I have a 69 chevelle with a stock dash board in it. i want to take out the big speedo and other big gauge witch has gas, and a few other things on it.. how hard would it be to take those gauges out and put in 5 inch white faced gauges, would the 5inch fit. i also want to cut some of my dash out where the air conditioning and some other areas obove that where there is nothing at all, i want to cut all that out, and some how put some little gauges in there, how hard would this be, or does anyone even know what im talking about, any info would help alot. will it be time consuming or what, thanks

Brad

Brad,
Some of us later year guys ('70-'72) have added some custom guage packages to our rides. BB_Mike has a nice white face guage cluster that he fabbed up and put in where the swept style speedo went. And then another member here on this site (I would love to know how he did this and what it cost) used what I believe was a universal Dakota Digital guage cluster in place of his swept style speedo. Unfortunately with anything electrical, it can be a headache to achieve the desired results. But if your an Electrical Engineer (no pun intended Mike) you can do this in no time. Or if your an average joe like the rest of us be prepared for some headaches as the wireharnesses in our cars can and will get hacked up from previous owners over thier lives. I hope this helps out.....oh and to whomever reads this....have you seen the A-pillar guage pods yet? I want one badly for Christmas!!!

Hey 69ChevL,

I don't think that the 5" will fit, if they will it will be REAL tight. When I find the picture of what I just did to my dash I'll e-mail it to you. I replaced the Stock Speedo, and clock in a '68 El Camino dash with a Autometer 3 3/8 Electronic Speedo, and 3 3/8 Tach. If you are really thinking about cutting up the original dash for other gauges, think about having a custom dash made up by a local metal worker, I have seen some nice work. And an original dash can survive for another restoration. If I can't find the picture tonight, I will take a new one tomorrow and e-mail it. Good luck, save a dash for a restoration friend.

Wes O'Dell

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"When the job gets you down, and life's a drag,..........RACE!!"

What's black, blue, purple & yellow all over?...
...No it's not a bruised banana!
You'll just have to check my site below to find out.

The Project Begins! Watch as it progresses at: My '68 El Camino Project (http://www.angelfire.com/ca6/1LoElco/)

I think I'm the one that has the Digital gauges that 72SSabody mentions. He is correct it is a universal 6 guage cluster set from Dakota. At the time they didnt offer a bolt in setup for my 71 so I fabricated one on my own. It was a real pain in the A**, I had to modify the A/C ducts and build a new bezel from scratch in order to get everything to fit. The wiring was pretty straight forward and all the sending units were included in the kit I bought. If I had to do it over again I would pay Dakota to biuld me a custom bezel and save myself the headache.

But It works well and I'm very happy with it. Plus, I did it myself (which makes me feel good)

Here are some pictures www.chevelles.com/showroom/clark1.jpg (http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/clark1.jpg) www.chevelles.com/showroom/clark2.jpg (http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/clark2.jpg)

Clark

[This message has been edited by Clark (edited 11-23-2000).]

Clark! I've been wanting to put those Dakota Digital guages in my Malibu for ever, but have not seen it done before. What kind of guages did you buy? what is the part number? and how did you install them? Also does Dakota Digital offer a bolt in kit for the sweep style guages?

Thanks,
JJ

JJ
I dont remmember off hand what the part number was for my system but you can see all thier systems at www.dakotadigital.com (http://www.dakotadigital.com)

I started out with thier 6 guage 13inch universal setup and then modified my old speedometer bezel to make it fit. I became very good at forming and molding plastics. It was not an easy job! I think I had to fit and refit the system several dozen time before I got it right. If I were you, this is what I would do. Call Dakota and tell them what you want. They can take your old speedometer bezel and install thier gauges in it. It will cost you some money but it could be worth it. It took me over 3 months of weekends planning, cutting, glueing and testing to complete my guages! I happened to have my dash board completely removed from the car so it was worth a try.

