Refreshing the Optional Gauges

Old Blue came from the factory with the optional Alternator and Oil Pressure gauges mounted on the outer flats of the bezel. To mount them I will have to drill holes for each of them in the reproduced bezel, however before doing this, I will clean the chrome, polish the plastic and repaint the needles so they are fluorescent red again instead of the faded orange they are today.

1966 Ford F-250 Custom Cab Instrument Cluster

Tasks:
1. Breaking down each gauge
2. Removing rust and polishing chrome on the rings
3. Polishing the plastic lens
4. Painting the needles

ALT Gauge removed from bezel - rust on face ring 

Breaking Down the Gauges
To clean the gauges I will break them down to their components parts, which requires a small flat head screwdriver to pry up the retaining tabs located around the lip of the chrome ring. There are 5 tabs and you want to take care not to bend them back and forth as they can break off with too much movement.

Removing Cover Ring

Lift the tabs and the chrome ring separates from the gauge housing, allowing the plastic lens holding ring to be lifted off the gauge. The lens separates by gently pushing up from the back of the holding ring.

The lens holding ring has a slot at the top and the lens fits into this slot to allow light from the bulb in the gauge housing to illuminate the face of the gauge at night. The lens can only fit one way into the holding ring.

The lens is plastic

The Face plate on these gauges are chromed metal and the inner face is painted argent just like other surfaces on the bezel.

Removing Rust and Polishing the Ring: 

Face Ring 

The ring has rust and pitting on the chrome so we will use the same techniques we use with our bicycle handles ... using aluminium foil dipped in a little water, we rub the surface of the chrome lightly removing rust and bumps. I want to take care not to mess with the argent inner surface as I do not want to repaint since they are in pretty good shape.

I will use Mothers Chrome polish to shine up the surface and we should be good to go !

Polishing the Plastic:
The plastic lens has a few scratches and is dirty so we will use the Novus product recommended by TAP plastics to remove scatches in plastic and to give the surface a clean surface. The Novus products work well and I use the #2 and #1 only on the gauge lens. I carefully avoid the white paint on the lens (OIL / ALT) so I do not mess up the original mask.

Plastic Scratch Remover and Polish 

Painting the Needles:

The needle in the gauge has faded through the years and is now a light orange color. Reading on the FE forums from others who have refreshed their gauges I follow their recommendations and get a RED FLUORESCENT paint pen from the local Michaels. I selected the liquitex brand. Everything I read said to make sure you get fluorescent paint as normal red will not show up as well when driving at night with lights. 

I slip a piece of newspaper between the

Ready to paint needle

needle and the black background to keep from messing up the black and gently apply the red paint to the needle ... 

Red Paint Pen

The needles are delicate and move around a bit. I took care not to push too hard or to bend the needles and just gently stroked on the paint, occasionally, pushing the pen down on a piece of newspapers to keep the paint flowing. The shape of the needles required I paint the left side and right side separately, doing a couple of coats to cover the needle completely.

Reassembling the gauge is just the reverse of the tear down process, once again take care when bending the ring tabs.

Refreshed Optional Gauges

I am pretty happy with how they turned out. 

Taking Apart the Instrument Cluster

The 1966 Custom Cab instrument cluster is comprised of 4 standard and 2 optional parts that tear down and re-assemble fairly easily. The parts include :

1. Front Bezel - Chrome finished plastic that all pieces attach to and then it is screwed to dash
2. Primary Gauge Panel  - includes the speedometer, Fuel and Temperature gauges
3. Lens - has the white lettering for each of the gauges
4. Two front gauge rings - one each for the Fuel and the Temperature gauge
5. Two optional gauges (ALT/OIL Pressure)

Removing the primary gauge panel is very straight forward. Laying the cluster face down on a soft suface, remove the 7 screws from the back of the panel with a phillips head screwdriver.

Location of gauge panel screws

Gently lift up the panel revealing the plastic lens and lay the panel aside. The Lens is just laying in the bezel so lift up using the edges to keep from leaving finger prints on the lens. This leaves the two optional gauges in the bezel. To remove them, first take off the wire retaining nuts and split washers if you haven't already. The gauges are held in place by two additional nuts on the same gauge posts as the wiring but tightened to hold the housing against the bezel.

