repair kadett b rallye guages

[Jinx]

Hi,


My kadett B has a rallye make over (tach & other guages) but the set of 3 guages has a broken cluster panel thingie. Any idea on how to fix this?
My problem is that i do not know which type plastic it is so i cant figure out if it can be glued/epoxied/poly'd or it cant be done all together.


greets,
David (sorry for my lack of car-talk-vocabulary )

Pics: (part numbers just below, broken parts in attachment, to get around the image attachment limits)

[heimue]

Epoxy won't stick, your only hope is super glue.

Dieter

[Jinx]

the problem is that i dont have the pieces that broke off. so some reconstructive surgery is needed which means superglue might be out of the picture

[tekenaar]

Originally Posted by Jinx Hi, My kadett B has a rallye make over (tach & other guages) but the set of 3 guages has a broken cluster panel thingie. Any idea on how to fix this? My problem is that i do not know which type plastic it is so i cant figure out if it can be glued/epoxied/poly'd or it cant be done all together. greetings, David (sorry for my lack of car-talk-vocabulary )

David,
I posted a solution to this problem in the "Tips and Tricks" forum complete with a graphic showing how, but the files containing my graphic are not available until restored on the server by Gary this weekend. I'll attach the graphic from my computer here instead for now . . . until it's available to the link again. HTH

[Jinx]

thanks for the reply, otto!

the posts have already been fixed in the way you show (the clock in the middle hole has this fix).
In my pictures you can see a more annoying problem which is that the mounting points of the whole panel (and not the guage posts) are broken

[GTJIM]

It is the ends of the mounting panel that have been broken off - and as you don't have the bits, I guess you are going to have to make some substitutes.

The best thing to use is parts of another (broken!!) unit. It is very difficult to stick this stuff together - must be Whey protein plastic ('casein' - from milk !!) or some early plastic which has gone brittle over the years because it was not UV light stabilised. So you may have to use a lap piece and bolt the bits together with small counter-sunk screws ... then paint their heads black.

With some Opel plastic bits - the gauge panel on a GT - I did have some success with a plastic welding shop who specialised in bumpers.

OR - find a complete one on EBay ... a NOS one!

BTW: I think the 'ordinary' Kadett panels with the clock are the same and can have the tachometer fitted in its place. Must check on my Rallye.
Or is what you show the bit that goes under the dash with the amp; oil pressure and small clock in it?

[Jinx]

those panels are the same but its not the panel i'm talking about. I have a complete dash in good condition (with tach). The broken panel is the one that goed beneath the heater controls, above the shifter. So in the center of the car. And since rallyes aren't to be found on every corner of the street... the little bugger is worth quite a bit, so finding a new one isnt a nice job. A guy in germany has 2 extra but they were broken at exactly the same place.


in the attachted pic you can see the little panel with 3 guages at the bottom right side.


edit: you edited as i wrote my reply, it is indeed the small panel

[Jinx]

here's another picture of it

[GTJIM]

I see now - my Kadett Rallye is a 1967 and has the much stronger sheet steel panel that goes all the way down to the transmission tunnel.

I think I have one of the short plastic ones like yours that I bought to get the oil pressure gauge - will have a look at the workshop today. Know there is a Manta one there ... but it is different.

[Jinx]

the manta one looks similar but its all different at the same time

i'll probably do a patch up job with L shaped pieces of metal to hang it up there. if that fails, i might make a poly replica