Chevy C10 Cluster Restore - Needles Nicely Renewed

The cluster can is also different because it has to poke through the tach body's cutout.

Here is the tach gauge and the new printed circuit board. The tach isn't hooked to the circuit board because it comes with its own wiring harness (not pictured). The new circuit board is redesigned to go around the tach housing and allow the new harness to plug to the back.

This is a comparison shot of the new vacuum gauge panel and the stock one. Do you see the square indent in the factory panel? If you're careful, it can be cut out to allow the gauge to mount. Since the Early Classic conversion kit comes with a new one, you don't have to do this step.

The gauges above and the speedometer are the instruments in every cluster. Our restoration focuses on these two items.

Here is one component you should buy. We have not seen do-it-yourself plastic chrome paint that actually looks like chrome. So pony up the $69 for the new one. One thing different you might notice is the accessory hole on the top. GM '67 and '68 trucks came with a manual choke knob on the left. The wiper switch resides under the headlight switch on the right. We're not going to need the choke, so we updated to the '69-and-later model version.

There are a few ways to paint the needles. One way is to cut a slit in some paper and slide it behind the needle.

Then all you have to do is spray some flat fluorescent orange paint and remember to apply light, even coats. Working with these delicate needles can be challenging; they bend easily. Even notebook paper can bend them if you're not careful.

Usually the instrument itself is in really good shape and only requires a little wipe down, but be gentle.

We prefer using a brush to apply the paint because it gives us a little bit more control. Spray the paint directly into the cap.