I'd found a couple of spares and put together a good one first, and then just swapped them. This way all of the wiring connections were fresh in my mind.
I carefully chipped off all of the remaining paint, and then cleaned the brass well, before sanding it very lightly, cleaning again with solvent, and respraying with a gray primer. Somebody mentioned a krinkle finish gray for some ancient Chevy application, but I couldn't find such a thing. Still looks good 5 years later.
This is also the time to make sure your trip meter is working. Disassembling the dash is not that difficult. Patience, lots of light, and small screwdrivers,make for a satisfying evening's work. Clean and lube the gears driving both the trip meter and odometer. There are white rubber sleeves between the cluster and theidiot lights which dry out. Having a couple of clusters to pull apart generally gives you good ones to work with.

ALso, when cleaning the "brass surround" be careful not to rub the white paint out of the idiot light lenses. I masked them off before gray painting the surround.