Optional Gauge Mounted on Bezel

With a 3/8" wrench remove the housing retaining nuts which release the gauge through the front of the bezel and the gauge housing on the rear. Both the gauge and housing should drop away but may need a little wiggling or pressure after sitting in place for 50 years. The gauge itself comes out the front of the bezel while the gauge housing comes off the back.  Repeat for the other optional gauge and this should leave the bezel as a single piece of plastic.

Argent Shadows For The Bezel

The new parts that I will use for the replacement instrument bezel will need to be painted to duplicate the details of the original bezel. In 1966, Ford applied argent paint to any inner surface of the instrument cluster to reduce the glare from the dashboard lights at nights. The reproduced versions (as well as the re-chromed versions) do not have this detail element so we will add the argent to both the bezel and the gauge rings.

Original bezel showing argent colored surfaces

The reproduced bezel from Dennis Carpenter comes with all surfaces chromed. People on the FE forum also report when they have their original bezels re-chromed they come back with all surfaces chrome.

Reproduced bezel showing chrome colored surfaces

So, first I will need to remove the gauge rings from the lens and then mask off the parts I want to keep chrome with blue tape.

The gauge rings are attached to the lens by 3 round posts that are inserted into 3 holes in the lens with the ends of the posts then melted to hold in place. To remove I used my fingernails to break off the melted part of the post and then gently pulled the ring from the face of the lens. I did this same procedure for both rings.

New Lens with Gauge Rings

I will paint both of the inner gauge rings and then do the same for the bezel. After wrapping with blue tape, I used an exacto knife to cut the tape to cover only the areas I want to stay chrome and  cover the remainder of the bezel with newspaper to protect the chrome finish. 

I used my usual VHT SP-188 for the Ford argent, this color is not to glossy but is not totally flat like primer.

I carefully applied two light coats of the Ford argent to the bezel inner face, letting each coat dry before adding the next. I did not sand or buff in any way as the paint was looking smooth over the chrome and I did not want to mess up an acceptable accent to the new bezel.

While the paint is drying I will take a look at the optional gauges and see what can be done to freshen them up a bit.

The Reproduced Bezel Arrives

The reproduced bezel took a week to come and upon inspection I noticed a few differences from the original.

1. The flat argent on the inside of the viewports was as expected ... not there. It was painted the same shiny chrome finish as the rest of the Bezel.
   
2. The lettering on the lens was in a different font than the original. Is flat and fat compared to original equipment manufactured by FoCo. 
   
3. The holding tabs for the chromed frames for the FUEL and TEMP were not in the same position as the originals.There are 3 tabs holding each of the rings on the lens. The bottom tab of the reproduced set is placed 1/16" lower on the ring. 
4. The M in the lettering for 'TEMP' was smudged and messed up ..Overall manufacturing quality of the bezel as well as the lens was less than the OEM.

   

   Mask Quality of Reproduced Lens

Other than these items the chrome finish was bright and beautiful and a much better finish than I got with the chrome colored rattle can stuff. So, I think the plan for refreshing Old Blues Instrument Cluster will be a mix of the new parts and the old parts to retain as much of the vintage elements as possible. Tasks include:

1. Clean old plastic lens and use with new bezel
2. Clean both optional gauges (Alt and Oil Pressure) - Chrome polish outer rings, buff plastic lens, paint needle
3. Use the new chrome rings mounted on the old lens for standard gauges (Fuel & Temp), paint the inner face of rings Ford argent
4. Paint the new bezel's inner face Ford argent 
5. Paint needles of speedometer and standard gauges fluorescent red.

Painting the Original Cluster with Krylon Chrome

While I was waiting for the repro bezel to ship, I went ahead and painted the old bezel with some rattle can chrome. I had removed the gauges, lens and optional parts and decided to retain the argent as it was in pretty good shape.

Masking the Ford Argent

Masking off the argent lips was easy and I decided to try Krylon Chrome as it looked to be the shiniest paint on the shelf.

Masking the bezel and rings.

I started by painting the outer face of the two rings from the lens, masking off the inner argent to retain the semi-gloss gray.

The rings painted up fine though the color was more gloss silver than chrome. 

