68 A body rally dash bezel

[4 speedin]

Has anyone purchased one of the new bezels and if so how does the quality compare to a restored original? I am putting my car back together faster than I expected and the resto shop I called is backed up at least 5 months to restore my original one.
Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Mike

 

[moparmat2000]

I have a 67 rallye dash bezel i bought from BEA parts if that helps. Not sure how close that is to the 68/69 bezel other than the different radio. Mine is a delete car. I also bought the lenses, and glove box door trim as well.

Not sure where your buying it from, but fitment to the gage bucket on this one was not perfect. I had a bit of modification to do to make this all work. Better than nothing, however it would have been better if i had not had to modify it at all.

#1 First off, you have to reuse your stamped metal gage rings, a few of the mounting pins in the gage bezel for these pieces did not line up well.

#2 Once that was corrected, the sheetmetal reinforcement that fits on the top of the gage bezel to allow it to screw into the dash did not fit well either. There is supposed to be a slot in the back side of the gage bezel upper lip to catch the front of this metal reinforcement. Its not there. I had to use a cut off wheel in a hand held air grinder to carefully cut this slot.

#3 Once all that was done, i installed the gage bezel to the gage housing. I noticed even though this was a 67 bezel going on a 67 gage housing, one of the screw hole tabs for the heater control mounting was in the wrong place and didnt correspond to the gage housing. One did line up, so i went with it.

#4 when i got the screws all tightened to attach the bezel to the gage housing i noticed it fit well all the way around except for the top all the way across. There was about an 1/16" gap all the way across the top that would let dust in. I sealed it with aluminum speed tape.

#5 two of the screw holes to mount this assembly into the dash would not line up because these holes were slightly off on the aftermarket gage besel compared to the OEM gage housing. I reamed the housing holes a little bigger, and repositioned the nut clips in the dash frame to fit the assembly in there.

In summary, for what we pay for this stuff we shouldent have to act like an R&D department to put it together. Once i started to modify these pieces to fit, there was no turning back. So i forged ahead and made it work. Is the end result good looking? You bet it is. I am very pleased with how it turned out, i am not very pleased however with what i had to do with a days worth of ******* around to get it there.

 

[RPM440+6]

None of the reproduction pieces work as well as the original pieces. Will be much happier in sending the unit off and having it restored.

 

[moparmat2000]

I probably would have sent mine off to be restored, but it had a chunk broken off, and it looked like somebody drilled out the turn signal holes.

The good part about the chrome on the aftermarket pieces is that they are chromed like an exterior part like a grille would be. The stock OEM ones were vacuum metalized. This does not last over the long haul. The restoration places use vacuum metalising process.

 

[4 speedin]

I probably would have sent mine off to be restored, but it had a chunk broken off, and it looked like somebody drilled out the turn signal holes.

The good part about the chrome on the aftermarket pieces is that they are chromed like an exterior part like a grille would be. The stock OEM ones were vacuum metalized. This does not last over the long haul. The restoration places use vacuum metalising process.

Thank you so much for the detailed discrepancy's! That is a bunch of tedious work especially considering the cost of the parts to get going. I am really in a pickle now as my car is progressing rapidly and will be waiting a month or two for the dash cluster resto. Thanks again for your valuable time.

 

[4 speedin]

Thank you so much for the detailed discrepancy's! That is a bunch of tedious work especially considering the cost of the parts to get going. I am really in a pickle now as my car is progressing rapidly and will be waiting a month or two for the dash cluster resto. Thanks again for your valuable time.

BTW Your dash looks awesome!

 

[Raul]

BTW Your dash looks awesome!

where was this dash purchased and how much did it cost? and I too have broken pieces on mine, do they fix broken pieces when restoring the originals? My gauges are also not reporting with accuracy. particularly the temp and oil pressure. Do they fix these issues upon restoration and does it outweigh the cost of a complete aftermarket dash? My interior dash panel is my next biggest project on my 1968 Barracuda

 

[moparmat2000]

Hi Raul,

I might be able to help w the gage issue. At work. Will reply on break at 3pm

 

[Raul]

Hi Raul,

I might be able to help w the gage issue. At work. Will reply on break at 3pm

Thank you Moparmat2000,
The exact issue at hand is that the temp gauge is nearly pegging or sometimes pegs at H yet with a infrared thermometer it is at 180 and with the oil pressure gauge, it sometimes is erratic in sensing oil pressure or sometimes shows it very high in pressure or doesn't work at all..

 

[moparmat2000]

Temp gage and staying pegged on full hot sounds like the water temp sending unit on the intake manifold is shorted to ground. A new sender is cheap through rock auto.

Erratic oil pressure could also be a problematic sending unit. Both are easy to change, and cheap to buy from rock auto.

Its doubtful its the gage, since they sense variable voltage from the sending unit to make them operate.

If all 3 gages the oil press, water temp, and fuel are going up to full high, and dropping off to nothing simultaniously then the vibrating point type voltage regulator located inside the gas gage is either sticking closed causing the full high condition, sticking open to cause the 3 gages to drop off going low / empty at the same time.

I make a solid state volt reg to repair that issue. Requires removing the gas gage and disabling just thr points reg and leaving the gage side alone. Or can PM you a schematic to make one yourself as a DIY project. Parts cost is about $5.00

If the gages read normal but drop off to nothing then come back to normal then the metal gage housing is not fully grounding to the dash frame. Some guys run an extra ground from the metal gage housing to the dash frame.

 

[Dartswinger70]

I agree about how much this stuff costs. i remember when sending the whole dash out cost $500, then the repro bezel itself was $500. I looked just the other day, and now the repop dash bezel is around $650. I am glad the parts are available though, it wasnt always this way with Mopar, alot of stuff was bought used and restored. I cleaned up and painted my rally dash. The chorme parts I used silver paint. Is it show quality? no. But it will work for a driver. I may spring for the repop bezel one day, but right now I can use $650 for other things. I imagine the repop dash bezel will be $800 till I go to buy one

 

[moparmat2000]

I believe the bezel i got from BEA parts. Though i got it and the corresponding glove box trim several years ago, and rebuilt the dash probably 2 years ago.

 

[340wedge]

I believe the bezel i got from BEA parts. Though i got it and the corresponding glove box trim several years ago, and rebuilt the dash probably 2 years ago.

I got my BEA bezel about 7 years ago.(Duster) It required very little modification and I was really pleased with it. I had to drill for the odometer knob and fudge the metal reinforcement to fit on top. Fit and finish is great and the chrome is durable as previous post stated and not that vacuum metalized process that doesn't last. My car is also radio delete, hence the plate.

 

[moparmat2000]

I think they used the 71 rallye dash mould for the 67, and added in the 67 hazard switch hole. This may be why one of the heater control mount studs was not in the right place. 1967 had a lot of 1 off 1 year only parts, including the metal gage housing, and heater control head. I had to drill for the trip odometer as well but didnt mention it because that would be a pretty common modification to make. I am glad your fit well.

 

[cosgig]

I had GCAR redo my original bezel, the glovebox trim, and both of my A pillar trim pieces, which for 67 convertibles are vacuumized chrome. All total, it cost me $750, and that was shipping the parts both ways from Washington state to my home in Michigan. The instrument cluster bezel was completely redone, all lenses polished, and new red and green lenses. You can’t go wrong with that price, considering the A pillars are almost $100 themselves. I recommend GCAR to everybody I know, they do a great job!