Well I'm in the middle of doing the repair on my digital dash using parts from batee's site.

So far its apart. I have the film off one panel. Trying to get the glue off the glass panel before installing the new polarizing film.

Trying not to break anything......

Wish me luck.


I'll post pics after I get done, well IF I get done.

 

Sounds like fun. Good luck!

 

409 works good for getting window tint off might work good on that too.

 

Goodluck! can't wait to see the end result. I'm going to have to do this too

 

Ok its back in the car with mixed results.

I ended up with a few small air bulbs but nothing horrible in the end.

The biggest problem is a I don't have a brayer tool. Without it its very hard to get the film onto the panels without air bubbles. I spent over an hour at Walmart after their website said they had one at that store trying to find one. No luck. Sad they cant just look up where something is in the store. Well the word pathetic came to mind after driving 30 miles one way.

Anyways my first attempt to put a film panel onto the speedometer ended with a few small bubbles. I should of left it alone. But batee's video says "you can pull back the film to redo it by going past the bubble spot and repressing it on there".

Erm don't do that. Ended up with lines everywhere I semi stopped while pulling the film back. If I had of left it alone Id of been fine but my attempts to "fix" the problem ruined the film. So redid the speedo with the other film that was supposed to do the tach panel.

I picked up a lint remover roller thing since they didn't have a brayer tool and it worked "ok".

So the speedometer is redone with minor bubbles. The info panel for temps and the gas gauge worked great. The tach panel wasn't that bad to start with faded wise so I just put it back together without redoing the tach panel since I ruined one sheet.

Hooked back up and it works and looks great. I have one led segment that isn't working on the distance to empty/trip meter panel but I don't know if it worked to start with. The rubber blocks that make contact to the lcd panels are pretty bent from age so I may order some of those from bate when I order more of the film for the tach.

If you can possible get by without the cluster and are willing to risk shipping it to batee I could easily see it being worth the money to just pay him to do the job. I have a car show at the end of this month or I would of shipped mine. I did NOT enjoy this repair at ALL.

It worked but having a root canal probably would be more fun.

I'll post some pics tomorrow since its hard to really get good pics at night. I took pics of the faded panel just need some of it repaired now.

 

I never did post a link to the pics for this in this thread so here is a link to it all.

http://crowz.narmir.com/vehicles/198...ter-restoring/

 

Good work, the dash looks great. There's a night and day difference between the two panels.

Gary

 

Thanks !

Can't wait for warm weather again so I can get back working on it more.

 

Thank you for that info and your thoughts on it. I want to have the dash out of my '88 looked over by them and upgrade to LEDs.

Later,

Lee

 

I did my 89 last year and didn't have any problems, except I didn't peel all the film off the first time so I had to peel twice. Other than that I was very surprised how easy it was with the video, actually enjoyable. Replaced all my lights in the dash too and I'm surprised how many things in the info panel actually light up.

And when I turned the key and everything worked I was delighted, finally got to see my instruments for the first time.

Rick

 

Funny, Glad I saw your post...My dash is sitting next to me, on my printer...Need faded film replaced, new bulbs, cruise needs checked....You have to pull dash panel? Mine came out without pulling it out??? Just put order into BANTEE for Film, lights, paint, Power pins( Mine look good) Will find a roller before order comes in from MO....Was going to try the credit card way....Live to learn.....Thanks

 

You can take it out without removing the top dash pad its just a ton easier to get it out with the pad removed.

If you add dash speakers I recommend loosening the screws of the pad to add some clearance but not removing the pad itself since the speaker wires will be a pain. But with no dash speakers the pad slides out easy.

Also the roller is the way to go. Its 1000 times easier with the roller. I had used a credit card for window tint etc in the past and figured it would do great for this but the film is so thick the card just doesn't work worth a flip.

 

Ok I added info about the brayer tool I bought to the end of the howto just now.

http://crowz.narmir.com/vehicles/198...ter-restoring/

Tool was $13 and its a must when doing this to get it to come out decent in my opinion.

 

Ok I just redid the entire thing yet again. I tried to make the howto super detailed now with step by step instructions on every detail from removing the cluster, taking it apart completely, bulb replacement, photo cell testing, lcd panel removal and recovering and reassembling the whole thing. Also links to Batee's site for parts, links to the brayer tool needed and pictures of it.

http://crowz.narmir.com/vehicles/198...ter-restoring/

Should be completely done now unless I add more pics later.

 

Impressive, would a credit card work to get bubbles out? just curious, as my vette's going to need this done too.

 

Credit card edge didn't work for me. That brayer tool was the only thing that did work for me. The brayer tool was wide enough and put even force across the entire roller so all of the film went on evenly is the best I can describe it.