I gotta tell you though, It is a nice setup!!
The speedometer is programable, if you change your rear end gear you can readjust the speedo at the touch of a button. Oil press and water temp will flash when they get outside your preset limits. You can wire in a shift light, turn signals, gear shift indicator, high beam indicator and basically anything you need can be wired in and displayed. Pretty neat.

You will have to find a home for the control box though. For me, I put it above the glove box under the dash pad. I mounted the control switches inside the glove box.

I did have one problem. I accidently shorted one of the circuts during one of the installation tests. I sent the box back to Dakota and they replaced it for free.

Clark

Clark,
That is just sooooo damn cool!!!! Too bad they didn't have these bolt in units for you at the time. Just click to see ~~~> www.dakotadigital.com/products/chevelle.htm (http://www.dakotadigital.com/products/chevelle.htm) All years of chevelle (64-72) now have their own bolt in units. Expensive but definately unique!

[This message has been edited by 72SSAbody (edited 11-23-2000).]

[This message has been edited by 72SSAbody (edited 11-23-2000).]

That looks sweet, Clark!!! Good job!!!

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"I been chasing a madman for 700 miles."
-Smokey and the Bandit

Sean Thomas
TC Member #907
Sean's Garage (http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/gorbe1.jpg)
70 Chevelle SS 396/350 hp
71 Chevelle SS (clone) 400/450 hp

Hey thanks for the Info Guys.

It looks like Dakota finally offers a bolt in kit for the chevelle, but for the 70-72 you have to supply them with the SS guage bezel. I wonder if they will come out with a replacement for the non SS sweep speedo bezel?

Maybe I should show them how to do it!! http://www.chevelles.com/forum/smile.gif

Again, thanks Guys. That guage package was one of the hardest things I've done to my car. I wanted something no one else had and I wanted it to work well. So far I've scored on both counts.

Clark

Brad,

Just in case you haven't made a final decision, I e-mailed you pictures of what I did to my dash since I am unable to post them.
Good luck, with yours.

Wes O.

Addition: Brad I just sent you the pictures of the console I installed w/gauges, Let me know what you think. If anyone else would like to see them, email me & I will send then to you also.

Wes O.

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"When the job gets you down, and life's a drag,..........RACE!!"

What's black, blue, purple & yellow all over?...
...No it's not a bruised banana!
You'll just have to check my site below to find out.

The Project Begins! Watch as it progresses at: My '68 El Camino Project (http://www.angelfire.com/ca6/1LoElco/)

[This message has been edited by 1LowElCo (edited 12-02-2000).]

I got a price for digital gauges for an ss dash that I have. The full set was around $750.00 +/-

Just thought I'd let you know.

PS I was some pics of the digital gauges in a sweep dash. They look really good. Nice job!

Digital booooo http://www.chevelles.com/forum/wink.gif Gotta go analog, digital is like running low profile tires and fuel injection... sure you can do it, but where's the fun in that http://www.chevelles.com/forum/biggrin.gif

I did these in a bit of a hurry.... I already have the next layout in mind. am wanting to move some things to the A-pillar. http://www.auburnextremeracing.org/drivers/mike/mikes002.jpg
http://www.auburnextremeracing.org/drivers/mike/mikes001.jpg

I also have another picture that I was emailed from a TC member. It is a pro-street chevelle with a very similar setup.

-true my car isn't exactly prestine on the inside. I had to set priorities, creature comforts was last http://www.chevelles.com/forum/cool.gif

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Member of TC Superfreind's society for goodness and camaraderie.
BB414, TH400, 3.73 Eaton posi,
13.16sec @ 105.15 MPH (TH400 needs clutch pack, Radial T/As = zero traction)
" Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia"
Picture of me roasting the tires and other guy stuff (http://www.auburnextremeracing.org/drivers/mike/)
Video of me staging (smoke of course) (http://www.notabusinessracing.org/videos/mike_chevelle_burnout.avi)