Dashboard signal lights

[welske]

Hey all, I think this is a pretty easy question, if anyone would mind weighing in I'd be appreciative...

I have the legacy gauges, so the turn lights in the dash are those little red/blue/green deals.

I glued and wrapped the vinyl to the aluminum dash without any problems but I must have missed something and did not first drill out holes for the little dash lights in the aluminum prior applying the vinyl.

Maybe it's just a matter of drilling a hole through the vinyl to get those suckers in? Does anyone have any tricks on putting holes in the aluminum/vinyl w/o junking up the already applied vinyl?

[edwardb]

My thought would be don't try to drill them. Although the vinyl would probably stand up OK, you would be left with very little around the edges of the light. Since there isn't much of a flange on those lights, good chance you're going to have a raw edge showing. Not nice. If it were me, I'd mark the circle on the back of the dash, on the aluminum, and carefully cut the circle with a Dremel or something similar using a burr. Being very careful not to go through the vinyl. Take it slow. Once the hole is there, pie cut the vinyl and push the light through from the front. Make the hole big enough for the light body plus the thickness of the vinyl, erroring on the small side. Should end up looking like you planned it that way.

Another option might be to use a flat cut drill bit or end mill from the back, again being very careful to not go through the vinyl. But that's still pretty risky.

[Fixit]

Here's another option...
Clamp the dash face down on a sacrificial board, not super tight, but to keep it from moving. Very carefully drill through the aluminum only with maybe a 1/4" bit. Unclamp the dash, poke a little hole through the pleather, then open up the holes (again from the backside) using a tapered reamer (https://www.harborfreight.com/t-handle-reamer-66936.html?cid=paid_google|*PLA+-+All+Products+-+Lower+Sales+Items|New+Products+-+%281%29+Price+%3C%2410|66936&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&mkwid=spMQmCwIM|pcrid|318476002950|pkw||pmt||pdv|c |slid||product|66936|&pgrid=63088204786&ptaid=pla-298826564137&pcid=1654049980&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyJqfg_-k4gIVD77ACh2_KgshEAQYAyABEgLdBfD_BwE). Test fit the lamp housing from the back... ream, test, ream, test. When the lamp fits the hole, go a tiny bit larger and see if the lamp fits through from the front (you may need to pie-cut the pleather slightly). Adjust the hole (from the backside) to account for the thickness of the pleather.
You may need to dig/pick out some chips that get trapped between the aluminum and pleather.
I've done this many times on finished/upholstered panels and it works!

[mike223]

I strongly prefer the Speedhut speedometers with the indicators built in - I would do without indicators until I obtained one of those.

The additional features of the GPS speedos are handy too.

Some people may prefer the classic indicator lights - good luck.

[Joel Hauser]

I used a step drill bit from harbor freight, drilling from the back of course.

[welske]

Hey all - I forgot to say THANKS for the good ideas! I'll be working on it this weekend.

[AC Bill]

I used a step drill bit from harbor freight, drilling from the back of course.

Was that with the vinyl already glued on?
The step bit's are wonderful things, but I would worry the smaller steps would be mucking up the viny,l until you reached the diameter of the step you need for the bulb? Was that not an issue for you?

[welske]

Just in case anyone else gets the drilling and gluing out of order like I did - the advice of John D from Minneapolis seems to have worked well. The reamer worked well and I was able to get the exact right hole through the aluminum and pleather.

I'm going to finish that all up tonight and start setting the gauges and switches in.

[Joel Hauser]

I'm pretty sure I used the step drill after the vinyl and foam were glued in...but now (3 year later) I'm not so sure. If you have have any scraps left over, maybe you can glue them up on a piece of scrap sheet metal, try the step drill, and see what happens.
Joel