anyone put 5" autometer gauges in a stock 69 camaro dash

[importkiller69ss]

i have the autometer console pod and i am looking to move my big in dash fuel gauge to a 2 1/16 console gauge. in its place i want to go with a 5" tach in the dash then match it up with a speedo. i have seen this done in the 67 and 68 camaros but not in a 69 due to the kinda square gauges. can anyone give me some insight on this subject

[rwhite692]

There was a guy on camaros.net who had done exactly that as I recall. I will see if I can find it and post a link...

I can say (just my opinion) that it looked a bit odd since the 5" diameter of the guage is significantly larger than the square cavity...

[importkiller69ss]

im just thinking that the 3 3/8" are going to be to small

[Musclerodz]

I have seen it done but doesn't look right with a round peg in a square hole.

Mike

[importkiller69ss]

would the 3 3/8 look better than the 5" i am just trying to avoid the aftermarket dashes and work with my original one

[awr68]

Have you looked into Covan's dash insert? (http://covansclassic.com/)

The real trick thing to do is to use the 69-74 nova dash insert from covans and the nova dash pad, this gets rid of the odd shapped camaro dash and gives you a nice flat surface to work off...much cleaner looking!!

I have a Covan's insert in my 68 Camaro...nice product. :thumbsup:

[importkiller69ss]

yeah i hvae seen those and i like the way they look. but i am just a poor ole college student and am trying to use what i already have

[Overkill]

I put the 5" gauges in my Camaro. I have pictures of the modifications that I did, but unfortunately I haven't been able to get my website back online since I moved back home to Rural America.

I made plates that mounted in place of the stock plastic lenses and mounted the gauges to them. Since the dummy lights, turn signal and high beam indicators are in the stock lenses, I used little LEDs in place of them. I don't think that it looks bad.

Michael

[importkiller69ss]

so you took out the peice that has the lenses and the dummy lights and just didnt use it again and mounted the 5" gauges to a plate that took the place of the square stock gauges. how did u mount the leds.....man iwish i could see a pic or multiple pics.. do you have a digital camera you could just email some ot me u kinda got me confuesd and pics would help....how much of the actual dash did u have to cut or modify or was it all to the lenses

[importkiller69ss]

overkill you do have a 69 right

[Overkill]

so you took out the peice that has the lenses and the dummy lights and just didnt use it again and mounted the 5" gauges to a plate that took the place of the square stock gauges. how did u mount the leds.....man iwish i could see a pic or multiple pics.. do you have a digital camera you could just email some ot me u kinda got me confuesd and pics would help....how much of the actual dash did u have to cut or modify or was it all to the lenses

It sounds like you understand it correctly. I didn't use the lenses or the dummy lights. I used 5/16" LEDs that you just drill a hole and push them through. I have pictures of it on my home computer. I'll try to grab them and send them tomorrow. I didn't have to cut any visible part of the dash. I did cut the back out so that the wires could be connected to the guages and LEDs. My cluster had already been cut up by a previous owner so that they could mount a new radio, so I didn't really care about chopping it up more.

And yes, I have a '69 Camaro.

Michael

[importkiller69ss]

that would be cool overkill cant wait to see the pics of the dash. and what kind of leds did you put in the dash and where did you get them from

[rwhite692]

Have you looked into Covan's dash insert? (http://covansclassic.com/)

The real trick thing to do is to use the 69-74 nova dash insert from covans and the nova dash pad, this gets rid of the odd shapped camaro dash and gives you a nice flat surface to work off...much cleaner looking!!

I have a Covan's insert in my 68 Camaro...nice product. :thumbsup:


What Tony said. That's exactly what I did, pics of it at the link below. Got (okay...stole) the idea from Ned Jackson. You do, however, have to find a way to "close off" the righthand vertical area of the dash, I plan to do some sheetmetal work to do that.

[Overkill]

that would be cool overkill cant wait to see the pics of the dash. and what kind of leds did you put in the dash and where did you get them from

The LEDs are Painless 5/16" Indicator Lights. I used green for the turn signals and blue for the high beam indicator. I didn't put in any of the other dummy lights.

http://www.painlesswiring.com/webcatalog/thumbs/80205.jpg

I put up a small page on a server at work with the dash pictures that I have.

Dash Pictures (http://139.102.15.124/mlowry/dash/index.html)

Hope this helps...

Michael