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Custom dash and gauge help

defcon500

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Sep 28, 2021
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Location
Tampa, FL
So currently the only gauge that is working in my 66 Coronet 500 is my speedometer, so my next project on this car is my dash and cluster. I am not a purist, so staying stock isn't important to me and even more so when I looked up replacement costs for wiring harness and new gauges for stock. Honestly not a huge fan of the rectangle gauges.

So I started looking up alternatives to stock and what I could find for an aftermarket solution. Sadly I couldn't find much. Doesn't seem to be any pre-built kits or dash inserts. I was able to find a youtube of a custom Coronet with Autometer gauges, and the look is great, but fairly sure it was custom fabricated. So thinking this is one option (added a pic of custom dash, not my pic).

Another option would to get a 66 Charger dash as they fit and it would get the round gauges and a cool custom look as well.

So wondering if anyone here has done anything custom with their dash and gauges and what did you need to get the gauges to work?

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I like the 66 charger gauges; was thinking of even trying to fit them into an E body (since rallye gauge cluster also has 4 big circles). I have the non rallye now. I don't know if they would fit or not and I don't own a set. The only issue with the 66-67 charger gauges is the electro luminescence could be expensive/ tricky to get working properly (depending on the shape they are in). There is a guy that redoes them, I think his name is the gauge doc... thegaugedoc.com They look awesome at night though, with that glow. If you do go that route, please make some posts on your progress.

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Always loved the Charger gauges. Shame I can't fit them in my Belvedere. There is a post somewhere on here about the luminescence but couldn't find it for you. Good luck.
 
I welded in and finished some sheet metal to install a complete set of Autometer gauges ($875.00) for my 65 Belvedere. I even welded in the ashtray.
Mike
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I built a custom cluster for my 73 Cuda, I could have used a factory cluster but wanted modern gauges so I got 4 gauges from Speedhut (you can do custom faces); a speedo, tach, a dual fuel gauge/volts and a dual oil pressure/water temp. All of the gauges have warning lights that you can set as desired and the tach as an integral shift light. Not the cheapest way to go but not really a lot more than Autometer. I made it so that I could use a factory bezel as well.

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I did a custom dash panel for my 71 cuda with Autometer gauges. I had a couple extra dash panels and one of them was sacrificed. I basically cut a piece of sheet metal to match the face of the panel and made a template of where I wanted the gauges to be placed. Pretty well straight forward.



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Ive tinkered around with a few styles & over-lays but so far I haven't decided if I will cover my dash or leave it aluminum. Im thinking about covering my dash panels with a hydro-dip pattern of some type. I plan on hiding my radio inside the dash because I want my EFI monitor where I can see it. Im useing Autometer Pro-comp gauges.

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