[vidguy]

It looks good. Would you paint them black? If so anything appropriate in a spray can?

I thought if I did paint it I'd spray it from behind, loosely taping just inside the plastic chrome front edges.

[Peter Serio]

The 65 and 66 Lemans & GTO Gauge bezel "tunnels," the interior circles; also that upper under-edge wide band were both painted flat black regardless of the car's interior color. In '67 they changed that and went with more of a flat Jade green color.

I have photos if anybody needs to see, just PM me.

[vidguy]

Thank you Peter.

[Peter Serio]

Here is an original paint 1967 GTO Dash Bezel. I would say that the colors are a little bit sun faded but this gives you an idea of what the original color looked like.

[vidguy]

Here is the Repro 1967 DashBezel and the Repro Rally Gauges. I painted the Gas Gauge needle Glow Red. This is with my Original Overlay that looks 100% better than the decal.... I could not use the decal..

[tempest1964]

That looks pretty dang good!

[Cardo]

How is the quality of the repro bezel? I'll be needing one for my 65.

[vidguy]

It is excellent.

I compared it to my original and it is a very accurate copy.. the plastic chrome and all of the studs in back, the various details.. it is very, very accurate... I think the only difference I saw was on my original there was a slight depression around the lower screw holes under the column.

On the reproduction, they were not present. Other than that, everything from my original gauge pod and the heater control would have fit perfectly if I was going to use them As I did test fit them. As it was I used the reproductions gauges (which also match the originals very, very closely) and they fit perfectly,

One other thing I noticed is my Car is a convertible... On my original bezel I can see where the holes for the top switch required and some filing on the back that was done by hand to make the power top switch fit flush and there are no holes for the rear speaker switch option between the tach and speedo..

On this bezel it comes with a pair of holes between the Tach and speedo for the rear speaker option switch but nothing for the convertible switch,

[Cardo]

Thanks for the critique Vidguy. I was trying to decide weather to fix mine or buy new. That made my decision.

[vidguy]

I was planning on installing the bezel and hooking up the gauges Sunday. I have the Column back in and hanging loose.

I had planned on drilling that hole between the Gas/temp gauge and the Speedometer for the Convertible Top switch. But standing there with the drill over the $350.00+ pretty bezel, I couldn't do it..

Plus it has to be positioned right where the plastic "tubes" studs are and on my original bezel I could see where they grind away the plastic to get the switch to fit into the opening that is under the metal dash there.. I didn't have the nerve to hack the bezel up.. I attached a photo of that location.

Anybody that is putting one of these in a convertible, be aware of this.

The wiring for the top switch does not reach the existing opening for the Rear speaker switch.

I ended up taking me most of the day making extension wires for the switch. I removed the red and green ends from the Packard connector. I did cut the end of the black wire that goes through the firewall to the power lug.

I created three 10 inch extensions in 12 gauge with packard terminals and connectors so I was able to use the existing red and green wires / connectors each now with a single female connector instead of them being in the "L" connector. I then popped the other ends of those new extensions into the "L" connector.

I cut the black wire near the lug end and crimped on a female packard terminal, put it in a female connector and put a male terminal / connector on the original end and plugged all three wires all back in. Tested for continuity. Now they should reach the speaker hole in the bezel.

Not the correct location but safer....

I had S&M Electro-tech update the AM radio to AM/FM and add an Aux cable. I also purchased one of their new 4x10 speakers.

I re SEM'd the dash pad. Looks great. And I took the opportunity to mask off everything and repaint the glovebox door and metal dash areas (difficult), and to use the Wimbledon White to paint the A pillars in preparation for my Back to Parchment effort.

I cleaned all the Ducts, added some foam to keep it from rattling. I painted the upper dash flat black.
My Legendary interior shipped Friday....

[Cardo]

Looks nice. Funny, i am going to a parchment interior from the original blue that was in the car, and have mine already from Legendary too. Nice job on the wiring too. Hard to pull that trigger drilling a hole in that brand new bezel.

[vidguy]

Yep. Thanks. I ran out and took a pic of the harness. You can see the two male/female connectors I put on where the L shaped connector was. And a second shot of the L shaped connector where it is plugged into the extensions.

Are you going to do your seats yourself?

I just ordered the new front seat foam from Wellington Classics. He had the best price on the ACI foam.

Rick was super helpful and I got the foam in two days.

I have one unused foam set (one seat) that I bought from an old neighbor who had a 66 GTO about 20 years ago in my attic. It still looked perfect but I didn't want to have 2 different sets in the two seats so I ordered these. I see now they have the fabric attached to them where the old one I have does not.

[Cardo]

Yes i am going to do my seats myself, but that's a ways off. I only bought my interior because of the 20% off at the holidays they had. By the time i actually need them there probably would have been 2 more price annual increases. Realistically i probably won't be doing my seats until next year some time. I did my seats a couple of times in my 66 i had.... between the 2 sets of bad PUI covers i had, and then when Legendary came out with theirs. Just make sure when you do yours you let the new covers sit out in the sun and get good and warm before you try to put them on. I always do one seat at a time too so i can reference the other one as i do it. I did order new everything for mine this time... foam, burlap, cotton stuffing, even the cardboard pieces for my front seats. '65's have a piece of cardboard that goes in the bottom to stretch the vinyl over. I ordered the entire soft interior except for the carpet.

[vidguy]

I did the Deluxe seats in my 75 Formula and it was a chore.. They came out nice though. These should be much easier.. I took advantage of the sale as well.