How to remove the warning light cluster?

[Steve 82 Elly]

Hi guys, I want to paint my gauge cluster (?) but if I remove the warning light lens' then how do I re-install them? It looks like they held in place by melting the plastic. Somebody must have done this before right. If anybody has any tricks or tips I would really appreciate it. Somebody please help me. Thanks

 

[O. D. Showtime]

I painted a bezel a number of years ago, and what I remember doing is carefully cutting/filing the top and bottom edges of the heat staked portions. I was careful to not remove too much material from the center portion so I would have enough to restake it after. once you have enough removed you should be able to lift of the tell tale housing.

I have no pictures of the removal process as I was just playing around to see what the inner section of the bezel would look like painted...here's a pic of it after painting.

 

[Ribbedroof]

If you’re not up for trying to remove it and reinstall it you could buy some 3M fine line tape to cover up the lens slots.

Although it is a shame to paint that hard to find Burlwood bezel which appears to be in really nice condition

 

[Steve 82 Elly]

I painted a bezel a number of years ago, and what I remember doing is carefully cutting/filing the top and bottom edges of the heat staked portions. I was careful to not remove too much material from the center portion so I would have enough to restake it after. once you have enough removed you should be able to lift of the tell tale housing.

I have no pictures of the removal process as I was just playing around to see what the inner section of the bezel would look like painted...here's a pic of it after painting.


View attachment 236589

Thanks for the info. What you described is what I was thinking I would need to do, its good to hear that its been done successfully (yours looks great). I have an extra one that I may use to practice on. Thanks again

 

[565bbchevy]

I did mine similar to O.D. Showtime where I removed as little as possible and re-staked it after painting.
I also made aluminum inserts for the gauges prior to painting everything and moved my defrost switch to the opposite side.
I painted the dash with SEM Landau Black and the aluminum inserts with low gloss engine enamel.

 

[Steve 82 Elly]

I did mine similar to O.D. Showtime where I removed as little as possible and re-staked it after painting.
I also made aluminum inserts for the gauges prior to painting everything and moved my defrost switch to the opposite side.
I painted the dash with SEM Landau Black and the aluminum inserts with low gloss engine enamel.

View attachment 236633 View attachment 236634

That is super cool!