Has anyone here ever made their own instrument cluster?

SuperStang83

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#1

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I have been seriously considering making my own instrument cluster lately. The only places that I find them they are like $150. To me that is crazy, and it seems like all you would need to do is get a piece of whatever style sheetmetal you will want and cut the appropriate holes in it, then find a way to mount it. I won't be doing this for a while because I don't have the cash, but it is something that I would like to do in the not so distant future. Has anyone done this, and what kind of tips can you give me? Also if you have any pics can you please put them up? I just don't like the look of aftermarket gauges all over the car.

I only have 2 of the 6 gauges I need now, but I think that I will need:
4) 2 1/16" gauges; water temp, oil pressure, volts, and fuel level
2) 3 3/8" tach and speedo gauge


Jacob

 

85_SS_302_Coupe

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#2

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My buddy made one out of a 1/4 inch think sheet of aluminum. He cut it all out with a jig saw and painted it black after it was all installed. It looks awesome lit up.




The down side is that you're looking at about $1k in gauges

 

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SuperStang83

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That does look good, plus it looks like it would be a fairly easy job. Do you know if it was easy? It sure does look good.

 

Repostyle

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#4

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Yeah, I know what you mean. Some parts that seem like they should be $10 are rediculously expensive. I think as long as you don't count the cost of gauges the panel should be fairly inexpensive and easy to make.

This is an old pic of a center console panel I made out of 16g steel and some black wrinkle paint for my stereo/HVAC swap

I have since added black trim around the controls and a much better stereo and it actually looks quite good if I do say so myself. I was able to get rid of that squared oval look I had going.

 

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SuperStang83

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Yeah that looks good repo. I plan on just making it fairly soon, and just picking up the gauges one by one and when I get them all install it.

 

SuperStang83

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85 SS do you have any pics of your friends gauges in the car?

 

giddyup306

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I've made my own as well. Mine is damn near the same as the one that 85_SS_302_Coupe posted a pic of.

Several years ago I had a few gauges go out and I decided to just replace all of them with Auto Meter gauges.

I took the dash apart and traced around the cluster on a piece of cardboard to make a template. I worked with that to get the gauges the way I wanted them before cutting into any steel. IIRC I had to cut some 1/4" brass tubing to use as spacers so it would sit like the factory unit.

150 bux for a piece like this is insaine! Their is a company in Florida that makes them (forget the name). You can make your own in 20 minutes.

 

85_SS_302_Coupe

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#8

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SuperStang83 said:

85 SS do you have any pics of your friends gauges in the car?

Click to expand...

Not yet....they're in it now but haven't gotten any pics yet.

 

SuperStang83

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#9

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giddyup can you get any pics of yours? I would like to see what the outcome is. The ones that I have seen so far look awesome!

 

87foxstang

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#10

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85_SS_302_Coupe said:

My buddy made one out of a 1/4 inch think sheet of aluminum. He cut it all out with a jig saw and painted it black after it was all installed. It looks awesome lit up.




The down side is that you're looking at about $1k in gauges

Click to expand...

my god i want those

 

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SuperStang83

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I think you are pretty much gonna want most of those gauges anyway, except for maybe speedo and fuel. I already have the tach, volts, oil pressure, and water temp. Only 2 of them in the right size though. I figure that I can sell the ones that are too large to get the ones that I need. I don't think that it will be anywhere near 1k. Maybe $500. And Florida5.0 wants like almost $700 for everything.

 

SuperStang83

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#12

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If you can get used gauges it will even be cheaper!

 

fordfan89

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#13

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Those are my gauges. I made a panel out of 1/4" lexan first to see how easy it would be, the lexan one was way easier than the aluminum piece. I gave the lexan to a friend of mine and he put it in his car and it is plenty strong enough to hold the gauges so I would suggest that if you plan on painting it or do like I did and get a sheet of vinyl to cover it.

 

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fordfan89

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Oh and if you do this make sure you don`t make the same mistake I did. When you remove the factory panel you MUST reuse the small resistor on the back of the instument panel and connect it to the proper wires that they were on. This is for the charging circuit and it will not charge without it. I found out the hard way. Now you may be able to just jumper it but I didn`t try that I just soldered the resistor in.

 

SuperStang83

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#15

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That is awesome fordfan, that looks spectacular! I want something like that, but I plan on putting in the silver faced Autometer gauges. Awesome thank you for that pic!

 

SuperStang83

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#16

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Oh, and are the gauges held in there any way inparticular, or are they just laying in there with just the wries holding them?

 

Roland69

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#17

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the Cobalt gauges are one of my fav's...

 

SuperStang83

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fordfan, what made the lexan one easier to do? Was it just that it was easier to cut?

 

giddyup306

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#19

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SuperStang83 said:

Oh, and are the gauges held in there any way inparticular, or are they just laying in there with just the wries holding them?

Click to expand...

I actually don't have any pics of my setup and the car is at my dads house about 80 miles from here.

The gauges have brackets on the back that hold them in. When I designed my setup I just positioned them where I thought they looked good. That's why I used a cardbord template. That way I could put the gauges in and see exactly how they fit before I cut any metal.

 

SuperStang83

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#20

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Good idea, do you just have like small sheetmetal screw or what going through the brackets into the gauges and steel?