Several people have asked for some more details on the vacuum gauge / clock replacement I did back in the spring so I'm making a thread here with some of the details so here's waaaaay to much information
( NOTE: this is a bunch of work for simply installing a vacuum gauge. It was done because I wanted to and could and I know it would be just as good hanging a bracket under the dash)

I've got a working (quartz) clock in the dash but there's also on on the stereo, gps and the ipod where the ashtray was. I use a vacuum gauge to set the carb and they are handy for some things so for no good reason at all I thought I could swap the in-dash clock out for a vacuum gauge.

I bought a decent quality gauge from autogage that is close to the correct size and reads clockwise rather than a lot that read the other way and for some reason that mattered to me, a 2-1/16" gauge PN- 2337



I unfolded the gauge face ring that holds the glass on using s small flat screwdriver and gently working around and around until it came off. I was trying not to ruin it in case I couldn't do what I was planning and had to put it back together. A small cutting blade on a dremel would also work if I didn't care about putting it back




I took a handful of reading comparing them to my hand vacuum pump so I could check at the end and make sure everything still worked correctly. Not worrying about the slight differences in numbers (the new gauge is probably more accurate but who knows)





Used a small plastic "fork" to remove the needle, then there are two small screws holding the gage face on and a pressed in needle stop pin. The gauge face is a stiff plastic material, fairly thin

I used a needle off another gauge (oil pressure) and the new gauge has a larger arbor than the oil one does so I opened up the hole using a small drill bit by hand until it was a good press fit




The original gauge faces are cup shaped and I looked at how to make one or re-face an original but it didn't look like it would work well since it's curved and then I'd have to mount it to this gauge so I stuck with the new "flat" face and figured it wouldn't really be seen so masked off the guts of the gauge, prepped and painted the inside of the new gauge flat black (semi flat really)





I scanned the original gauge face into adobe illustrator and using the oil pressure and other gauges as guides I re-created a new face that matches the originals as close as I could as far as layout, fonts, etc. Tried a bunch of variations until I found one I liked with only really a few small added "tick" lines compared to the stock gauges since the new one is a 270 deg sweep instead of whatever the others are... maybe 70 degree or something





Once I got the one I wanted a printed onto a vinyl sticker material trying both a laser and ink-jet printer and then gave a light dusting of semicloss, matt and flat clears trying to best match the original gauges

Made a new face out of some thin plastic I had laying around that was a little larger than the stock one so it comes right out to the edge of the gauge and covers the gap. I taped the original to the new one lining up the center hole in each and drilled all the holes and sanded the outside oversize using the original as a guide type of thing.


The gauges are all on a slight angle towards the drivers side



I made up a strap style bracket that goes onto the new gauge mounting studs and is on the same angle and uses the stock clock mounting screws to hold it to the cluster
(That I don't seem to have a picture of for some reason...)

Anyway, all things being equal I think it looks pretty good. I need to get a small rubber plug or something to fill the clock setting hole in the bezel but that's pretty minor.
You can't really see that the face is flat instead of cupped as most of it are hidden by the bezel and the slight difference in sheen is evened out by the clear lens over everything


Brought out the tube by the line that comes from the HVAC controls in the center of the firewall and hooked it to the motor, still need to clean that up at some point but it works for now


And it works and does all of the things that a vacuum gauge should do while you're driving, it's a little weird since it's "off-scale" sometimes with the larger sweep but the important bit is that it's showing all the things it should be showing and not the exact number or anything


ANYWAY....
Looks like I already gave the extra face stickers I printed to someone on the forum here so I've attached a PDF of the final version here if anyone was bored enough to want to make their own and doesn't want to re-invent the wheel.
The file is set to print at 100% and the reference line is 5" long.
I printed on "Vinyl Sticker Paper for Inkjet Printer, Matte White" I found that ink jet worked better than laser
Sprayed over top with rust-oleum chalked matte clear for a slight sheen that more or less matches the original faces

The font I used was IMPACT in adobe illustrator
For the word along the bottom it was at 13.5pt, height at 103% width at 88%, tracking at 120
for the numbers it was 18pt, height at 103%, width at 75% tracking at 84

M

 

replacing the gauge face with one that matches the original design is an excellent move, have you considered doing something similar for say, an AFR gauge?

 

Nice work, Mooser. Excellent attention to detail!

 

Outstanding!
Thanks for sharing.

 

Very cool that the usable range for that gauge (10 to 20" Hg) turned out to be exactly 90 degrees of scale movement, to match the 90 degree movements of the other gauges.

Super job of making the dial face appear almost identical to the original gauges. One could also use a [discarded] original gauge face, repaint it satin black, then apply YOUR face plate sticker to that. Shoot it with matte clear and it will be MORE identical to the original gauges. Either method will look and work well !!

Nice work....

 

I looked at that but part of the numbers are just out onto the curved part of the face so the "sticker" would have to try to curve and I'm sure would end up with wrinkles / bubbles and generally cause me grief so I'd have to shrink the layout to keep it flat and then the edge of the sticker would be right on the visible area of the face so I went this way instead
M

 

personally i think vacuum sucks... nice job and write-up.

 

Damn! You've got Skill.

Mooser, that's amazing, if my clock didn't work, I'd seriously attempt that mod. I'm envious of your attention to detail and that fact you're never afraid to try anything. .One day................we will meet up.

 

Outstanding work.....you could sell that to some of us. My 77 has different fonts, etc.....but I would like to replicate what you did. This is what makes this forum so valuable.