[brownnote]

Well, I have seen pics of the sport comps in other 1st gens, and wanted a set for my 68, but kind of wanted to stick with the chrome trim style gauges, and couldn't find exactly what I wanted. After speaking with the guys at autometer, and saying that I wanted the sport comps but with a chrome bezel, he said, "hey, our service department can take them and cut the old rings off and press new chrome ones on for a fee." Sooooo, I sent them over, and got all 6 gauges refit with chrome bezels and have a couple pics for you guys to check out.

Oh, and I had these in my import (I know I know), and matched perfectly out the box... still have a boost gauge left over that I put in the pics to show the difference. I will try to get these installed this weekend and put up some after pics... check them out! They are a little dirty in the pics, but oh well!

[tejasrs/ss]

looks cool! how much was the "fee"?

[brownnote]

well, they had quoted me quite a bit more per gauge, so I don't know if I got a bulk deal, but to do all six was 90 bucks shipped back to me! I think I spent 10-15 bucks shipping to them, so realistically if you have a set, it would be about 100 bucks. Not bad eh! The money I saved on some ebay/craigslist scores vs. regular low ebay prices was enough to pay for the switch-a-roo, which totally rocks!

[DOUG G]

Look good

[kt]

That is a great look!!!...didn't know they would do that, thanks for the info...

[larryh56]

Very nice! They look much better with the shiny trim IMO? I may have to do the same!

[brownnote]

Originally Posted by kt

That is a great look!!!...didn't know they would do that, thanks for the info...

You know, I didn't know that either, but I was kind of frustrated and decided to give them a call to see if they had something that might not be listed or whatever. I wanted to stay with autometer gauges because I just like them, they are fairly affordable and fairly decent. I wanted a basic black face, red pointer w/chrome bezel but needed 5" gauges on top of that. So none of their lines had exactly what I needed for the whole set. I also wanted a vacuum gauge instead of a volt gauge, and possibly a wideband (again-should have kept my old one!) down the road. The tech was saying that they didn't have that particular combo, and so I said, it would be nice to get the sport comps w/ a chrome bezel because they have a ton of gauge options in that line, and they pretty much go with everything. I had that line in my last ride and liked it. That's when he said that they could cut the old bezels off and press the new ones on... I was like... sold! I told them they should offer that service online, but for some reason they don't advertise it. I mean, you can order them like that out of the gate, but they are waaaay more expensive, so he told me to send them a set and they would alter them for much less money, and they did!

Originally Posted by larryh56

Very nice! They look much better with the shiny trim IMO? I may have to do the same!

I thought so. Again, with my late model ride I built before, the standard sport comp bezel worked perfectly, but with the older vehicles and all the chrome, these match up much better in my opinion also. I just didn't want them to stick out too much, and I feel they are a good match.

I am almost done wiring them up, I had to troubleshoot the amber led for the parking brake indicator, but I think I realize now that that is slightly different from the rest. I figured it out, now just have to change a couple wire taps, and it should be good. I'll post up the finished product soon.

I wish I could have afforded a new dash carrier, because it looks a little beat up, but maybe some other time!

[Mark Rossiter]

Cool! I 'settled' for the platinum mist rings of the Sport Comp II's, but I really wanted chrome. I may have to send mine in for alteration too. Maybe once winter finally forces me to put the car in hibernation.

[brownnote]

the sport comp II's look great, and the led lighting would be sweet, but they are a little more pricey. I went with these, and purchased red LED bulbs to change out all of them (8 bulbs!) and it looks pretty good and even.

so far everything looks good except that my water temp gauge is reading low.... hmmm... time to troubleshoot!

[brownnote]

Ok, well after a day of troubleshooting what turned out to be a perfectly good gauge and sender (water temp), I realized I might have a stuck open t-stat because the car would not get above 155 degrees. Well, took it apart and bam, NO T-STAT at all! No wonder it took forever to get mildly hot! I noticed I could grab the header after 10 mins of cooling, which was juuuust a tad odd! So I checked it and yep, there she was... er, wasn't! at any rate, got a 180 degree stat in there now and she heats up nice and quick and stays in a nice temp range. How bout that! The car really was at 155 degrees max!

Will get some pics up of the finished product tomorrow so I don't have to use the flash-should be a better pic.

[prostreet69camaro]

They look great with the chrome bezels....

[brownnote]

well, for some reason I can't edit the 1st post, so here goes...

out with the old....


and in with the new! I really need a new dash carrier and trim pieces! That will have to wait for when work pics back up!





the green led's are turn signal indicators, and the amber one is my parking brake indicator fyi.