68 Camaro Guages

[STOCKTON]

Can anyone give me some advise on putting phantom guages in my 68 camaro. Im not sure if Im going to run a electronic speedo or machinical speedo. Is it Hard to get the autometer guages to fit into the facotry dash holes. Is it harder to run a electronic speedo with a M21 transmittion?
Any ideas would be great!

Thanks
Chris :

[jy211]

I did a dakota digital dash. Looks great...

[Mkelcy]

Originally Posted by STOCKTON

Anyone Can Give Me Some Advise On Putting Phantom Guages In My 68 Comaro. Im Not Sure If Im Going To Run A Electronic Speedo Or Machinical Speedo. Is It Hard To Get The Autometer Guages To Fit Into The Facotry Dash Holes. Is It Harder To Run A Electronic Speedo With A M21 Transmittion
ANY IDEAS WOULD BE GREAT!!

THANKS
Chris :

Putting 5" Phantom gauges in a 68 dash carrier is pretty easy, if you're patient and can solder reasonably well. The stock gauges are held in the housing by a formed piece of sheet metal with two roughly 5" holes at the base of a flange that's about 0.5" tall and tapers to about 4.75" or so. To mount the Phantom gauges you cut the "flange" vertically (straight out from the piece) in about 16 to 20 evenly spaced places so as to produce a series of tabs that can be bent back slightly to allow the Phantom gauges to slip in from the front. The gauges can then be held in place using the Autometer brackets.

The patience and soldering comes in as you wire the gauges and replace the turn signal indicators, high beam indicator and (if you so desire) the parking brake/brake failure indicator. Most people drill a hole in each of the two gauge pods and insert leds or other small lights to replace the turn signals. In my case I used small red 12 volts lights at the top of each gauge pod for the turn signals, a center green light for the high beam indicator, a green indicator in the left pod for a low fuel light and a red indicator in the right pod for a brake warning light. I got all of the lights from my local Radio Shack. You will need a good wiring diagram and the patience to follow it (the printed circuit sheet in the car is very helpful actually) so you can wire eveything up.

Myself, I would get an electronic speedomter and an Autometer mechanical to electonic adapter, so if you ever install a T56 you're good to go.

Myself, I don't care for digital instruments in our older cars, just looks wrong to me.