69NC

Not the best pictures, but you can see where additional fiberglass is added to make the end caps match the tail panel.

I made a bracket and mounted the relays above the steering column.  I had to cut the cable ties off to get the slack to move them there. But I'm adding a lot of additional wiring so they had to come off anyway.
Vic fridge is also doing a lot of custom wring changes. Infact I made a riff of his spreadsheet to track my circuit changes.
I'm not sure on the AC. I went with vintage air mostly because Dakota digital has a climate control upgrade for their system.
 

Rwcstang, sweet sounding ride!

Another place to check is your ground strap between the motor and the chassis.
If the motor is not well grounded, the added load of the lights will create a differential that could show up on the temp gauge. 
Ideally you should have two ground straps between the motor and the chassis.
 

Why not gut a regulator. Then hook the wires up to your now dummy regulator. It will look stock.

Why not gut a regulator. Then hook the wires up to your now dummy regulator. It will look stock.

Looks great!

While test fitting my grille, I found out that in my box of stuff from the PO, I had sport lamps but no brackets.  It turns out that the brackets are not reproduced, well part of it is, but not both parts.  So just like the drip pans for my convertible, I decided to make my own brackets.  Thought others may have run across this too.
 
 
Like all parts I cannot find, it starts with cardboard:

 
 
After several rounds of trial fitting, it begins to take shape
 

 

 
Once it looks and fits well, I transfer it to metal

 

 
Then the cutting and shaping starts:
 

 
 
more trimming, and few touch ups with the die grinder
 

 
 
Starting to look like everything fits:

 
Everything bolts up and grille sits where it should.
 
 

 
 
Just needs some finish up and painting, should be good to go.
 

While test fitting my grille, I found out that in my box of stuff from the PO, I had sport lamps but no brackets.  It turns out that the brackets are not reproduced, well part of it is, but not both parts.  So just like the drip pans for my convertible, I decided to make my own brackets.  Thought others may have run across this too.
 
 
Like all parts I cannot find, it starts with cardboard:

 
 
After several rounds of trial fitting, it begins to take shape
 

 

 
Once it looks and fits well, I transfer it to metal

 

 
Then the cutting and shaping starts:
 

 
 
more trimming, and few touch ups with the die grinder
 

 
 
Starting to look like everything fits:

 
Everything bolts up and grille sits where it should.
 
 

 
 
Just needs some finish up and painting, should be good to go.
 

I would replace the panel, you will end up doing far less body work and not have bondo.  I went with Dynacorn and had little trouble fitting the parts.  Like was stated above do one panel at a time to make sure you have original parts (door striker panels, the tail panel, roof, etc..) in place to align to and measure and clamp, I like clecos to hold the panel in place.  Measure and align several times before you weld.  redoing/tweaking when clamped is easy, don't rush to welding
 
Mine's a convertible, but if you want to see the steps I took to replace the rear quarters, you can read my blog entry:
http://www.theracg.com/2013/12/install-the-new-rear-quarters/

While test fitting my grille, I found out that in my box of stuff from the PO, I had sport lamps but no brackets.  It turns out that the brackets are not reproduced, well part of it is, but not both parts.  So just like the drip pans for my convertible, I decided to make my own brackets.  Thought others may have run across this too.
 
 
Like all parts I cannot find, it starts with cardboard:

 
 
After several rounds of trial fitting, it begins to take shape
 

 

 
Once it looks and fits well, I transfer it to metal

 

 
Then the cutting and shaping starts:
 

 
 
more trimming, and few touch ups with the die grinder
 

 
 
Starting to look like everything fits:

 
Everything bolts up and grille sits where it should.
 
 

 
 
Just needs some finish up and painting, should be good to go.
 

Hello,
 
It has been a while since I have been around.  I hope everyone is doing well.  Just thought I would post a picture of my latest project.  I have an extra instrument cluster so I thought I would mess around with it and see how it would turn out.  I repainted it and then changed the gauges to white, installed LED's for the backlights, and then replaced the lenses.  Let me know your thoughts.  My car is still in storage for the rest of the winter, but I am anxious to get this in the car and see how it looks.