My First A Body Cluster Restore

lordolunch · Oct 20, 2020

Thank you all for the tips and pointers you shared with me a while back. I feel like my first try went decently well! Here are some pics of how it went:

Before:

After:

Certainly not perfect, but I'm happy with it. Total cost was about 55 bucks or so for some Rustoleum chrome paint, satin black, play-doh, and the woodgrain sticker. This cluster is from my brother's high school car, so it meant a lot to me bringing it back to life. It'll be going in my 1974 Plymouth Duster I'm working on.

Play-Doh, you ask?
I'm actually pretty proud of this one. lol I couldn't think of a way to mask the insides of the instrument windows properly to re-chrome the surrounding rings, so I smooshed playdoh in them, and sprayed over it. It worked perfectly. You guys probably know something better. lol

Stephen Mulkey · Oct 20, 2020

Looks like a pretty good job to me. I like the play -doh trick

vntned · Oct 20, 2020

Wow! That's great! Where's you get the wood overlay?

WymanV · Oct 20, 2020

I use Silly Putty to mask multi color camouflage schemes on my scale models. You have to work fairly quickly with it as it settles over time and tends to 'flow', but it beats the hell out of masking tape.

dartfreak75 · Oct 20, 2020

That is awesome you did a great job! Very nice work thanks for the playdoh idea im gonna try that. I been working on mine too I have the center and glovebox door finished working on the cluster now. Here is a before and after of what iv got done so far. The top is the after obviously lol

4spdragtop · Oct 20, 2020

Nice work! Thanks for the play doh tip!
Make sure to check brakes and oil

MoparMike1974 · Oct 20, 2020

There is liquid mask that you paint on, works good.

lordolunch · Oct 20, 2020

vntned said:
Wow! That's great! Where's you get the wood overlay?

Mopar A Body 73-74 Non Rallye Dash Overlay Sticker 3Pc STYLE 2 - WALNUT Woodgrain

I used this fella here. You have to paint the edges a dark brown on your cluster, because it's not usually a perfect fit, the instructions say. Overall perfect product though

lordolunch · Oct 20, 2020

WymanV said:
I use Silly Putty to mask multi color camouflage schemes on my scale models. You have to work fairly quickly with it as it settles over time and tends to 'flow', but it beats the hell out of masking tape.

That's a really cool idea. It's crazy how much time it saves to do something like that. lol

lordolunch · Oct 20, 2020

dartfreak75 said:
That is awesome you did a great job! Very nice work thanks for the playdoh idea im gonna try that. I been working on mine too I have the center and glovebox door finished working on the cluster now. Here is a before and after of what iv got done so far. The top is the after obviously lol

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Is that a matte black paint? It looks super good on there. Awesome job man

dartfreak75 · Oct 20, 2020

lordolunch said:
Is that a matte black paint? It looks super good on there. Awesome job man

Yea I did flat black i thought gloss would be too much bling with the silver

RustyRatRod · Oct 20, 2020

I for one think it looks great!

dartfreak75 · Oct 20, 2020

lordolunch said:
Mopar A Body 73-74 Non Rallye Dash Overlay Sticker 3Pc STYLE 2 - WALNUT Woodgrain

I used this fella here. You have to paint the edges a dark brown on your cluster, because it's not usually a perfect fit, the instructions say. Overall perfect product though

Yep thats what I got too. I had to trim the center section around the heater controls because I'm using a 71 cluster and the center section is a 75. But an exacto knife made quick work of that

GGs66GT · Oct 20, 2020

Great job , and way cheaper then having it done professionally .

Now I’ll have to do mine , I like the play doe idea .

TF360 · Oct 21, 2020

That looks really good!

dartfreak75 · Oct 23, 2020

I got mine (minus the cluster) installed today. I'm having a horrible time getting the heater controls straight but I will figure it out.

TF360 · Oct 24, 2020

You need a Service Manuel and some one to snap a pic

dartfreak75 · Oct 24, 2020

TF360 said:
You need a Service Manuel and some one to snap a pic

I have a service manual just having a hard time fitting my fat arms in there haha

lordolunch · Oct 24, 2020

dartfreak75 said:
I have a service manual just having a hard time fitting my fat arms in there haha

Do you have the original AM radio for it? It seems that's a pretty hard to find thing these days. lol Unfortunately someone cut mine up to get a new player in there, so I'm just going to roll with it. Seeing it all together is making pretty excited. lol

dartfreak75 · Oct 24, 2020

lordolunch said:
Do you have the original AM radio for it? It seems that's a pretty hard to find thing these days. lol Unfortunately someone cut mine up to get a new player in there, so I'm just going to roll with it. Seeing it all together is making pretty excited. lol

I do have the original am radio but I went a little different route. I bought another am radio (kept my original working one) and did a bluetooth board inside of it. I got it installed today. I will post a link to my bluetooth build if your interested in it.

DentalDart · Oct 24, 2020

Looks awesome!

How long did you let the rustoleum chrome paint dry for? I did my console a month or 2 ago, and it looks better but the silver was a B**** even with letting it dry for almost 3 weeks...

lordolunch · Oct 26, 2020

dartfreak75 said:
I do have the original am radio but I went a little different route. I bought another am radio (kept my original working one) and did a bluetooth board inside of it. I got it installed today. I will post a link to my bluetooth build if your interested in it.

View attachment 1715618731

View attachment 1715618732

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Dude, definitely post me a link on that. How the heck do you connect to it and whatnot? Just a certain station? That looks awesome. lol I wish the guy hadn't cut mine up.

lordolunch · Oct 26, 2020

DentalDart said:
Looks awesome!

How long did you let the rustoleum chrome paint dry for? I did my console a month or 2 ago, and it looks better but the silver was a B**** even with letting it dry for almost 3 weeks...

View attachment 1715618765

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Woah, that still looks really good man. I've found it never reaches a point the paint won't come off. This paint is a suuuuper cheap and easy way to get a good chrome look, but at the cost you have to avoid touching it. lol Mine seems able to handle being lightly touched, and wiped gently with a damp towel.

dartfreak75 · Oct 26, 2020

lordolunch said:
Dude, definitely post me a link on that. How the heck do you connect to it and whatnot? Just a certain station? That looks awesome. lol I wish the guy hadn't cut mine up.

Its just a permanent board that you wire your speakers into and it connects to your phone. Its really neat.
Bluetooth radio build.

My First A Body Cluster Restore

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Restore it, Dont part it!

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Restore it, Dont part it!

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Restore it, Dont part it!

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Restore it, Dont part it!

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Restore it, Dont part it!

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Restore it, Dont part it!

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Restore it, Dont part it!