When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
The stock gauges were utilitarian at best and in the rehab of this 1985 box, new gauges will be installed. Autometer C2 full sweep gauges will be used with 2 3/8" 4 small gauges and 3 1/2" speedo and tach. There is a plastic gauge finish bezel template that fits right into the OEM mounting holes is going to be used. The Black finish bezel is only 1/8" thick so I made a 1/4" plastic reinforcement backer to make sure the gauges are mounted tightly. The real work begins in culling thru all of the existing dash wiring harnesses and keeping the circuits needed and getting rid of the rest. Some needed wires to be found are the high beam lights, directional lights, dome courtesy lights, back up lights, AC heat controls. Some wires are easy to find as you can work from the blower motor back tracing the wire that way. The wires in the actual gauge cluster is a different story and need to be found by looking at the wiring diagram. All of the ECM wiring will be done away with as a Holley Sniper FI setup will be used which greatly simplifies engine compartment wiring. It will take some time to find all of the needed wiring in the dash harness, but the Autometer gauges will look great when done.
The 4 smaller gauges fit right into the OEM gauge spot and no cutting of the plastic had to be done. I am waiting on the speedo and tach to see if the area they fit into needs to be cut. I don't believe it will. The OEM gauge cluster wiring ends do have to be removed from the area in order for the small gauges to fit. After looking at the prepackaged dash gauge offerings and the problems encountered by end users with most of them, the Autometer gauge route looked like the way to go. Any pics of Autometer gauge cluster setups?
I assume you have a pre 1990 model based on the narrower bezel? The 90 through 92 takes way more fab work and was one of the most challenging projects on my car. It required a tremendous amount of dash fab work and required a different headlight switch. So to anyone reading this who sees the description of these bezels on the various parts websites, they do not bolt right not and are the farthest thing from a direct fit.
