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How to Reface/Replace Your Own Gauges

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by valkokir, Dec 18, 2008.

  1. valkokir
    Joined: Oct 25, 2007
    Posts: 196

    valkokir
    Member
    from DeKalb, IL

    Here's a side-project I've had going while I build my frame. I think this could be useful for people looking for something different in their gauge panels.
    I really liked the style of my original dash panel and one of the main themes of my entire build is keeping some of the unique '28 Chevy features in the car.
    I started off with what was left of my original gauges, plus some spares I picked up off of eBay.
    [​IMG]

    Speedometer

    The speedometer face was pretty much destroyed and the numbers were faded, discolored, and chipped.

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]

    The Filling Station sells a refacing kit for my model year. Filling Station specializes in Chevy parts, several model years were available of these kits. These are pressure sensitive adhesive labels, not water transfers.
    Snyder's and Mac's carry Ford Kits. This site has been linked to before on the HAMB and shows some nice images of rebuilding a Model A Speedometer. http://www.modelahouse.com/tech/speedometer/index.html

    [​IMG]

    I started by completely gutting and cleaning everything, spraying a base coat of white on all the dials then applying the decals. Take special care to "clock" the decals the same as original so that the odometer/trip meter
    digits roll over at the right time.
    [​IMG]

    The speedometer dial was tricky to work with. The hairspring on the dial was staked on to the dial mount plate and couldn't be separated. the decal was rolled on with the dial in the assembly. As with any decals, never handle the adhesive. Trim the decals with a very sharp X-Acto knife and a rule. Roll the decals off the backing sheet as you apply and be careful not to stretch them.
    [​IMG]

    After applying the decals any fingerprints were removed with a cloth and denatured alcohol. All the internal gears were lubed with a light synthetic waterproof grease that won't harden like the original grease I scraped off.
    The speedometer face was simply spray painted with sandable primer to fill some pits and then sprayed with an off-white paint similar to stock. I used a different face than the lacy one pictured above, but that one still has all its detail so repairing it is not impossible. Now's your chance to roll back that odometer so you can celebrate mile #1 when the car is done. The bezel is made of nickel plated brass and was lightly crimped to the speedometer can. The sandwiched assembly doesn't require that it be crimped back together so I just left it loose, more on this further down. The bezel will be replated at a later date.
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2008
  2. valkokir
    Joined: Oct 25, 2007
    Posts: 196

    valkokir
    Member
    from DeKalb, IL

    Indicator Guages

    The original indicator gauges have a nice 60 degree sweep and a cool back-lit bezel. Unfortunately, they are set up for an old 4cylinder and 6v battery. 30psi Oil pressure and a 20A ammeter aren't going to cut it on modern running gear. I decided to use a Charging and Oil pressure indicator lights and opted for Fuel and Water temperature gauges. The gauge face kit from Filling Station included gauge faces for Chevys from 1928-30 and included both water temperature and fuel level faces in a similar style to original.
    Water Temp

    I wanted a mechanical gauge that I could modify the needle position and calibrate as I saw fit and also wanted a 60degree sweep as original. Sunpro offered an inexpensive mechanical water temp gauge with the nice spring covered copper capillary tube. Perfect candidate to cut up for experimentation as I wasn't 100% that this would all work not knowing what the inside of the gauge looked like.
    [​IMG]
    I tested the gauge with boiling water to see that it was accurate or at least hitting the gauge as-marked, it was.
    I peeled off the bezel with a screwdriver, knowing I would not be reusing it. I could have turned it off in the lathe but didn't want the capillary tubing hanging out of the lathe's headstock.
    [​IMG] [​IMG]
    Removing the face revealed what I had to work with inside. Simple and compact with a nice flat face to apply my decals, encouraging.
    [​IMG] [​IMG]
    A quick overlay of the old and new faces behind the original face looks good
    [​IMG] [​IMG]
    Old numbers sanded off the face and a quick mock-up of the face location taped on so I could get the alignment correct.
    [​IMG] [​IMG]
    New face applied once the face was sprayed with off-white to cover the original black. I've cut the needle off my original gauge and epoxied it to the new gauge needle. It's painted with red nail polish.
    [​IMG]
    More info on mounting it back in the gauge pod below.

