Rebuilding Your Dashpanel - Dashing Results

The last piece to remove is the instrument cluster. The wire harness will need to removed from the cluster. Again, make sure you label all wires so you can put them back in the right location. Then take the six Phillips-head screws from around the outside edge and remove.

The only thing left now is a naked dash. At this point, you may wish to paint the metal part yourself or have a reputable shop do it for you. If you do it yourself, make sure you thoroughly clean and prep the metal before priming and painting it the same color as the original.

With the instrument cluster removed, you can give your tired-looking instrument cluster the face-lift it deserves. Using a 1/4-inch socket, remove the eight hex-head screws that hold the lens in place. Now carefully lift the lens off of the cluster; remember, this thing is probably more than 30 years old.

Unhook the gauges by removing the speed nuts on the backside of the gauge and carefully lift it out the front. To remove the speedometer, simply remove the two screws in the back and lift it out.

Whether your dash has a clock, a tach, or a blank panel in this location, remove the three Phillips-head screws and pull it from the back.

Carefully pull the dash voltage regulator and condenser straight out of the dash. The fragile circuit board under the regulator is only thin fiberglass, so be gentle when removing it. The dash voltage regulator was used for several years and should still be available at your local auto parts store if needed. Remove the quarter-turn dash lights and the circuit board by removing the four hex-head bolts. Again use extreme caution with the circuit board, since it's very fragile.

The "idiot" light lenses can now be removed by pulling the foam seal from around the red and green lenses, then carefully pop them out with a small screwdriver. On this model, they only fit one way.

The housing can be cleaned with soap and water. The circuit board can also be carefully cleaned using Windex and a soft cloth. To clean the individual gauge faces, use a 50/50 mix of Windex and water to clean it. The diluted Windex won't hurt the old paint on the gauge face, but take care not to scrub the face with hard pressure.

To paint the indicator needles, place a small piece of paper between the gauge face and the needle. The needles can then be hand- or spray-painted using Plasti-Kote No. B27 orange glow enamel (A). If the white lines on your gauge need to be touched up, use a fineline brush and carefully do so. The black is just Krylon semiflat spray paint. With the face of the gauges painted, clean the threads on the back using a Scotch-Brite pad and be sure all contact points on the circuit board are also cleaned (B).

With the gauges reinstalled back in the housing, carefully reinsert the circuit board onto the back. When reinstalling components, do not overtighten any nuts or screws since most of the parts are only plastic.

Voila! With the lens installed, the renewed instrument cluster is now ready to be installed in the dash assembly.

Since our GTX is getting a complete restoration, we took a leftover piece of the new headliner to the auto-body supply store and had them mix an appropriate shade of red dye to paint-match the two pads and the glovebox door. Remember, the vinyl parts are pliable, so standard paint won't work; it must be a dye. After the metal part of our dash was painted, we opted to assemble it in the car to help keep from scratching it. It's a little more difficult to do it this way, but it can be accomplished with a minimal amount of trouble.