What's Up, Doc? - Tech

The directions say to lay down three heavy coats and wait 10 minutes between each coat. I took the tape off after I blasted them, then masked them off again with new tape just in case anything got disturbed in the blasting cabinet.

Like a kid at Christmas, I couldn't wait very long to take the tape off, which actually worked out well since there were a couple little spots that bled under the tape that I had to clean up with a rag and thinner. The paint will begin to wrinkle after two to three hours.

The next morning I couldn't wait to check it out, and I was pleasantly surprised by the results. It was just what I hoped it would be.

With my now twice-customized panels ready and looking good, it was time to remove all the stock parts. The OEM gauge panel was looking pretty shabby, without much of a hint of the plastic chrome around the outside. It was faded and sported a few cracks here and there, plus it housed the bare minimum in instrumentation, which always leaves you wondering. Now would be a good time to disconnect the battery.

There's nothing too tricky when it comes to removing the old gauge panel. This filler piece under the column had to come out. Loosening the two column mount bolts underneath will drop the column down and out of the way, which will help avoid scratches during reassembly.

To get the headlight knob out of the switch, you have to reach up under the dash. With the knob pulled out like the headlights are on, push this little spring-loaded button down and pull the knob the rest of the way out.

The stock dash wiring is actually pretty simple. This connector plugs into the back of the gauge panel to provide all the necessary power and leads to the sending units via the printed circuit.

Someone got the holesaw out at one time to add this temp gauge, which has wire coming from a ground, the sending unit, and an ignition power source.

Since the new gauge panel from Doc's is flat, these bumps in each side of the dash that the headlight and wiper switches mount to need to be cut out. They stick up about 3/4 inch and prevent the new panel from sitting flush with the dashboard.