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Gauge Restoration Question

Started by 70_440-6Cuda, May 16, 2023, 01:49:05 PM

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70_440-6Cuda

So I am pretty far from needing to worry about gauges, but I have a couple of NOS gauges, and found a couple more I certainly could use although my Rallye cluster is complete.  My question is regarding restoration of my gauges vs. NOS vs something like OER or aftermarket.  My question would be are the restorations / aftermarket gauges good enough as to not notice any differences compared to an NOS gauge?  I am trying not to get too mental over date codes etc., just want the car to be accurate.  Yes, I know nothing is as good as NOS, but if you can't visually tell the difference without taking the dash apart I am ok with that
You can't buy happiness, but you can buy horsepower and that's kind of the same thing.....

blown motor

I had an OER speedometer in a car and it was junk, also suspicious of the oil pressure gauge. I sent the original speedo to Redline Gauges for a restoration and it came back awesome. Yes, Redline will cost you more money but if you buy aftermarket and it doesn't work you'll have wasted your money. Do it right the first time.
Who has more fun than people!
68 Charger R/T    74 Challenger Rallye 
12 Challenger RT Classic    15 Challenger SXT
79 Macho Power Wagon clone    17 Ram Rebel

MoparCarGuy

The usual vendors for gauges can silkscreen the gauges to exactly duplicate the factory fonts and markings.
I used Instrument-Specialities (https://www.instrument-specialties.com/gallery/chrysler/) and the gauges are perfect. I would also recommend that you replace the factory Instrument Voltage Regulator (IVR) with an aftermarket solid-state IVR from Real Time Engineering (https://www.rt-eng.com/index.php/RTE_limiter.html). No electric gauge will perform correctly if the supply voltage is not rock solid.
Here are my Rallye gauges which Instrument-Specialties restored in 1999.


Racer57

This is an instant of "you get what you pay for".  When you have to pull your dash back apart for the 2nd or 3rd time, you will wish you paid the extra money to have it done right. Been there, done that.  Redline will not disappoint you.  The lens gets polished, and everything will look like brand new. They can also convert your amp gauge to volts for you.