Have you considered sending your original gages out for restoration?

You seem to be down with 600 bucks worth of after market replacements that will require some amount of futzing around and additional parts to install. Restoration may be easer, and cheaper in the long run.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

I don't want to restore the old gauges. I've been continually upgrading my car as the opportunity arises and the failing gauge situation was expected, though I wish it had waited until winter. It's perfect convertible weather now, but I'm not comfortable driving very far with fuel and temperature gauges inoperative.

Finally, the only speedometer available in that series is electronic. Has anyone had experience programming one of these?



I have an Autometer electric speedo, it is easy to calibrate.



Richard

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Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

H'mm. That's going to be a toughie, trying to wring incandescent-quality light out of an LED. You can find light turquoise/pale green bare LEDs, but you'll have to dig for 'em, then figure out how to retrofit.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

My dash is all custom and with electronic gauges from Autometer. The fuel pressure gauge never worked, and the electronic speedo stopped working for a day, and then came back to life. The gas gauge reads, but is 1/4 tank low when full. The temp gauge works OK. One of the volt meters failed and was replaced. In general the aftermarket gauges are not high quality. They look nice, and are really not that expensive when you consider what really good gauges from the aircraft industry would cost.

The programing of the speedo was simple. Push a button, drive a mile and push it again.

If you want good stuff, go to the aircraft suppliers.

Sam

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Doesn't really address your lighting concerns, but I've decided to go with these:

http://www.speedhut.com/gauges.htm

Lotsa different choices, and they offer a GPS speedo - no senders, no calibration. They also have versions with turn signal/high beam indicators built-in, and there's practically any color combo you can think of...

Cheaper than Autometer, too!

Good luck!

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vm

Yes, I looked at them, but they don't make the size speedometer I need if I want to use the stock dash bezel. They make a 4", but I need a 4-3/8". They also don't offer a model that looks close to the stock Valiant gauge...which is a big reason I chose New Vintage.

New Vintage has mechanical speedometers in sizes other than the one I want, and they hook up to the stock cable drive, which would be great, if they would fit. They also offer speedometers with built-in lights, but I want to use the stock locations with LED's instead of bulbs behind the lenses.

A GPS speedo sounds terrific. My garmin reports back exactly how fast I am going. That is cool. The electronic speedos make installing the dash much simpler. You do not have to fight with the cable to to get it hooked up or unhooked.

You could make a decorative ring to expand the size of the 4" speedo to fill the larger hole. If you have an older, surplus gauge, you could take the outer ring from it, and use that to expand the size of the smaller one.

Sam

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