Hello All. I know there are already some threads about this, but some are pretty "stale" at this point....so I figured I would post my recent experience. I've only owned this '74 Mav for a few years. My main project has been small bumper swap, which is a different thread. When I bought this car, the instrument lens was old, faded, micro-cracks, hard or impossible to see the odometer. Plus, almost all backlight bulbs not working. I knew the lens and bulbs had to be replaced eventually. Little did I know what a job it would be. As others have said, detaching the speedo cable from the rear of the cluster requires uncomfortable contortionism, and either extreme patience or a cavalcade of cursing. But, finally got it detached, and was able to pull the cluster. 50 year old plastic is ready to give up the ghost....brittle and very easily cracked/broken. A previous owner must have already removed and broken segments of it, because there were already a lot of cracks and glue repair, ESPECIALLY the speedometer "bucket". Thank God for superglue and Gorilla tape! I didn't take a lot of "before" pics, but in these "after" pics you can see the extent of cracking and where I re-glued original pieces directly, glued plastic reinforcing pieces over cracked segments, and used Gorilla tape to strengthen the cracked areas so HOPEFULLY it will all stay together when I reinstall it.
Bottom line is, I'm glad I went to all the work, because now I can SEE MY GAUGES! Looks like new! The old lens is below so you can see how yellowed and opaque it had become.
Hey fellas, quick update. I installed the repaired repainted cluster back in the car. Since it's so fragile, old plastic and all, I removed the steering wheel so I'd have plenty of room to gently maneuver it into place. Aligning the top screws into the speed nuts was a bit of a chore, but it's all in. I was worried about the wiring plug going back in and aligning will all the copper strips on the printed "power film", or whatever you call that thing...gas gauge was my biggest concern...but everything seems to be working fine. Speedo cable reconnection was actually pretty easy, once I contorted myself underneath the dash. Getting back out of that contorted position was the hardest part of the whole deal! Some day, the entire dash satin black to match....some day...
Thanks! I was worried about missing the painted silver accent line around the two oval holes, I was dreading even trying to do that myself with a very thin brush and extreme patience....but it looks so good all black, I don't miss it, not going to try it.
