retiredrey

Hi friends:
Does anyone have proper assembly procedure for the early C3 gage center cluster with pictures (I hope), I took a bunch of pics when I took mine apart but not near enough.
Thanks
Rey Stenhouse 72 LS 502 Coupe PDT

7T1vette

My advice to you is to buy yourself a copy of the AIM (factory assembly instruction manual) for your model year. It has all the wiring assembly info need. As far as the detailed items that are mounted to/with the individual gauges, you might be able to get that info from Willcox via this Forum. Ernie has been extremely helpful to folks with specifics like that. And if you have any 'missing' pieces, he may have them available for sale.

You need to provide the model year of your car and the last few numbers on your VIN (those indicate the S/N of your car) as there are often mid-year changes that need to be accounted for. This 'assumes' that the gauges you now have are the ones that came with the car. If they have been changed, all bets are off....

The AIM will be very useful to you for many DIY projects on your car. It is one of the very best expenditures that a DIY owner can make.

retiredrey

Thanks to the 71 vette response to my post. I already have the AIM. VERY useful however the particular page has a lot of detail just not quite to satisfy me. Also just a particular note for general info, I have been a member of NCRS for 20 plus years. If anyone in this forum is not a NCRS member I highly recommend joining.

7T1vette

Your offer to join NCRS is nice, but just not my "cup of tea". I like my car to LOOK original, but I'm not of a mind to leave bare metal parts to rust...or have to treat them with something on regular schedule. I'd much rather paint them metal color or with clearcoat to keep them looking good without the grief. Also think it's pretty insane to take points off someone for having a right-side mirror on the car because it was installed by the Chevrolet dealer; but it's OK to put a 2-stage paint job on the car. {WHAT???? }

The basic premise of NCRS is great! They just need to dump some of the crazy 'rules' and 'believed truths' that are mostly myth. I.e. all the cars coming off the assembly line didn't really get all of the "correct" parts put on them......frequently.

P.S. NCRS does have a web site where members can share that kind of info. Glad this site doesn't have that 'requirement'.

Rescue Rogers

something like this?

JBrooke825

That's true not having dum dum behind emblem nuts did it
For me ,but the site has a lot of info . Nice people ,

Alan 71

Hi Rey,
Happy New Year!
Are you asking about the connections to the individual gauges or the assembling of the gauges/housing/lens/ bezel?
Regards,
Alan

If they only knew what you're actually building! You'd think your signature would have been a clue!

Easy Mike

I agree having the AIM would be helpful, but in this case cluster assembly is not shown in the AIM since the clusters were received already assembled from their supplier.

The Parts and Illustrations Catalogue shows the exploded diagram.

DonnieP73

I have this from my 73. This is before I removed the panel , the
oil connection is at the top of the picture.





Donnie

MSGT-R

I've got a pic of a 71 I'm working on..

Peterbuilt

You have a mechanical oil pressure gauge so use MSGT_R's picture for that connection.

MSGT-R

Will a later electrical oil pressure gauge fit into the earlier cluster?
I'd rather have one of those, less PITA..

Alan 71

Hi,
Yes the electrical oil pressure gauge will fit in the same place as the mechanical gauge.
Regards,
Alan

I've never found the mechanical gauge to be a PITA.

Cool bean

Yes, they fit easily. Here's my 1974 coupe in progress. (I don't have finished/installed pics yet. These pics are from fitting/benchtesting with LED lights.) The gauges are Autometer Z series. I wanted the stock look, but wanted to change a few gauges, add LED lights, add voltmeter, add trans temp. The clock will be on the radio face.

MSGT-R

Thanks!

I've had past problems with those tiny plastic hoses leaking when installed in other cars. They are also easily damaged on the other side of the firewall. Don't really care for them anymore..

7T1vette

The only issue with putting a later electrical gauge in your cluster is that the color of the lettering will be a bit different; 1968-71 gauge lettering has a green-ish tint to it; 1972 and later gauges have bright white lettering. Other than that, the 72-73 oil gauge is the same as prior years.

carriljc

I'm curious because I installed an analog O2 gauge that came with a little LED lamp, and I lost the lamp&holder.

MSGT-R

Those are pretty!

Cool bean

@Carriljc; For these Autometer gauges, I used the light socket/pigtails that came with the Autometer gauges. However, instead of using the incandescent bulbs that came with them, I used LED lights from SuperBrightLeds in the sockets. It involves a change in light-wiring from the stock gauges.

(I should point out that in an attempt to make them brighter and have color consistency, I changes all the dash lights/console/shift/wiper/hvac to LED, but this is probablyy fodder for a separate thread.)

theandies

Changed my oil pressure line over to AN fittings and a braided steel line. I won't say it will never leak but it's pretty damn close to leak proof now. And it looks cool under the hood.