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Carbon Fiber Guage Bezel???

martinez32799

Full Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2002
Messages
88
Location
Mesa Arizona
has anyone installed a carbon fiber guage bezel. ?i havent seen to much of it, only on ebay and i dont know how it looks either. so if anyone has input on this and/or pictures id appreciate it much. i emailed the guy who is selling them and he says direct buy its $32 bucks shippingincluded.... ?

e-bay

 
I'm sure there is a member who has already done this...off the top of my head I can't recall who..hopefully he or she will provide some feedback.... :B:
 
I bought 1 of those. The person I got it from had no instructions on how to install. The GM cluster lens is heat welded to the plastic part that it is attached to. And the carbon fiber part will not slip in from the back through the speedo hole. I finally decided to cut the carbon fiber part into smaller pieces and slide it in from the back. It didn't work. I ended up throwing it out.

Later I found that the lens can be cut away from the plactic piece with a razor blade heated up by a torch. And then the carbon fiber part would drop in from the front. Then the lens would need to be glued back on.
 
I installed a polished stainless dash bezel myself. I saw the carbon one and tried to order it but he was out of stock. Than I saw the stainless one and it matches the billet knobs much better. As far as removing the plastic off of the dash all I can say is, use the heat and......
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?TAKE :8:
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?YOUR :8:
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?TIME :8:
? ?good luck
? ?
 
I am trying to install one of these now. I thought it would be easy, but I should had known better. Can I heat the razor blade with a lighter instead of a torch? What did any of you that have done this use to glue the clear lens back on with?
 
MI_99XPL said:
I bought 1 of those. ?The person I got it from had no instructions on how to install. ?The GM cluster lens is heat welded to the plastic part that it is attached to. ?And the carbon fiber part will not slip in from the back through the speedo hole. ?I finally decided to cut the carbon fiber part into smaller pieces and slide it in from the back. ?It didn't work. ?I ended up throwing it out.

Later I found that the lens can be cut away from the plactic piece with a razor blade heated up by a torch. ?And then the carbon fiber part would drop in from the front. ?Then the lens would need to be glued back on.

Well this is not good. I had bought one of these. When I got it I was surprised that there was nothing in the way of instructions. So sent an e-mail to Alpha Motor Sports in Cal. They did not even take the time to reply. :7:

So reading the notes on this thread it sounds like I either throw it out or get into things I did not want to to install it. :8: :8:
 
KING_AVALANCHE said:
I installed a polished stainless dash bezel myself. I saw the carbon one and tried to order it but he was out of stock. Than I saw the stainless one and it matches the billet knobs much better. As far as removing the plastic off of the dash all I can say is, use the heat and......
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?TAKE :8:
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?YOUR :8:
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?TIME :8:
? ?good luck
? ?
KA, just trying to make sure I understand. When you say the plastic off the dash, do you mean the clear plastic face over the gauges??
 
Yup-er...1st you must remove the main dash bezel off the dash.. ???
(just a snap here and there).then remove the gages from behind that, :rolleyes:(four screws into the dash)
then take the gages off the bezel (from behind) to where all you have is the bezel cover. One word of caution...take your time as the blade could slip and ruin or badly scratch your plastic :7:!! I don't think a lighter would work.
'cause you gotta keep heating it up over and over.
It's not the easiest thing to do (cuttin' the plastic off)
but the change in the dash is very noticeable. I liked the chrome :cool: look better than the carbon once I saw it.
Good Luck!!

DA KING 'O DA ROAD....DA ....AVALANCHE :B:
 
I also ordered one of them. Took a good long look and figured if i left it in the sun for a bit, it would get soft enough to fold over and slide through the one of the large guage holes. Worked perfectly. Here are a couple pics.

http://www.openminds.net/avalanche/index.htm#carbon

All you need to do is fold it a bit. It will bend. Don't pull off the adhesive untill it is in your cluster.
 
I bought mine from Alpha Sports also. I called information and got their number and will be calling them tomorrow.

Open, once you got it in there was it hard to get it lined up and stuck down good?

King, when you cut it off did you slide the razor between the clear and dark piece where the glue is at?

What did you glue it back on with?
 
It was actually quite easy, just take your time. If I was to do it again, I would have trimmed about 1/16" off the right side, but this small missalignment has been unnoticable to others.

Lay the Guage cover face down on a towel, fold the insert, and slide it through one of the large guage holes. Let it lay in there for a few minutes and it will flaten back out nicely. Then slowly pull off the adhesive, trying to keep presure on it as to not let it stick anywhere yet. Once all your adhesive is off, work it up into place. Viola, Carbon Fiber Dash Insert.
 
Openminds, thanks a lot for the details (I am serious by the way, not sarcastic) but I must admit I am have serious second thoughts on this one.
I know for SURE nothing is going to happen till well into Spring for temps. Also have a dash kit and that is not going ontillI decide on this 'little' project.

THanks again,your way seems the best so far.
 
See if any of you think this would work or not work. See attached pic. I was thinking of making a cut on the back of the bezel where I have the red line and this should allow me to be able to pull the top out enough to slip the carbon bezel inside through the long top hole. Then once it is stuck on the cut should not be noticed.

Well, will it work? I am very antsy to get it in.
 

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I got an email back from Alpha Sports today and it looks like Openminds had the right idea. This is what they told me. I guess I will try to heat it with a hair dryer and get it a try.

Hi there,
for Chevy style dashes, it's not possible to take out the clear plastic cover unless the clue is completely torn out. The method that our customers use is to take out the whole gauge cluster, separate the cluster in the middle so there is the plastic cover with the bezel frame on one side and the gauge on the other. Before feeding the bezel into the bezel frame, heat the bezel up to soften the material (this way it can slide through the opening easier.) . After the CF Bezel is in place, straightened it out and removed the doublesided tape and pulled it back into position.

tagheuer909@aol.com
 
I was thinking about doing this mod, right up until I saw this forum. I think I'll save my money and go for the Escalade EXT dash. It's $200 and is supposed to be plug and play. Granted $200 is way more than $25-$32 for the bezel, but if I wreck my factory guages, I'd have to buy new ones anyway.
 
sparky said:
Can't say I disagree with you,and I have a bezel waiting for install ?:2:
What exactly do youget for your $200.00

Well, you can replace the guages with either the Denali or Escalade guages. I prefer the Caddy. Check out part 15073350. You will also get a working trans. temp guage as the guages are completely plug and play (from what I read so far). Keep in mind, I have not done this mod yet, but it seems like money better spent than some of the stuff I have purchased.
 

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I was thinking about doing this mod, right up until I saw this forum. I think I'll save my money and go for the Escalade EXT dash.

This is why I like this mod. No offense, but just about anyone can change out the cluster. This particular mod take a little thinking and work. More so than most want to deal with.

At a recent show, we were looking around, and hearing what people were saying about the other trucks there, and we heard "another Escalade cluster", or "another Denali Cluster". But they look at mine and ask "How did you do THAT"?

Don't get me wrong, mods are mods, and I love them all. Just dare to be different. :0:
 
Open, I got mine in Friday. It really wasn't that difficult. I heated it up with a hair dryer until it got soft enough to bend and then just worked it through the speedo hole. It was a little scary thinking I was messing it up, but apparently it is very durable because once I got it in and it cooled and flatend it was jus like it was before. I did have to take the cluster back out later ater I put it back in because I was driving and noticed that some of the Carbon had come loose and come up so I took the gauges back out and heated it back up and help it down until it cooled and then it stayed stuck down. Sorry the pic is not very good. I do not have a digital camera with a flash yet, but it gives the general idea.

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