question about my ralley gauges

[cudadave72]

I was looking around for restoration wood grain pieces for my ralley gauges and noticed something strange. My 72 gauge cluster does not have the hole on the very right hand side of the panel for what I assume is a seat belt light?! All the reproduction pieces listed for a 72-74 show the hole already cut out. I know that the first assumtion is that a previous owner installed a 70-71 ralley gauge clusted in my 72 however the 70-71 has the trip odometer and clock reset knobs coming throught the face of the panel whereas mine has the correct reset knobs coming through the gauges themselves. Do I possibly have a early 72 model and if so where do I find the correct wood grain repo pieces?

Thanks
Dave

[Katfish]

I'd like to know also, I have the seat belt warning hole, but would like to get rid of it.

[cudadave72]

I'd like to know also, I have the seat belt warning hole, but would like to get rid of it.

And yours is a 70??? Are your gauges original to the car?

[Katfish]

And yours is a 70??? Are your gauges original to the car?

Not original, I have the 72-74 style.

[Chryco Psycho]

the repro decal may have been installed without removing the woodgrain over the hole fo rthe seatbelt light or you could have a 71 cluster or early 72 that was never opened up ffor the seatbelt light , or possibly 73-74 only had the light

[cudadave72]

the repro decal may have been installed without removing the woodgrain over the hole fo rthe seatbelt light or you could have a 71 cluster or early 72 that was never opened up ffor the seatbelt light , or possibly 73-74 only had the light

Thanks for the replies! The issue is that the bezel appears to be original to the car and I would like to avoid redoing it with the seatbelt light if at all possible.

Thks
Dave

[Jules The Wiperman]

On some early 72 cars you will not have the seatbelt warning light.If you want to install a repro part you will have to settle for the hole as they do not make the early type. Probably not much demand. You may want to choose to apply a wood grain overlay in which case you would have to contact DMT and ask Jim to prepare you a wood grain with no hole for the seatbelt light. He'll do it for you.
Jules

http://detroitmuscletechnologies.com/

[cudadave72]

On some early 72 cars you will not have the seatbelt warning light.If you want to install a repro part you will have to settle for the hole as they do not make the early type. Probably not much demand. You may want to choose to apply a wood grain overlay in which case you would have to contact DMT and ask Jim to prepare you a wood grain with no hole for the seatbelt light. He'll do it for you.
Jules

http://detroitmuscletechnologies.com/

I finally ran my fender tag and indeed my Cuda is an early 72 that was produced on 11/05/71 which explains the absents of the seat belt light. I found the TSB that stated the warning light was not effective untill January 72. This also helps confirm that this is original to my car.

[cudadave72]

Also I'll mention the only noticeable damage is a couple of scratches to the left of the panel which is visable in the pictures above. Anyone ever touched one up. Suggestions???

[JayBee]

Never actually touched one up but those re-pop metal overlays sure look good.

[MEK-Dangerfield]

Never actually touched one up but those re-pop metal overlays sure look good.

I bought  a set of those. They do look good, but aren't so cheap.

[miketyler]

My 72 didnt have the seatbelt inidicator either. I never liked the mismatched woodgrain panels and the scratches; I used the decal and am pretty happy with it for the most part.

[Katfish]

I bought  a set of those. They do look good, but aren't so cheap.

How hard was it to put on?  I'm a little leary after putting a decal on my original.  Boy was that a mistake, stupid thing bubbled after a yr.

[MEK-Dangerfield]

How hard was it to put on?  I'm a little leary after putting a decal on my original.  Boy was that a mistake, stupid thing bubbled after a yr.

Been there, done that.  The decal was my first choice because it was cheap enough, but in the bend areas it bubbled up on me.

These metal re-pops come in a flat sheet, but it's fairly simple to mold them to your plastic bezel. You do need to remove your old metal face plate first. I just used some general adhesive and a couple of clamps to hold it on overnight.

  Mike

[miketyler]

thats the first I have heard of that; mine has been on for at least a year but I stripped my panel down to the metal. Also, decal was made from a pretty good grade adhesive material. I will confess however, the turn signal insets looked ok at first but never would stay stuck down. Recently I tried applying contact cement glue and resetting them and the material didnt like the glue I used.