bezel and clock questions

[btoran]

bezel: i'm changing my bezels over to chrome. i started one and am stuck. there is a locking tab that i can push out and then gentle lift the old, black bezel off by sliding a very small jewelers screwdriver under the back of the bezel and prying it off. so far so good. i cleaned the glass and am ready to install the chrome bezel. i can get the glass, black rim that holds the glass, and chrome bezel on, but the bezel wants to fall off. it looks like i should bend the bezel around the rim, but there is very little extra material to work with. is this the right way to do it? if so, is there a special tool for this?

clock: to remove and change the clock's bezel (as well as clean the glass), do i need to remove the chrome pin used to set the clock? if so, how does this come off?

thanks.

[mpollock]

The original bezel is bent around the rim on the front of the clock housing. When you pried it off, you bent the rim of the bezel a bit - that's the only way to get it off. When you put it back on you will need to bend it back into shape. I don't know of a special tool to do it with. I took mine apart to repair and haven't reassembled it yet. I am going to try to roll the bezel lip back into place with a large flat-bladed screwdriver. The setting knob/shaft is press-fit into a gear in the clock. Mine had come loose from the gear and that's why I disassembled it. It looks like I could super-glue the shaft back into place.

How did you clean your clock face? Mine is plastic and cloudy, and it looks like the cloudiness might go all the way through. I was going to try to clean it up with a buffer. If that doesn't work some of the vendors have new ones. I am planning on extending the shaft hole as a slit to the edge of the 'glass' so I can slip it onto the shaft with it still fastened to the clock.

[aj81spider]

Can't answer the question on the bezel. However two things about the clock:

> The pin used to set the clock has a push on knob. Don't just pull or you will pull it off the gears inside. Grab it just above the glass with a needlenose and then it should pull off. The shaft can stay in place and you can pull the plastic out. When you install you can then push the knob back on after reassembly.

> The clouded plastic doesn't clean. The plastic is clouding with age, and it goes all the way through. There are lots of threads on ways people have replaced it, and replacements are easily found at lots of the vendors.

[4uall]

fyi http://www.autoricambi.us/product/RI0-488/Clock-Glass/

[donm]

I made a replacement clock lense out of a CD jewel case.

[btoran]

i still can't figure how to bend the new chrome bezels around the gauges. i removed the old, black bezels, but the chrome ones seem much stronger and there isn't much material to work with. anyone done this successfully? if so, what's the trick?

[btoran]

well, i figured out something that seemed to work.

i used the 3/32" pin punch pictured below and a hammer to very slowly bang the excess material around the bezel lip, one very small spot at a time. it took about 15 minutes for each small bezel and they turned out very nice without any problems.

for the tach and speedo, i used a larger pin punch (6/32") but had some problems. the chrome bezel material seems stronger for the larger gauges and takes a harder hammer blow to crimp the excess material. i broke the glass from one of the larger gauges and need to replace it.