    Fuel Level

    The Fuel gauge will be mated with a Livorsi electric fuel sender (no moving parts). This required finding a modern fuel gauge to dissect that used the same 30/220 ohm range as my sender as well as a 60degree sweep needle. Sunpro had just the ticket.
    [​IMG]
    This one was also removed from it's pod, the face removed and prepped for paint and decal applied. This needle was also modified with an original needle in it's place. The original needles are made from stamped aluminum foil and are very fragile. This was also painted with red nail polish.
    Combining the pods

    I wanted to fit both gauges behind the original gauge face and still needed a way to mount them to the back of the instrument panel. after some mocking up with some more cad drawings I figured out how much the pods had to be trimmed to Siamese them together and still mount the gauges in them with the original internals. The Water temp gauge internals were permanently affixed to the gauge cup since the bulb was was soldered to the capilary tube after passing through the hole in the back. The fuel gauge needed to remain insulated from the pod. I trimmed the pods to keep the back-light attached to one of the halves and then started welding the halves together. Sorry, I'm really lacking pictures of these steps. I made a mounting flange on the waterjet and slipped this over the siamesed pods and tacked it on also.
    Fuel gauge pod gutted before modification:
    [​IMG]
    Pods welded together with mounting flange:
    [​IMG] [​IMG]
    Gauge guts being replaced
    [​IMG]
    A new lens cut from plexiglass is sandwiched between the instrument panel/bezel/outer face/new pod and secured to the panel.
    [​IMG]
    Here you can see the stainless plates that were made to hold the back on the speedometer. The internals themselves are mounted directly to the instrument panel, the pod is simply a cover.
    [​IMG]

    Front view of all three panels assembled. The light switch will be reworked still.
    [​IMG]
    View of the back-lit indicator gauge
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2008
  3. beaulieu
    Joined: Mar 24, 2007
    Posts: 362

    beaulieu
    Member
    from So Cal

    Wow that looks great , show us more !

    Beaulieu
     
  4. valkokir
    Joined: Oct 25, 2007
    Posts: 196

    valkokir
    Member
    from DeKalb, IL

    What more would you like to see? I wish I had taken more pictures along the way!
    Sitting in the cowl

    [​IMG]
     

  5. dirtbag13
    Joined: Jun 16, 2008
    Posts: 2,540

    dirtbag13
    Member

    nice work !did you have some one produce the decals or are they available somewhere?
     
  6. valkokir
    Joined: Oct 25, 2007
    Posts: 196

    valkokir
    Member
    from DeKalb, IL

    I bought them through http://www.fillingstation.com . I've actually got an interesting way to make my own too that I'm working on adding to the post in the very near future given time between projects. I'm trying to make the most use of my Holiday layoff time and finishing my frame is #1 on the list!
     
  7. Dr.Kerry
    Joined: Aug 22, 2005
    Posts: 448

    Dr.Kerry
    Member

  8. wicked willys
    Joined: May 17, 2007
    Posts: 82

    wicked willys
    Member
    from ne ohio

  9. Great tech, I've planned on tackling this on the custom dash I'm working on for my 52 hardtop and I really don't care for the vintage font, beige face and gold bezel option.

    s.
     
  10. valkokir
    Joined: Oct 25, 2007
    Posts: 196

    valkokir
    Member
    from DeKalb, IL

    Alright, Finally back to this.

    For those that were looking for a way to make your own gauge faces this is an idea I've come up with and had pretty good success. This is a bit more 'arts and crafts' then I usually do but it was fun.
    I used Shrinky-Dink Inkjet printable material to design my own gauge face
    PC180054.JPG
    Available at Michael's Crafts or online www.shrinkydink.com

    The nice thing about this material is that you can design to your hearts content on the computer and then just print it out, shrink it, and have a durable gauge face with a design of your choice.

