1972 Duster Build with my Daughter
I was dreading this but it went easier than expected..... Cluster time...
Removed the gauges. The horror stories of the ammeter start here. The connection get loose because the fiber washer falls apart causing arcing and sparking to start.
I bead blasted the connection points and though the washer was cracked it was not brittle so I just cleaned it up and reused it. Bead blasting and steel wool make the circuit board nice and there were no cracked traces.
Don't forget the plastic bushing and the ridges go into the steel housing so the threaded studs can't short out on the main housing.
Snug the bolts that make electrical contact.
I masked from the front and sprayed the SEM satin black from the rear to get the black around the gauges finished in the plastic face plate.
The holes for the switches are a bugger....
The plastic pins were brittle and broke on disassembly for the gauge shields/covers. I used some 00-90 brass screws. Drilled out the pin bosses and tapped them then used the tiny screws and washers. You could use JB Weld but I was not sure if I would ever want to take it back apart to try to get more scratches out of the clear plastic.
I was dreading this but it went easier than expected..... Cluster time...
Removed the gauges. The horror stories of the ammeter start here. The connection get loose because the fiber washer falls apart causing arcing and sparking to start.
I bead blasted the connection points and though the washer was cracked it was not brittle so I just cleaned it up and reused it. Bead blasting and steel wool make the circuit board nice and there were no cracked traces.
Don't forget the plastic bushing and the ridges go into the steel housing so the threaded studs can't short out on the main housing.
Snug the bolts that make electrical contact.
I masked from the front and sprayed the SEM satin black from the rear to get the black around the gauges finished in the plastic face plate.
The holes for the switches are a bugger....
The plastic pins were brittle and broke on disassembly for the gauge shields/covers. I used some 00-90 brass screws. Drilled out the pin bosses and tapped them then used the tiny screws and washers. You could use JB Weld but I was not sure if I would ever want to take it back apart to try to get more scratches out of the clear plastic.
