Anyone make their own instrument cluster panel out of plastic?

[Captkaos]

You need a third piece on the Left side.  The gauges arent in the same plane.

[scorpion]

You need a third piece on the Left side.  The gauges arent in the same plane.

I know the gauges are tilted up slightly in the bezel...I'll have to go sit I front of mine. 

[scorpion]

K, trying to figure this out.  There are two planes that you may be referring to.

Checking the vertical plane, the top and bottom pieces aren't perfectly in the same plane how ever the delta is negligible.  Maybe less than 1/8" of daylight at the arrow which trims out to nil at the bottom.

I doubt if you were referring to the face of the bezel but I checked it for giggles.  Bottom s 20-degrees.

Top isn't quite that.  More like 16-degrees.  The measurement could be slightly off for the top because of the fancy woodland camo sticker that's on it.

Either way, I doubt if I'd have a problem if I machine the parts in the same plane.  It's unlikely that the plastic bezel is perfect anyway.  The way it mounts would hide any inconsistency.  Think I good there.  Is there another one I'm missing?

[scorpion]

I need to get a new dash pad too.  When looking around, it appears that  (1) many aren't satisfied with some of the alternatives (2) the ones that are good are the OEM pad and the pad sold here for slightly less (3) an alternative is to sand and bondo fill the one I have. 

Option 3 intrigues me because that means there's no great reason why, if I'm already going to make a custom bezel, I have to stick with the given pad and dash layout.  I'm thinking I could increase the cluster size and take it out if the passenger side.  I would need to relocate the one vent but that shouldn't be a problem.  Something like this -

Doing so would allow me the luxury of promoting the stereo up to the main cluster like modern vehicles.  It would also allow me to add a gauge or two to the right of the Speedo/Tach assembly.  I haven't worked out the cluster layout yet but the added space would be desirable.

[Captkaos]

The actual cluster where the gauges mount are on different planes. 

[scorpion]

The actual cluster where the gauges mount are on different planes. 

Oh, right.  I think they're like that because of the viewing angle for the driver.  I can machine the plastic for the auto meter gauges at a slight angle so they have the same angle if I want.  Guess ill have to make one of he panels and see if I like it or not.  It wouldn't be much more complicated.  Just a setup change.

[muddnutz]

Id be interested to see what you come up with
   

[scorpion]

I'm gathering the parts I need.  I'm shooting for starting in a couple of months.  I've got to get my trans swap done first so the truck is running again.