Cluster. Make your own Custom Gauge cluster

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Dodge73Dart

Dodge73Dart

1973 Dodge Dart Sport restoration
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I see where you cut out the old gauge face. How much of a lip did you leave for the new inlay to glue to? It sets in from the front, or the rear of the panel?
 
LRSD said:
I see where you cut out the old gauge face. How much of a lip did you leave for the new inlay to glue to? It sets in from the front, or the rear of the panel?
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Sets in the front. I left about 1/4” Had to trim a little more in gauge areas but can do that later. I used epoxy. I also painted the old cluster frame before assembly.
 
Dodge73Dart said:
Dodge73Dart submitted a new Article:

Cluster. Make your own Custom Gauge cluster

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Nice job yours looks a lot like mine.
'71 Scamp - Road racer

I made a pattern in AutoCAD and used it to lay the cluster out on 1/8" aluminum. I changed all the lamps out for LEDs and added LEDs for turn signals and bright indicator. I built it about 10 years ago, a few years before the stroke and before LEDs became so common. I cut up an old dash harness (from my 73/318, 4 dr. donor car, K-Frame, etc.) to get the connectors, so mine plugs in like the original. The map lights and fresh air vents are Aircraft equipment and the fuse box is Marine, the relays are automotive.
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Scott's dart said:
Hey is there any chance you have a link to those LEDs for your signal and Brights indicators? And how bright are they?
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The LED market is a lot different than it was 10 years ago. Very few, if any, vehicles had LEDs. I actually purchased the LEDs, dropping resistors and chrome bezels separately. I'm an Electrical Engineer and former Navy Electronics Tech. so putting it all together wasn't an issue for me. I just did a quick search and found this site. Vehicle LED Lights | Super Bright LEDs. The site is different than I remember, but you should find something to work almost as "plug and play". I'm sorry that I can't be more help. Good luck.
 
Well, I have a spare bezel, so got everything on order do this hopefully this weekend. Considering vinyl wrapping the plexi before I epoxy it in- either black or red 4D carbon.
 
Red_Duster said:
Well, I have a spare bezel, so got everything on order do this hopefully this weekend. Considering vinyl wrapping the plexi before I epoxy it in- either black or red 4D carbon.
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Post some pics when you have it done. Since matching up the speedo cable was going to be an issue and the fact that I wanted to keep the firewall clean as possible, I opted for a GPS speedo.
 
Same here. I have the dash out of the car, so I might make a recess so its sits flush between the defrost vents and try and hide it. I don't know the size of the GPS "Antenna" yet, so that is going to make a difference.
 
I bought a couple of led lights and wire them into the dash harness.
You should be able to easily find a wiring diagram to help in this.
 
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