bry593

I have my gauges out to put screws in the pins and am starting with the fuel gauge. What's the proper way to remove the circuit board? Three 1/4" screws are obvious, but what about the fuel gauge resistor? It has a gray plastic clip over it and a couple of nuts.

What about the lens side? Should I carefully bend the crimped edges away to remove the lens and gauge needle? Does this need to come off to service the board? I plan to remove it anyway to polish it.

bry593

I took resistor off and the board is free. I suppose now I need to remove the pins flared feet so that the screwheads fit flush against the board?

matt69olds

bry593

That seems like a good way to eliminate the feet. I think the screws I use to pull the the idle tubes out of quadrajets are about the right size for the pins. The hard part will be remembering where I put them.

bry593

I had to order screws, project is on hold for now. Ordered some M2-.40 x 4mm long, SS pan-head. Hopefully these will work out. The inside of a pin is right at .060" (1.5mm), so an M2 screw will expand the pin about .020". Definitely want to keep it short or might have problems with mating terminals being too tight.

Edit: I just ordered some M1.7 x 4mm as backup. They are cheap, $8 per 100 pieces. I'd rather have and not use than have to wait another week to finish the gauges.

2blu442

Randy did something similar for his 1968. Here's a link to an old thread where he discussed it.

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...uit-board.html

bry593

M1.7 didn't work, not enough bite. M2 works, but does flare out pin about .020". Note pins are split lengthwise from factory. I used 4mm long screws so as not increase pin diameter at mating connector interface.

To remove remnants of the connector feet, a Dremel with mini cuttoff wheel made short work of it. Most of the feet flew off upon being lightly touched by the rotating wheel.

Pins that are missing part that goes through circuit board (shank) did not pass the connector test. I plugged factory connector on and then removed. The pins with missing shanks, loosened or pulled out of the screw. I then reattached with screws, and applied solder to the length split at screw threads. This did pass the test.

To clean up the gauge face and bezel, I found that simi-chrome polish is a pretty decent plastic polish.

To refinish the chrome of the plastic bezel, the old chrome was removed using a medium Scotch Brite followed by a wash with isopropryl alcohol. An aluminum color paint pen from Fastenal was used to mimic the original chrome finish. Looks much better than before.

Speedo is next. It has just four pins instead of 7.

bry593

Learned a technique to prevent the pin from spreading at the split and also makes a more secure connection. Grip the pin with pliers firmly, but not so hard it collapses, while turning in the screw. This helps the screw create threads inside the pin and it expands the pin only slightly.

Speedometer is finished except I have to make a shift indicator. Might try a coat hanger epoxied to what is left of the plastic crank.

This all took a bit longer than it should have because I fixed two sets of gauges. Had an extra set and figured might as well do both.