The dashboard is the most important feature within the cab of your truck. It's the spot you'll spend percent of your time staring at and can provide a multitude of options for customization. If you're dash is ugly, then it's tough to get excited about driving your truck. Case in point: Our '73 Chevy C10 is a beat-down beast of a truck that neither looks good nor functions properly. This includes the gauges and most of the interior.
We are replacing an old set...
We are replacing an old set of Auto Meter Sport Comp mechanical gauges that the previous owner never bothered to install properly. The speedo doesn't work and neither does the tachometer. Worse yet, the gauge cluster is so hacked up that the gauges are held in with glue.
Refurbishing your entire interior can be costly, but rehabbing your dashboard is a cheaper way to achieve results where it matters most. In fact, an hour spent on the Internet shopping for a new gauge cluster and gauges, and a couple of hours spent wrenching, did wonders for our truck.
Now we've got gauges that gauge, a cluster that doesn't look like it came off a demolition derby truck, and the rest of our interior still looks like a reject from a Mad Max movie. We'll take care of that later on. At least now we know when we're breaking the speed limit.
1. Our new gauges are from...
1. Our new gauges are from Auto Meter's Carbon Fiber lineup. We chose the larger 2-5/8-inch accessory gauges and the big 5-inch tach because we have the room and they look cool. We also switched from mechanical to electronic gauges so that we could get rid of the oil and water lines that were leaking within the cab of our truck. These gauges use electric sending units so we can avoid the mess from now on.
2a. Auto Meter recently updated...
2a. Auto Meter recently updated its gauges with a couple cool features; first, the older bent aluminum mounting brackets that you had to trim to length depending on how thick the gauge mounting surface has been replaced with a lightweight plastic mount.
2b. Second, You no longer...
2b. Second, You no longer have to fumble with small nuts and washers to attach the wires to the gauges. Female spade connectors are easily slipped onto the wire terminals, saving time and your sanity.
3. The gauge backlighting...
3. The gauge backlighting can be customized with either green or red bulb covers. We went with the softer green color because it makes us happy.
4. Wiring the gauges is up...
4. Wiring the gauges is up to you. We pre-wired the gauges on our workbench, leaving the wires with a long lead to make installing and removing the cluster easier.
5. If you're wondering what...
5. If you're wondering what happened to our shoddy gauge cluster, we replaced it with this bitchin carbon-fiber-look replacement cluster from Classic Dash. These clusters are available for '64 to '87 Chevy trucks in many finishes and styles.