After being inspired by Cudajon’s post describing his ammeter-to-voltmeter conversion on his Cuda,

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...rue#Post6157320

I thought I’d look into trying the same thing on my Coronet.

The voltmeter Cudajon used has a needle that pivots at the top – an unusual configuration and required in my application.

I bought an identical voltmeter and quickly determined that mounting it in the instrument cluster in place of the ammeter is no big deal.

But unlike Cudajon’s application, I can’t adapt the round Sunpro gauge face for use in the Coronet’s rectangular ammeter space.

So, I disassembled a spare ammeter and determined that the rectangular ammeter gauge faceplate can, with minor modification, be mounted to the Sunpro gauge.

I am proficient at AutoCAD and I can create the voltmeter face in 1:1 scale. I can also copy the font used on the Coronet’s speedometer so the voltmeter text will match the other instruments.

You’d think I’d be home free at this point, right? WRONG!

Here’s my problem: I don’t know anything about graphics and have no idea how to get the voltmeter scale onto my old ammeter faceplate.

I’m considering having a clear decal printed with white text, and simply sticking it on the ammeter faceplate after it’s painted black. A local printing company says they can print the decal for me, but I do not yet know how much this will cost. I also imagine this decal will be shiny and will not match the matte black finish of the existing gauge faces.

Can anyone who is knowledgeable is such matters make any recommendations?

Thanks,

Jim

PS - I can probably post some pics of my progress so far if anyone is interested in trying this in a similar car.

2 thoughts,
one, can you trim the current volt meter face plate square enough to look right?

second, can they make a clear sticker with white lettering to match the current face. then adapt the amp meter face to the voltmeter gauge.
paint the old gauge face mat black and put the sticker on?

Or can you have a vinyl shop make the sticker in white? I'm no expert in the process, but I think they can cut it so that the excess material can be removed, leaving only what you want to install. That doesn't really make sense, but I would recommend talking to a vinyl guy first... Is there one on here?

As shown in my pix I could have used the old ammeter faceplate since the attaching holes were very close. Can you do that? Or, like was mentioned can you trim the sunpro faceplate to work? Love to see pix.

Thanks for the replies so far, guys.

Cudajon, a belated thank you for taking the time to post your voltmeter conversion instructions. I was unaware that a top-pivot voltmeter existed until you clued me in. Once I saw that, the rest fell into place.

Anyhow, the B-Body ammeter face is rectangular and much wider in the horizontal dimension than the Sunpro gauge face. If you just used the Sunpro gauge faceplate, you'd see the back of the instrument cluster at 3 and 9 o'clock.

I have a spare cluster and tried laying the Sunpro gauge face over the Coronet's ammeter face. Imagine a circle on top of a rectangle. It was very noticeable.

I'll take a few pics tonight and post them.

how about laying the face over the old?
glue it to it as it were to cover the area.
if you bevel the edges you might not see the edge.

Although the stock appearing gage looks OK, the voltmeter gives you the actual voltages. I've already heard from some that used the stock faceplate and the (+12) (-12) doesn't line up with the ammeters (+) (-). The 12v hash mark is not centered on the voltmeter. Thats just a precaution, I know you've noticed that already.

OK, I took a few pictures. A thousand words, and all that...

First, here are the voltmeter studs protruding through the instrument cluster where the ammeter formerly lived. The studs on the voltmeter are a little closer together than the ones on the ammeter were, but that's not going to be a big deal. I obviosly will need some plastic sleeves with an inside diameter just larger than the studs OD. And, they should have a flange on the end. I figured I'd check the hardware section at Lowes or Home Depot and if I come up empty handed, I'd look for something in the McMaster-Carr catalog. Anyone got any ideas?

Here is the Sunpro faceplate (with a little trimmed off the bottom) beside the Coronet's ammeter faceplate after a coat of rattle can black.

And finally, here is the voltmeter assembled with the Sunpro faceplate over the Coronet's ammeter faceplate.

Upon closer examination, the real thing that makes these 2 faceplates contrast is the fact that they are not nearly the same shade of black. The Sunpro faceplate looks more like dark gray. It might not look so bad if I could match the color, but I'd rather just get a voltmeter scale on the Coronet's ammeter faceplate. Hence my call for help!

personally, I would line up the faces and see how they look in the dash glued together.

If you have a farm supply store, such as tractor Supply or Orschlens, you just need to get some of the clear polyethylene tubing they use for sprayers and gas line. it comes in any size you need, or fish tank tubing uses the same stuff at an aquarium store.

This is a great thread JimG, as I have a 67 coronet as well. I'm still debating making a custom dash with aftermarket gauges or keep the originals. That plastic tubing is perfect for this, though.

getting over the color issue, what does it look like put together like that in the dash?

If you need something with a flange, ACE HARDWARE has nylon tube things with a flange on the end that would probably work very well. I've used stuff like that in custom stereo installations. I can't remember what the heck they are called, but they are a tube with a flange on the end, made in an amazing amount of diff. sizes. Hard Nylon. They will have them in their nut and bolt section with the other odd fasteners and stuff. Otherwise, the plastic tubing and a few nylon washers would be your cheapest bet. Less than $10 bux either way.

Would it even show up, once it's behind the dash clear plastic faceplate? and at that angle? I bet no one would even notice it unless you pointed it out.

I think you shot the old one with some sort of semi gloss or gloss black.
try it against an original gauge.

Also find some flat black.

I just reread my post and forgot to mention I clipped about 1/8th of an inch off my needle so it would look like the rest. Don't know about yours. I think the flat black and it would look better. Don't forget to ream the hole out a little bit where the studs slide in so you can use the sunpro rubbers to protest against a short, and then I think a short piece of hose out to finish it off. Does this gage use the push on wire plug like the other gages? If so that might be enough of an insulation.

Almost two years later, I'm revisiting this project.

I still haven't decided what to do about the graphics, but I thought I'd post some pics that might help someone who's contemplating this same project on a 66 - 67 B-body.

Fortunately, I have a junkyard instrument cluster frame in my satsh of stuff. I'll swap my instruments into this frame and this is the one that'll go in my car.

I didn't like the way the voltmeter studs and the holes for the ammeter studs were spaced differently (see photo in earlier post). It limited the up/down adjustment of the voltmeter, and I determined that it would mount at the wrong height this way. So, I dremeled out a rectangular hole, removing the holes for the ammeter studs. Here's a pic of the removed material.