Now on to the bezel ... I messed up by putting on 2 coats of the Chrome paint. Though very light coats, the paint was thick and the left side was not as crisp as I would have hoped. However the color was much more chrome than the rings and not bad for a paint job. I could still see the tooling patterns on the face and I put the gauges back on to check out the results. 

Painted Bezel

 It turned out OK but was a far cry from what I was hoping to accomplish. Overall the bezel seemed more silver than chrome, though I was able to retain the soft argent non reflective inner panels. 

What to do about the Instrument Cluster?

Old Blue has the original instrument cluster with the appropriate custom cab sweep speedometer on her dash and these days the silver coating is mostly gone from the face of the cluster bezel, replaced by a yellowish plastic finish that needs a refresh.

The part in question has been identified by Bill on the FE forums as
 " C5TZ10838A .. Instrument Cluster Bezel-Plastic / Original applications: 1965/66 F100/250 2WD Custom Cabs. and they are not made by Ford any longer so replacing with another OEM part is not an option.". He continues "Carpenter has reproduced it, but...It does not come with holes for the optional Oil & Amp gauges. Neither did the original bezel, and just like the original, a hole saw has to be used to cut the holes. Ford only supplied the bezel with Oil/Amp gauges on factory assembled trucks, it could not be purchased at the parts counter."
__________________
Bill / Retired Ford Parts Manager / Part number research: 1928/2001 trucks & 1928/89 passenger cars.

Thanks Bill!

Options
Reading through the comments from the smart boys at the FE forums we have four options for bringing the cluster back to life:
1. Remove and replace with a reproduced one from Dennis Carpenter's for about $150+shipping. Described as "CHROME PLATED PLASTIC BEZEL CLEAR LENS WITH WHITE LETTERS & CHROME PLATED PLASTIC RINGS FOR THE FUEL & TEMP GUAGES". Notice the flat argent (dull silver) paint is missing from the inner side of the rings and border per original.

2. Remove and replace with one saved from another 1965/66 Custom Cab Ford truck I looked around eBay and craigslist for some current offerings and found the following with a starting price of $129 and 18 watchers waiting to snipe !! It is scratched and in need of refinishing, however, it DOES show the flat argent on the inner surfaces of the rings and bezel.

3. Remove and send the plastic off to a shop to have a chrome finish applied

Dave on the FE forums has a 65 F100,and showed us this cluster he had refinnished. Notice the flat argent (dull silver) paint is missing from the inner side of the rings and border per original,.however, surface is bright and tooling crisp!

4. Remove original and paint with modern chrome paint.


Considerations:
1. The reproduced clusters do not have the (as original) flat argent paint applied. Used on the underside of the surrounding lip to prevent glare at night.They cost about $150 plus shipping at Dennis Carpenters. Would have to apply the flat argent after purchase.
2. Costs are over $100 for refinishing the old, and would still have to apply the flat argent paint to inner surfaces to reduce glare per original.
3. Finding a used OEM that is in better shape than the current bezel on Old Blue would not give me much benefit as I would probably have to refinnish or paint anything I find on Ebay.
4. I am a horrible painter :)
5. Any replacement would need holes drilled for the Alternator and Oil Pressure gauges.
6. I could just leave things as they are and claim 'Its the patina of a 50 year old truck !'

Decision: 

I decided to get a reproduced bezel from DC and will paint the inner lips Ford Argent to match the original bezel. I ordered a reproduction from Dennis Carpenters.

I should also mention  that Old Blue has the additional and custom factory/dealer installed Alternator and Oil Pressure gauges mounted on the bezel and so before doing anything we will need to disconnect the battery. The Alternator gauge is wired inline to everything so we do not want to accidentally short circuit anything.

