are gauges with similar sizes, 3" would be ideal for the larger gauges but I couldn't find any, that I liked anyway... The opening were the Autometer 3-3/8" speedo & tach. gauges is the biggest problem, part of the chrome bezel will be covered by the lower dash pad (with out altering the lower dash pad which I'm not willing to do), the pad should only cover the very bottom of the bezel on the 2 large gauges (the opening is 3-1/8"or so at that point so about a 1/4" will be covered), I think it should look OK, when I mock it up again finally I will show how it fits & looks... There are some gauges with white back grounds, I'm not sure they make them in 3" - 3-3/8" range for speedo & tach., I liked the period look of the Black Autometer Traditional Chrome bezeled gauges... I need to check to see if they are available in the proper sizes with white backgrounds, it dosen't have to be 7 gauges, I just wanted all of those gauges & clock, it could be 6, 5, 4, & still look good & fit easier, I think... VDO make some nice vintage looking gauges, with white back grounds, when I finally get around to installing it, if it works out like I think it will, I may be willing to make a few of them for other people for a slight profit... The biggest problem is the cost it would be hard to make much & be able to sell them, I've got probably 8hrs labor & at least $500 for the gauges, pods, LED lights, different colored wires, shrink tube & connectors etc. in it... I'm sure if I had a resale # to buy in bulk at cost, I could get a better price on parts, but the time to build the harness & fabrication would probably kill any profit... I'm sure if I did several of them at a time, I could kind of mas produce the harness & plates a little quicker I'm sure....

Never do something without making a profit for yourself especially for your family, and I would never expect that. It costs what it costs. I just don't know yet what I'm going to do yet in the dash. My stock one works right now but I could see going that route.
When you get it all together, hire a photographer and get some shots. LOL

:poke:
 
Yep

Never do something without making a profit for yourself especially for your family, and I would never expect that. It costs what it costs. I just don't know yet what I'm going to do yet in the dash. My stock one works right now but I could see going that route.
When you get it all together, hire a photographer and get some shots. LOL

:poke:

:iamwithstupid: Yea a professional photographer or a 10 year old with a cell phone camera can do a better job taking pitchers than me, I think...LOL... I noticed you can't even see the angled pods that the 2-1/16" gauges are mounted in to redirect them towards the drivers view... Poor job with the camera... Oh well...
 
Try again with some new photos

Try again with some photos on a different setting & white background... Well it's a little better, I don't see a future in photography for me anytime soon...
 

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