1953 Chevy Truck Gauge Cluster Replacement - New Old Gauges

The speedo has two minor changes, the high-beam indicator light is now on top for easier viewing-and instead of topping out at 80 it now reads up to 90. That might not seem like a lot, but if you cruise the highway at 75 that extra 10 mph is nice to have. Once again, this is a side-by-side comparison.

Before Sam installed any of the gauges, he pre-wired the lights to make hook-up a snap. A few months back we installed a new harness from Ron Francis, so all those connections were waiting for us.

Starting with the speedo, the assembly was slid into place and the four mounting nuts were loosely installed. Then he positioned the gauge and tightened the nuts. With that, he hooked up the new speedo cable and routed the other end out of the firewall.

The other gauge assembly was next. The reason we started with the speedo is so we could work to the right and use the open holes in the dash to access the back of the component we are working on. This worked out much better than lying down and doing everything from the bottom.

Once all the clusters were in place, Sam had to route the oil pressure line, temp probe, and the speedo cable out through these holes in the firewall. Be sure to use the proper grommet for this job, as you don't want your wires to wear thin.

We then installed the temp probe into the front boss of the Edelbrock intake manifold.

The speedo cable was routed down the firewall. It was then hooked to the transmission without a hitch. Not shown is the oil psi line. It was hooked up to the motor right above the oil filter.

Before we could install the new Chevs of the 40's centersection of the dash we had to remove the nuts that hold the upper trim to the main body. We left everything together and used these nuts to install the part to the dash....

...The nuts were then loosely snugged, that way once everything was in place we could come back and line it all up. Once in position, the new center trim was secured in place.

The glovebox liner is next, but we had to pound in these clips before we could stuff it in the dash.

Once those were in we slipped the liner in from under the dash and installed it with the provided screws.

Next we installed the new glovebox door. In order for it to align with the centersection we had to adjust the latch on the backside of the door.

Now that is a dash everyone will admire. And not only does it stay true and retain the classic look of these Advance Design Chevy trucks...

...but the new Chevs of the 40's gauges allow one to monitor the vital signs of their truck(s).