Original Instrument Cluster from Old Blue

How to remove the cluster from the dash:  

1. Take the negative cable off the battery
2. Unscrew the speedometer cable from the back of the cluster by reaching up behind the dash, it is big and fat and the single screw came off with my fingers. 
3. Remove the four bottom and four top screws from the face of the bezel with a phillips head screw driver. 
4. Pull the top of cluster forward a couple of inches to expose the wires in the back 
5. Start from right and work your way left, taking pictures and labeling wires as needed. My wires had been in place for so long, that even though I took pictures of every one, they stayed right where they had been for the last 50 years  [NOTE : Take care with the light bulbs and the three flat slide-on connectors in the middle of the back of the bezel. The light bulbs can  be stubborn to pull out and you want to be sure to label each as they all look similar and it will slow down re-installation if you get them mixed up. The 3 flat slide-on connectors only go on one way as all three are different but be sure to take pictures to get them right. Also, the connectors to the custom factory gauges are different than the Fuel and the Temp which have simple round slide on (2 each gauge) and a bulb. For the custom gauges, you will need to remove 2 nuts and a lock washer for each gauge using a 3/8" wrench. Old BLues were very tight but not not require WD-40.] 
6. After working your way to the Alternator (or furthest left gauge), there are two metal braces holding the wrapped harness of the cluster wires on the bottom of the back of the bezel. These are U shaped holders and you should be able to just lift the harness out of the holders to release the bezel. 

Bezel Background: 

This is: C5TZ10838A .. Instrument Cluster Bezel-Plastic / Original applications: 1965/66 F100/250 2WD Custom Cabs.

Carpenter has reproduced it, but...It does not come with holes for the optional Oil & Amp gauges. Neither did the original bezel, and just like the original, a hole saw has to be used to cut the holes.

Ford only supplied the bezel with Oil/Amp guages on factory assembled trucks, it could not be purchased at the parts counter.

The bezels come with the optional gauges, no one repro's them. NOS or used are the only alternatives. When these gauges are present, there is a separate wiring harness for them that plugs into the dash harness. How are the aftermarket gauges wired? 

The Custom Cab plastic chrome sweep speedo instrument cluster bezel (1965 F100/250 2WD, 1966 F100 4WD) is repro'd, but it does not come with holes for the oil/amp gauges which were an extra cost option.

When the oil gauge is present, there's a fitting that threads into the block that both the oil warning lamp switch and the oil pressure switch thread into.


C5TZ-9273-A .. Oil Pressure Gauge / Obsolete 

C5TZ-10850-A .. Ammeter Gauge / Obsolete 
__________
Bill / Retired Ford Parts Manager / Part number research: 1928/2001 trucks & 1928/89 passenger cars.

First Anniversary

It has been 1 year since Old Blue rolled off that Auto Transport out in front of Casa and the kids and I are feeling pretty good about the level of stewardship we have committed to the 1966 Ford F-250 Camper Special.

All the 'Cool Truck' comments
Without fail, when we drive Old Blue we get comments and horn beeps from admirers of the blue and white '66 Slick. Many people stop to talk about similar trucks they owned in the past, or that their parents or some other relative had owned something similar. Sometimes they talk about their memories of driving around in an old truck and share something special to them. The kids and I never know what to expect when we pull into a gas station, a grocery store, or even just stop at a red light. People respond to the classic lines and paint scheme in a way that harkens to days past, when communications were simple and it was OK to show true emotions to strangers.

The truck touches something in young and old people alike. We are often asked about what year it is; and have taken to responding with 'Take a guess' ! It is amusing to hear younger kids think this old steel monster came from the 80's or 90's !!! When they hear it is from 1966 they are surprised and amazed it looks 'so new' for a 50 year old truck.

We have settled many a bet between people - couples guessing what year it is while driving down the road, when they pull up beside us at a light or stop sign and calls out "Is that a '65?" When we answer there are smiles and whoops and more stories about  how one or the other made their guess.

Lessons Learned 
Driving Old Blue around town opens doors to many areas of interest for us. I listen to the kids talking when we are cruising and I think they get a sense of how she reflects the golden age of american manufacturing, her place in the evolution of automotive engineering, and even problem solving strategies - all unexpected benefits of taking on the stewardship of the vehicle.

My youngest son immediately recognized the difference in analog technology versus digital and comments frequently how Old Blue runs and displays information just like his mothers Honda but without any computers. This often leads to discussions on how automotive engineers from the past could create sensors and circuits to communicate data to the drivers of these old autos with NO digital processing available to them. Our trips to school in the morning, when not focusing on vocabulary words or math functions typically include some discussion about 'Fuel/Fire/Air' translating into simple physics perspectives of torque, power, motion - we stay away from talking about collisions except to note that 2 tons of heavy american metal is no match for the plastic in cars built today!