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'68 Belvedere Basic

Yep, been there. My dash (pretty much identical to yours) had all sorts of issues also. Nature of the beast with these, apparently.
I pulled the cluster and spent an entire afternoon/evening with it on the workbench, methodically cleaning every contact point on the PC board (a pencil eraser works wonders, honest!) and replacing all the bulbs and their sockets with new ones, which are readily available.
I even hooked up jumper cables from the cars' battery and clamped the other ends to my wooden workbench (don't try this at home, kids) so I could test each circuit with 12V as I went; having a factory service manual for wiring diagrams helped a lot, too.
I replaced the voltage limiter at that time also. HIGHLY recommend you do this, regardless of whether or not you think it needs it. Trust me.
I got every gauge and light working eventually on the bench before finally installing the cluster back in the car.

It's a royal pain in the *** to remove that cluster if you don't have any of the trim/padding already removed...
but once done, it turned out to be one of the more satisfying projects I've undertaken on the car, not to mention a bigtime money saver. Companies out there that restore these instrument clusters want big $$$.
It's simple stuff once you're into it. Have at it!


Thanks for the encouragement!

Definitely want the shop manual and schematics next!

I'm not against punting when I have to, but I'd rather restore to spec than modify unnecessarily.

It will never be concours bait, but even if I do most things myself, I don't want to just kluge stuff on the cheap if I can actually afford to do it right.
 
I hope you still have the 68. I dig the four door sleeper look of the 66-70 B body sedans. To me they are a lot of fun, and you won't go broke.
 
Welcome from Missouri!! Very nice!!
 
I love the car. :thumbsup:

On the dash lights, I'd say there's been plenty of folks here who have gone through the same thing with theirs (including me). Nothing a bunch of volt/ohm metering (and maybe some back-wrenching upside down under the dash) can't cure, trust me.

You start posting up here as you go through things and folks will respond.
We're all in this together!

Thanks!
Called in my first order to Classic Industries, for some turn signal lenses and gaskets, etc.

I think next will be the proper 15" wheels.

That dashboard is a high priority too. The only lights that work are oil pressure, and high beam (pretty dull red glow, but sorta there).

Looks like pulling the panel (since there's no dash cover presently) might be the easiest way.

View attachment 340055

View attachment 340056


Anyway, I've got it over in the Member's Projects forum.

There are much more involved projects than mine!
[/QUOTE]
With the dash light issue, check the dimmer switch first and see if it’s working properly. Take a multimeter to it to see if any voltage is getting passed it to brighten or dim the dash.
 
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