Cluster resto

In the last post I started the cluster resto by stripping the old finish and someone's "paint job" from the bezel with a water based graffiti remover.

I disassembled my original cluster the donor to compare the pieces and select the best parts to build one good one.

Warm, soapy water removed most caked on grime

After washing both lenses to remove some serious dirt and grime I found my clear lens had some light stress cracks in the face. Some knucklehead felt compelled to push on the lens wherever a gauge was located. The donor lens had some deeper scratches.

Cluster lens looking like new

With a little spit, some 2000 grit sandpaper, and a soft buff wheel with plastic rouge I was able to bring the donor lens back to like-new condition. I had to touch up the white paint of one letter on the back side of the lens. You can do it all by hand but the buff wheel makes quick work of it and takes care of flaws that are difficult to remove by hand. You just have to be careful because you can burn the plastic if you apply too much pressure or hold it in one spot too long. I happened to have a Novus 3 part plastic resto kit which I used to do final polishing on the lens by hand.  There are several products for polishing plastic available at your local auto parts store. Some work better than others.

Novus Plastic Polish System


The face of the donor speedo was in slightly better condition than my original so I removed the odometer and tripodometer and transferred them. Remove two small screws and each tumbler drops out as an assembly. I also reset the odometer back to zero. It was a bit like a Rubik's cube but once I figured it out it was easy - much harder to describe. It did involve rotating the tumblers starting on the left. Before someone screams, "You broke the law!" I'll add that here in Washington, due to it's age, speedometer readings are exempt and I have no intention of passing this car off as a low mileage original. I just want to start the clock over when it's reborn.

I synchronized the tripodometer to the odometer so that it advances at the right time. This was easy enough to do by rolling the "tenths" tumbler on the tripodometer by hand without disassembling it. I hooked a drill up to the old speedo cable to test everything.

One freshened-up speedo to go