Slick 60's

I am going to soon put in a new gauge panel and gauges into my 66 and have a few questions before starting. First off, the gauge panel and such that is in the truck now is the custom cab one that is plastic and one piece. I read that you have to have the plain metal outter part for a new billet or engine turned panel. If so then are these hard to find and are they cheap? I don't know what they look like.
Also has anyone used Ford Racing's gauge set? I was looking at the chrome bezeled ones with the white and grey face. I want a older classy looking gauge setup and was thinking of even a cream/tan vintage looking gauge. The Ford Racing's gauges and clock seems like a reasonable price but are they reliable/good?
Thanks!

Shawn, is Haneline's like that? I know the one NPD sells is. I have the plastic "long speedo" in mine, but have a dissassembled round cluster I'm not using. I'll send you an email about it.

Tim,
I think Hanelines is. I don't know what the disassembled round cluster is... Is this the metal part I need? I have the stock plastic gauge panel in my 66 right now since I guess my truck was a custom cab.

Give me about 5-10 minutes. I will take some pics and email them to you.

Ok sounds good. Thanks a lot Tim.

Haneline uses an ABS plastic outer piece with an engine turned inner panel...very nice and a decent price for waht you get. Most other companies only sell the insert which is basically something you could make in your garage.

Bikerdude, thanks for the information. I was thinking about the ball milled billet face but I will look at the engine turned again and try to make my decision. I did see that offered by Haneline and was thinking about it and never made up my mind fully yet. In a way it would look good and somewhat original to the stock custom cab plastic engine turned I have now (even though my truck is far from stock and will be farther in a few months). I'll look into this one.

this is mine I bought the bexel from NPD the guages look white but are actually a Beige color to give it that antique look, they are from classic instruments, and I had to cut out the center of my old instrument clusters Bexel to fit the billet in
the alum Bezel can be ordered from carolina classics ( learned afterwords )

Looks very nice, now I really can't decide what to do. The reason I wanted billet was because I wanted to change all the knobs to billet as well and have it match.

Don't forget the panels made by J & B Microfinish. A couple members here have theirs. Available in 5 or 6 holes and polished or satin finish. These are custom made so if you want something special or unique, it shouldn't be a problem.
J&B has several of the metal dash clusters if you need one.
http://www.jbmicrofinish.com/catalog_3.html

Shawn, I too wanted the retro yet modern look. Here is what I did
http://www.fordtruk.com/forums/album_sh ... user_id=19

Shawn F. wrote:Looks very nice, now I really can't decide what to do. The reason I wanted billet was because I wanted to change all the knobs to billet as well and have it match.

Did you notice my knobs? they looke like the 80 dollar ones you buy at a street rod shop, only cost me 18 bucks I made them from cabinet knobs from home depot

I see that speedway motors or someone sells some billet knobs for about 10 bucks or something if I remember correctly. They are just for our truck, they are universal with different hole sizes in the back. Thanks for the link and that picture, I like yours.

How did you get yours chrome like that? Good idea and would save me money on the speedo gauge.

It is called vacuum plated plastic. Here is a link to them, they do work for customers North America wide. Cost a couple of "Bennies" but well worth it IMHO


http://www.cvvacuumplaters.com/

Looks cool, I like it. Too much for me though, I think I am better off with the Haneline or J&B.

Shawn F. wrote:How did you get yours chrome like that? Good idea and would save me money on the speedo gauge.

Are you talking about my instrument cluster or the knobs or... ?
The Instrument panel is billet alum. polished its right out of the box. the knobs are nickel thats polished as well and the trim around the guages is a chrome bezel