73-87 aftermarket guage install...

[flatblack83]

Ok guys i was tired of all the factory guages not working or not reading right, i couldnt afford autometers but i seen these time and time again in street rods at car shows. I went to a local junkyard and bought a bezel for my 83, this style is 81-83 since the wipers arent on the column. I used Dolphin Guages Shark edition which sound cheap but are reviewed pretty good. I have changed them around that the tach and speedo are the large guages and the small ones are oil, fuel, temp and volts. The majority are mechanical, the speedo with my 39s is 15mph off i bought the reduction piece for the cable so it reads almost perfect. I used 1/8 alluminum sheet and layed it over the stock bezel and traced the holes, screwed it to the bezel with self tappers, then wired the turn signals, gas guage and high beams to leds. ...heres pics, let me know what you think...(disreguard the guages under the dash and the wires hanging out, its all cleaned up)

[leveldowen]

Looks pretty practical, but after driving it around for a while you're gonna realize that they dash angles out at the top making the gauges face slightly downward, and can make them hard to read sometimes. The simplest way to fix this is the get some angled bezels and tilt them down so they face slightly upward. Otherwise, looks good. what were the prices on those?

[flatblack83]

It doesnt really tilt that far back with all the screws in, i also dont like them real bright and shinin im my face so they seem to be ok, on the other hand it might get 1500 miles a year and 500 of them are offroad. I bought them new in the boxes but from ebay for 100.00, i think they are 250 normally. But to correct the speedo i had to buy a piece that adapts to the cable to speed up the cable speed that was 80.00 and its right on now. They are a nice 6 guage kit and seem to be decent guages for the money, They also have an ebay store......

[flamingc10]

nice install,I might get some those gauges those look like they'll match my interior better than the auto meter knock offs

[trickedout420]

i personally dont like them...or the install... but nice work if you like it

[1974ChevymediC]

wow some pretty harsh responses. i think its badass and hope to do something like that soon.

[FastBlak]

I think it looks great, good job

[flatblack83]

Thanks for the positive responses guys, for the negative ones each your own, beats the stockers...

[DroppedAtBirth]

Hey Flatblack83 good job, I know how you feel my 85 K10 has no speedo, gas, or temp and it is starting to piss me off. Remember the only person whos opinion about your truck matters is your.

[JaxRhapsody]

Tleast you know how fast your goin and where the gas will be.

[chevybig10]

I think it looks great. For my 79 I'm staying with the stock bezel with a paint job to match the new body color. I did have to swatch all the cluster to get the miles to kilometers and temp in degrees c and such, but I like how you did yours!

[flatblack83]

Thanks guys greatly appreciated, My problem was i just (2 years ago) built the 350 .040 over (358) which i have about 4,000 into , i know thats not alot to some but to me it is. It still doesnt have 500 miles on it. I just couldnt see using the factory guages which hardly worked with the stocker, then i had the tach with the hose clamp on the column and the guage trio screwed to the bottom or the dash which really pissed me off. So i did this setup super cheap and everything is in one nice little place and they all work. ALso frees up the lil extra space and the floor guages dont get bumped any more. I wish i had the extra cash to go all out and go autometer and have a custom bezel but i figured ha ha mine was free and it works perfect....and thanks again guys

[v30mongo]

I should do that to my truck. After a dash light burns out all you have to do is take out a few screws to get at it and not crawl up under the dash and poke around and cut up your hand.

[ugly77]

I need to do that! my cluster is a cluster

[GreaseDog]

i want to put some Autometers behind a stock cluster bezel with slightly tinted faces so they dont stick out. im going to build a sleeper truck at some point, and the tint will hide them a little better. still havent figured out how to mount shift a shift light without it being seen so i can still see it...

[trickedout420]

Originally Posted by GreaseDog

i want to put some Autometers behind a stock cluster bezel with slightly tinted faces so they dont stick out. im going to build a sleeper truck at some point, and the tint will hide them a little better. still havent figured out how to mount shift a shift light without it being seen so i can still see it...

use one of the turn signal indicator holes...

[b454rat]

Personally I like stock clean ones. Clean them up, paint the needles, get an overlay and looks ten times better. These were on my old truck.

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2998...fh?vhost=rides

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2369...JC?vhost=rides