News:

Due to a technical issue, some recently uploaded pictures have been lost. We are investigating why this happened but the issue has been resolved so that future uploads should be safe.  You can also Modify your post (MORE...) and re-upload the pictures in your post.

Main Menu

Restoring My 67's Gauge Cluster

Started by Evan Wojtkiewicz, December 23, 2015, 11:57:34 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Evan Wojtkiewicz

#20
Painting the dash bezel was easily the most redundant part of the whole project. I had to fix several mistakes and wound up redoing it. The first lesson that I can relay from my mistakes is to be very careful in taping it off. I messed up the little stripe that runs along the bottom of the bezel which in turn led to some careless mistakes that wound up ruining the first paint job. The close up pic below is the correct paint area. I found that 3M Automotive Performance Masking Tape worked best.

The second mistake I made was choosing the wrong paint. Initially, I chose Dupli-Color flat black the first time I painted it. It looked beautiful and seemed sturdy. The problem was that the can stipulates a seven day curing time. The second time I painted it was a few days before I was going to put it back in the car and I chose Krylon flat black. The Krylon looked good, but chipped off in a few places where I handled it when reinstalling it in the dashboard. Doing it all over again, I'd definitely go with the Dupli-Color.

For prepping the surface I started by using a chemical paint stripper to get the old paint off. Sanding down the pits in the chrome turned out to be enough to smooth them out. I'd recommend Dupli-Color's Adhesion Promoter before spraying on the primer. A few coats of primer was more than enough to perfectly smooth out the remaining surface imperfections when sanded with 400 grit paper in between coats.

I tried to paint it outdoors at first, but the pollen and other debris floating around in the spring air made that impossible. Although I'm not endorsing this, I wound up painting it in my basement. I got a cheap box fan and duct taped a furnace filter to the back and constructed a crude spray booth out of cardboard. I opened up as many windows upstairs as I could and wore a face mask.
CLC 29623

1967 DeVille convertible

www.eldorado-seville.com

Great job! Thanks for posting your progress - very interesting read!
Gerald Loidl
1958 Cadillac Eldorado Seville
1966 Cadillac Coupe deVille
1967 Cadillac DeVille
1967 Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado
1974 Cadillac Coupe deVille
1978 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz
http://www.eldorado-seville.com
http://www.cadillac-bigmeet.com

DeVille68

nice job!

I hope you put your original rosewood back in the panel!
1968 Cadillac DeVille Convertible (silver pine green)

Evan Wojtkiewicz

Thanks! Actually, the 67's had a brushed aluminum trim insert. I understand that some 68's (with cloth seats?) also had aluminum dash trim.
CLC 29623

1967 DeVille convertible

DeVille68

Quote from: Evan Wojtkiewicz on June 08, 2016, 02:42:48 PM
Thanks! Actually, the 67's had a brushed aluminum trim insert. I understand that some 68's (with cloth seats?) also had aluminum dash trim.

ah, oh yeah. That is correct. For 68 it depends on the trim level of the car.
1968 Cadillac DeVille Convertible (silver pine green)

Evan Wojtkiewicz

Although I finished the project over a year ago, I've only now gotten around to posting photos of the completed cluster. If anyone decides to tackle this project and has questions, feel free to send me an email.
CLC 29623

1967 DeVille convertible

D.Smith


Jason Edge

Quote from: Evan Wojtkiewicz on January 24, 2016, 09:09:36 PM
As you may have read in my rant post about the ’67 interiors (http://forums.cadillaclasalleclub.org/index.php?topic=139471.0), I have been unsuccessful in finding a local plater willing to take on my dash bezel. So far, I’ve been to four or five shops. They either don’t plate pot metal, or they do but they don't use the appropriate process (street chrome), or they do plate pot metal with the correct process but they can’t do mine because it’s too complicated.
I have had excellent results with pot metal chrome plating thru Atlantic Coast Plating - http://www.atlanticcoastplatinginc.com/.  They are expensive (like all decent chrome shops) but do great work and have pretty quick turnaround time. I haven't sent them a dash instrument cluster bezel (yet), but they have done my arm rest switch panels and many other misc. interior and exterior parts and have been very happy with their work. If/when I do a dash instrument cluster bezel, it will be with ACP!
Jason Edge
Lifetime Member
Executive Vice President
CLC 1963/64 Cadillac Chapter Director - www.6364Cadillac.com
CLC Carolina Region Webmaster - www.CRCLC.org
CLC MRC Benefactor
email - jasonedge64@outlook.com
1964 Coupe DeVille - Sierra Gold - http://bit.ly/1WnOQRX
2002 Escalade EXT - Black
2013 Escalade EXT Premium Edition - Xenon Blue
2022 XT5 Luxury Premium - Dark Moon Blue Metallic

67_Eldo

Great job!

I'm embarking upon restoring the instrument cluster (not the whole bezel) in my 67 Eldorado so this is very helpful.

My face plates have only small spots of corrosion so I'm trying to find a way to touch up the semi-gloss black on the speedometer face as well as the rectangular, silver frames around the left-side idiot lights.

I also need to clean some rust out of the main cluster housing and repaint the blue regions.

The worst area on my car is the shift-position indicator which I might strip and start over. It is small enough to, I don't think, be a tremendous time sink.

When you replaced the bulbs, did you use LED bulbs or stick with the original incandescents?

I didn't realize that OGPI sold the Mylar printed circuit for the dash connections. The one from my Eldorado looks exactly like the one they depict for the non-Eldorados so I sent them a query to see if their part will also fit an Eldorado. We'll see.

Thanks!