Bezel resto question
- Thread starter Darren
- Start date
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I would leave it as it is. no telling what the outcome would be if you painted it. also what if the paint starts to flake off.
CudaFish1968
Well-Known Member
I
I had my dash restored, the metal piece that the gauges mount to, I painted mine white as it had faded and my dash lights was hard to see. I also installed very bright led bulbs. I used 2 different led bulbs,1 for the dash lights and a different one for the blinkers, hi beam, brake. I now have dash lights that I can see good at night, and they dim down good.
Hey, Darren! Watching you work on my old car. Did you get Burlwood finish? Keep up the good work, Murray.
4spdragtop
Well-Known Member
I did same as cudafish1968 did and repainted the pot metal housing. I would leave the chrome housing alone.
The backside of OEM bezel was raw white plastic white a few small strategic areas painted flat black. I have had a few OEM bezels rechromed and those came home chromed on the backside. I painted illuminated cavity white and added the black just like OEM so I dont know what result the chrome would produce.
A common lamp fixture has a bowl shape that redirects the light evenly toward the lens.
The shape of this assembly in highly reflective could through light in all sorts of directions. Uneven? Stars? Best to light it up on the workbench to find out. Go back and paint it if necessary. I didn't go to that effort, Just went ahead and painted it. Paint should stick to the chrome on the back as well as it sticks on the front.
A common lamp fixture has a bowl shape that redirects the light evenly toward the lens.
The shape of this assembly in highly reflective could through light in all sorts of directions. Uneven? Stars? Best to light it up on the workbench to find out. Go back and paint it if necessary. I didn't go to that effort, Just went ahead and painted it. Paint should stick to the chrome on the back as well as it sticks on the front.
Thanks for the info..
Do you happen to have the part numbers of the 2 different LED bulbs you used?
Thanks
Hi Murray..
Yes I pulled the woodgrain tin pieces off of the old bezel and ill be replacing it on new bezel.
Thanks
CudaFish1968
Well-Known Member
I bought these from Amazon. I bought quite a few different styles and these are the ones I used.
The Yitamoto one was used behind the blue covers, and on the printed circuit board for instruments, they are bright. The 194 type I used for blinkers, high beam, brake. Polarity must be correct for Leds to work. My I suggest you set up a power supply on the bench and install and test the Leds on your instrument cluster. As with chinese Leds on Amazon the sellers change daily. Those I bought my not be available, but you can see the style used.
Thanks for the info..
To bench test my cluster I'm assuming I need a specific power source?
Thanks again
4spdragtop
Well-Known Member
I would use a 6v lantern battery as a power source.
Good idea.. thanks Steve
One of those pins is a 12v power source for the board- why not use that? When I have done that, I can also ground the appropriate pin and make sure the gauges are working. Check lights too.
Hi Murray.
I got this picture from RTE (I'm also running a solid state limiter) so if I power this pin (circled in yellow) with 12v the limiter should drop voltage to 5v?
I have to apologize for my electrical ignorance..
Thanks
Yes, this is the advantage of powering up the board with 12v. It will tell us if the limiter is working. Grounding the appropriate pin for oil, gas and temp gauges (imitating the senders) you can watch the needles rise and confirm gauges working. You can power up the dash lights by touching the circuit board and confirm their operation. You can do this at night and get a better idea if those new bulbs are bright enough. Have fun!
If this helps- had to replace my circuit boards due to multiple broken pins. The new ones are great! Built stronger in the pin area. I don't think these will ever break again.
The limiter or regulator lowers voltage to the 3 thermal gauges only. All the lights operate on 12 volts.
Hi Murray.
I got my original board (also a spare) rebuilt by a member (MoparMike) he does a great job..
Thanks
Good to know.. once I get the cluster put together I'll hopefully get a rundown on exactly how to test it..
Thanks Redfish
You guys are great
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