Writer Resto: 1964 Dodge AT4 353 Pt. 2

Gauging the situation

With the restoration of an older vehicle the reliability of crucial instruments is called into question. Speeding tickets notwithstanding, the knowledge that a reliable gauge of your freshly rebuilt engine's vitals is front and centre at all times is of critical importance. After all, there's no point spending thousands of dollars on an engine if it's let down by an $80 instrument.

But is it better to restore the existing 55-year-old instrument panel or retro-fit modern dials?

It was a question I struggled to answer for myself, given the antithetical nature of my thinking. On one hand, the original VDO gauges look the part and hold a sense of nostalgia. But, on the other, newer gauges (well, quality newer gauges) are more reliable, metricised, and tend to look a lot cleaner.

Decisions, decisions…

In the end I sought the advice of a specialist in the field and found Melbourne-based Howard Instruments (www.howardinstruments.com.au).

The crew specialise in the restoration and supply of automotive and marine instruments (among others) and were happy to address my concerns on both fronts. They knew the gauges installed in the Dodge and its International sibling well, and their 48 years of experience imbued me with the kind of confidence I needed to head down the path of restoration.

Turning back the clock

The first step, as obvious as it might sound, was to remove the instrument panel and gauges from the binnacle. The cluster sat loose in its housing when I collected the Dodge, which meant only the disconnection and removal of the gauges was necessary to facilitate their assessment.

Early trucks like the AT4 use a combination of mechanical and electronic gauges. Howard Instruments told me that in the Dodge these are recognised by a 270-degree and arc scale respectively (see images), which turned out to be true when removing the various wires and supply lines from the rear of the gauges.

The black-faced gauges feature red needles and are measured on the imperial scale. They feature an art deco theme to the numbering and are back-lit with candescent globes, which I personally prefer over flood-lit gauges.

All five dials (ammeter, fuel level, oil pressure, speedometer and water temperature) are set in a raw finished aluminium fascia – which I imagine is quite prone to glare and reflection –and there is no tachometer on AT4 models, excluding the larger 760 and 775 variants.

Directional indicator lights are set individually at the base of the fascia and there’s no clock to speak of.

As I noted in the previous update, the marking and labelling of the position of removed components is crucial in any restoration, and the instrument panel is no exception. While it's obvious as to where each gauge sits, the myriad wires and mounts at the back of the fascia will be difficult to position once the remanufactured loom is in place.

Careful notes of all of the instruments' position and mounting hardware has been detailed before sending the gauges to the contractor.

So, can the original gauges be saved?

Howard Instruments said it's "revived a lot worse", and that the minor pitting and corrosion of the gauge bodies isn't a huge issue. Being an early AT4 the gauges are quite rare, and with Australia having adopted the metric system in 1966, this June '64 truck is one of the few remaining with this exact cluster style.

The instruments were made by the Australian subsidiary of VDO, a German firm now owned by Continental Automotive. It was opened in 1957 as the first foreign branch of the Frankfurt-based company, operating from a small factory in Kyneton, north of Melbourne (it's now home to the Ivan Smith Motoring Collection and includes the last Australian-built CM-series Chrysler Valiant).

The team at Howard Instruments will carefully disassemble each gauge and restore the mechanism, facing, needles and shell. The glass and chrome support will be polished – or refinished if necessary – before the complete item is reassembled and bench tested.

To ensure accuracy at the other end (i.e. my end), new capillary lines and connectors will be fitted, the oil supply line and speedometer drive cable to be inspected at a later date.

For now, the gauges are in the hands of the experts while I move on to other parts of the restoration. I'll be sure to keep these pages updated with progress on this front as I hear back from Howard Instruments, and have asked them to take a couple of happy snaps to add to the story.

Looking forward

It might seem that I'm working backwards in restoring the AT4. For most of us, the instrument panel is one of the last things we'd tackle in a resto. But as I mentioned in the last update, I find it's best to handle things as your budget allows, and to have work carried out by trusted contractors completed concurrently while you're tackling other parts of the project.

The rationale here is that all the components needed to complete the restoration are then ready and waiting for you when it comes time for reassembly. Given many contractors (or at least the good ones) have longer lead times, the buffer makes a lot of sense, and saves pressuring the talented contractors you've selected to invest their skills in your much-loved project when you're ready to start screwing things back together.

Over the coming weeks we'll look at a number of elements of the Dodge AT4 restoration that are on the go currently. There's body and panel work happening, the engine is ready to come out, the remanufacturer of the electrical loom is set to start, and the upholstering is almost decided upon.

I’ll look forward to updating the Writer Resto on trucksales.com.au as progress is made and look forward to sharing the remainder of the journey with you.