Hey guys,
I will be taking apart my 1970 SS guages in a few weeks and was wondering what is the best way to clean them and polish or clean the plastic lenses?
Thanks,
B

Start with mild soap and water, and if it still looks poor, try Meguiar's (or others) plastic polish.
Are you related to Rumpleminze?

The Meguiar's is great - there's also a product called Scratch X I found at Wal Mart, worked great as well. I think Scratch X was designed for CD/DVD repair - but if it can fix those tiny optical scratches, it can polish your dash bezels...

You can polish them easily with a cloth, but if there are more serious issues, you'll find a small polish-cloth bit for a drill or slow dremel would help.

I'm not sure it's really worth trying to clean/repair the dash lense when brand new repops are being offered.

Unless you have a 997 point OEM correct component car, not sure I'd give it a second thought.

Brand new in the wrapper is always nice.

Where can I find new ones, and what is the cost?

My original cluster lens was beyond help so I got a replacement from OPG. It fit perfectly. I haven't done any checking but I'm sure all of the catalog houses carry it and they probably all get it from the same source so shop around if you are going to buy a replacement. When I looked at the receipt to verify price, I nearly fell off of my chair. Talk about sticker shock! $69.95 plus shipping and handling. With that said, I don't regret paying the price. When you stop to consider the amount of work to remove the dash, pull the cluster, etc., once it is all put back together and you're driving along looking at your gauges in bright sun light, the last thing you want to think is 'man, am I sorry that I didn't replace that lens when I had the chance'. Try restoring your original lens first but those micro-fine scratches can be murder under the right lighting conditions. Just make sure that you'll be completely happy with it before putting everything back together.

I just did mine and as long as there aren't any large scratches, they'll polish up fine. Novus makes the best plastic polish around.

If you are considering cleaning the faces of your instruments, be VERY careful. Any water based cleaner or solvent based cleaner will remove the white markings. About all you can do is brush them off with a soft dry brush. I had some stains that I worked on with a Q Tip and Windex, but was careful to stay away from the markings.

Tom

You can polish them easily with a cloth, but if there are more serious issues, you'll find a small polish-cloth bit for a drill or slow dremel would help.[/quote]

Good tip. The key word here is SLOW! Watch the RPMs or else you'll quickly find the melting point of the plastic. Ask me how I know! :mad:

They're on Ebay for $49 plus $10 to ship. When I bought mine it got cracked during shipping. I emailed the seller and they sent a replacement out right away. Was very happy with the seller. I did have to massage a couple of the mounting holes, but looks great once installed. As already said, I'm sure it's the same piece everyone sells.