MI 60-66 gauge cluster restoration

[Red65C10]

Originally Posted by TBONE1964

Here is some photos of a 64-66 I am working on for a customer. It is not completely finished and needs the bezel painted. On this one the customer requested the addition of a clock.

I am also preparing to build a standard factory 64-66 cluster with and without gauges, a 60-63 without gauges and a 60-63 with gauges and a tach for anyone interested and will post them when complete.

Please contact me for your specific needs and thank you for the interest,
Tom

Nice work TBone ! On this one how or what's holding the clock in place. I'm about to replace my clock with that same clock. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

[TBONE1964]

Originally Posted by Red65C10

Nice work TBone ! On this one how or what's holding the clock in place. I'm about to replace my clock with that same clock. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Look at the photo (#14) on this thread. You will see the back side of the cluster shown. I made my own plate out of .035" sheet metal and drill two small holes in it and the clock. The outer edge is the same shape as the factory tin work. I used two of the small screws that hold the small gauge tins to the big gauge tins. That way it looks somewhat factory. The 55/56 chevy clocks use a larger bulb socket for the illumination just so you know.

My advise is to get yourself a junk cluster to mock up before you work on a good one. The hole in the lens is critical and using a junk lens will help you in pin pointing the exact location.

Have fun and good luck.
Let me know if you have any other questions.

[Bigru]

Nice work, this is definitely on my to do list.

[Red65C10]

Thanks Tom,
I have a extra cluster plus the original one that's in the truck now to work with.
I'm changing the clock in the cluster below, just never really liked it for some reason. One thing though is after the change I won't have all orange needles. I just love the styling in the belair/corvette clock. I'm guessing you removed the silver round Bessel from the clock since I can't see it there ?

[Red65C10]

Finished it up today, install tomorrow.

Attachment 1212094

[YoungRasta66]

Going to need this real soon

[YoungRasta66]

The tach is amazing and looks so close to original well done!!!! With this restoration the bat, oil, and heat will all work ? I have a second gas tank any possibility instead of a clock I can use another gas gauge in that space. I hate my aftermarket gauges

[TBONE1964]

Here is one for a customer I just finished. Just the basic non gauge cluster but still just as fun to build.

Sorry about the dust in the photos. The flash on my camera really brings it out.

I appreciate everyone that has had me build a cluster for them.

Thank you,
Tom

[TBONE1964]

Here we have yet another customer build. This one is going in a 1960. Like the 64-66 above, it is also a basic gauge cluster but still looks great restored.

Thank you for looking
Tom

[TBONE1964]

Here we have yet another customer build for a 1965. This one has a gloss black bezel per the customer request and has the same quality of workmanship as all of my cluster builds.

Thank you for looking,
Tom

[Budman56]

TBONE those are some nice cluster!

[TBONE1964]

Originally Posted by Budman56

TBONE those are some nice cluster!

Thank you, I appreciate the comment Bud.

[TBONE1964]

ttt

Please contact me for your restoration needs. I can do complete restorations as well as some custom work.

I also sell parts if needed.

Thank you for looking,
Tom

[TBONE1964]

ttt,

Thought I would bring this up and let everyone know I am happy to be in the new shop in Junction City, Oregon and things are going great.

Looking forward to doing more cluster builds.I appreciate the business.

Take care,
Tom

[Bigru]

Pm sent

[TBONE1964]

Originally Posted by Bigru

Pm sent

Hi Rudy,

Nice to talk to you today. I found some photos of some past work I have done that show the tach and the clock together. Just so you can see.

Let me know when you are ready and I will take care of a cluster build for you.

Take care,
Tom

[yote1234]

... P U R D Y !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
very nice job !!!!

[Bigru]

Thanks Tom, you will here from me soon.

[MP33]

I'm considering send my 63 tach dash in to you. What do you do if I have a non working tach? Do you fix it, or have a place you send it to get worked on? Just curious. Thanks......Mike

[TBONE1964]

Originally Posted by MP33

I'm considering send my 63 tach dash in to you. What do you do if I have a non working tach? Do you fix it, or have a place you send it to get worked on? Just curious. Thanks......Mike

Hi Mike,

Is your tach for a V8 or I-6?

From my experience, the best thing to do in your situation is to go with an aftermarket. They look very close to original and they work. I have 6 of the factory tachs and only 1 of them work and I am not sure I would trust it to sell as a working tach.

Getting these repaired is much more money than they are worth in my honest opinion. You can get a new aftermarket V8 tachometer for around $220.00 shipped to your door and have the piece of mind that it is going to work.

Let me know if you want to get a restoration done and I will be happy to do a restoration on it.

Take care,
Tom

[MP33]

Truthfully I'm not sure which one it is, I'm hoping its for an I-6 because that is what is in the truck. I was gonna hook it up and test it and go from there. I bought the dash at Iola swapmeet and I'm not sure of the working condition of it.

[TBONE1964]

Originally Posted by MP33

Truthfully I'm not sure which one it is, I'm hoping its for an I-6 because that is what is in the truck. I was gonna hook it up and test it and go from there. I bought the dash at Iola swapmeet and I'm not sure of the working condition of it.

If you take the tach out of the cluster and remove it from the tin, you should see an ID tag on it. These factory tachs were all made by Sun and should have information on if it is for a V8 or a 6 cyl.

Also, the tag will or may say "use with EB or WPA transmitter" if it does, you will need the transmitter to go with it or it will not work at all. I believe the early 60's (60-63) tachs required the transmitter and the (64-66) did not. The tach tag will let you know for sure. If you can post a photo of the tag, I can help you ID it.

Hope this helps,
Tom

[NEWFISHER]

Bump for a great guy who does fantastic work!

[MP33]

Here's a pic of the back of the tach. Says Nothing about V8 or I-6. I'm gonna hook it up to my I-6 and see what it does. Do you know if it will read higher or lower if its for a V8 and not a six?

[TBONE1964]

My thought is it will read lower if hooked to an I-6 and it is a V8 tach.

If you hook a I-6 tach to a V8 engine it will read higher RPM. I am not at my shop now or I could give you the exact difference in readings.

I will try and get you the exact readings and post them soon.

Hope this helps,
Tom