Monday, Sept. 15, 2025

Spent the afternoon working in the 55 Chevy to change out the three-gauge bezel and installing the 4-gauge bezel. It came out looking nice — and quite a bit larger than the AutoMeter 3-gauge unit.

The only work i have left to complete is to connect the vacuum gauge and its back light.

The new bezel mounting screw holes didn’t line up with existing holes on the bottom lip of the dash (of course they don’t!!). I didn’t relish the thought of drilling new holes in the bottom of the dash to secure the new bezel, and then it hit me — why not just drill new holes in the bezel to match the old bezel. Three screws are enough to hold the gauges securely — and they were.

I tried to center the new 4-gauge bezel on the glovebox door, and I got it reasonably close.

As is usually the case, something like this takes 3 times longer than your best guess … but in the end, its worth it. The vacuum gauge doesn’t exactly match the other three gauges, but that’s ok. When I had the trim ring off, I should have painted the needle on the vacuum gauge white so it would match the other three gauges. For now, its red. I can live with that.

I started recording video this afternoon so I could post it on the Shade Tree Garage youtube channel, but i decided no one needed to see my fat ass crawling around on the floorboard fucking with the gauges. The new gauge cluster looks way larger than the last one. The damn thing cost me $70, so it ought to look nice, lol!

Because the guages had to removed — and reinstalled — the water temp gauge had to be removed from the block at its temperature sensor. To minimize coolant loss, I had to quickly remove the new gauge sensor and replace it with the sensor from te original 2-inch guage that came in the car.

To install the water temp gauge in the new bezel, I had to wait until the new bezel was mounted on the bottom of the dash. Then I had to thread the gauge probe and cable through the bezel, then run it back out into the engine compartment. The water temp was the only gauge that created that kind of issue, thankfully.

FINALLY SATISFIED! After trying several ways to mount the vacuum gauge under the dash and on the steering column, I’m very,, very pleased to have it placed properly in a nice bezel.

CAR CRUISE FRIDAY! The monthly Bloomfield Depot Street cruise is this Friday, 5 to 8 p.m. Tammy is going to be busy packing, but I’m planning on going over … that’s the plan. I want to go but at the same time, I might need to stay here to help her with whatever she needs.

Wish me luck, lol!