    I started by accurately drawing the Chevy fuel face seen above and combined it with the outline of the aftermarket gauge face in Photoshop.
    photoshop.jpg
    An advantage to using Photoshop or Illustrator is that you can work with accurate dimensions.
    The next step was to figure out just how much the material was shrinking.
    I drew up two squares of known size, printed them on plain paper to confirm the printer was printing 1:1
    PC180048.JPG
    Having confirmed that, I printed on shrinking material, shrank them and measured the results
    PC180055.JPG
    I confirmed that the parts needs to be scaled up 2.35:1 to shrink to the desired size, they shrink very evenly in all directions if you follow the directions. I found it was important to follow their advice to set them on heavy paper in the oven. This insulates them from overheating and sticking. If they stick they stretch and come out uneven.
    With that information I scaled my design in photoshop and printed it
    PC180058.JPG
    Cut out the face on the lines and pre-punch any holes per the material's instructions
    PC180059.JPG
    Follow the instructions on shrinking them up in your oven, a toaster oven works great.
    PC180061.JPG
    Here's my first attempt, you can see how the edges rolled under a bit because I allowed it to stick
    PC180066.JPG
    The holes started off at .25" diameter and are now .1" diameter. The finished part is .060" thick. If you needed larger holes you should be able to drill them out a bit after shrinking.
    Next you just need to assemble the face onto the gauge
    PC180067.JPG
    P1080191.JPG
    P1080193.JPG

    I think they turned out good. Thanks for checking it out.
     
  11. gkgeiger
    Joined: Nov 28, 2007
    Posts: 767

    gkgeiger
    Member

    Are you ready to go into business? Your work looks great.
     
  12. sacredsteel1
    Joined: Nov 15, 2003
    Posts: 188

    sacredsteel1
    Member

    Usefull information, excellent craftsmanship....Thanks!
     
  13. 54Caddy
    Joined: Sep 8, 2007
    Posts: 450

    54Caddy
    Member
    from Visalia,CA

    Since this is a topic on guages. I want to reset the miles to 0 on my cadillac you think it would be possible to do that?
     
  14. brewsir
    Joined: Mar 4, 2001
    Posts: 3,278

    brewsir
    Member

    great tech...I love details like this!
     
  15. MAN, you read my mind!!!

    I've been thinking about doing this for my speedster, but wasn't getting anywhere with the search. Thanks for putting this together, valkokir.
     
  16. I do have a question though,

    Will adding the pointer/paint to the needle have a noticeable effect on accuracy?
     
  17. valkokir
    Joined: Oct 25, 2007
    Posts: 196

    valkokir
    Member
    from DeKalb, IL

    Thanks for the compliments guys

    It's absolutely possible on any mechanical Odometer, it's just a matter of having the right tools to get into it and close it back up properly. Some are easier than others. I hope somebody can speak more specifically on your particular speedo if it's something that would be easy or better left to a pro, but I guarantee a pro could do it for you.

    Thanks, I'll pretty confidently say it shouldn't affect it at all. The '28 pointer was made of .004" thick aluminum, the weight is so slight it probably weighs less than the plastic one it replaced on the fuel gauge (which is coil operated) The Temp gauge is mechanical so it would take a heck of a lot of weight to throw it off.
     
  18. valkokir,
    Thanks for the insight- I won't be losing any sleep over misreads on .004 aluminum!

    I regard to rolling back the odometer... it is possible, depending on the year/make. I ashamed to say that I rolled the odometer on my old Nova back a couple times when I was a rather foolish teen (the car has close to 200K on it now anyway, so it really doesn't matter that much any more).

    With the early 70's plastic GM rolls, you can use pliers to pull them apart just enough to reset them. I don't know about anything earlier than that. Just don't marr the brass ends, or you're up the creek.
     
  19. alittle1
    Joined: Feb 26, 2005
    Posts: 312

    alittle1
    Member

    Re-setting speedo's may be a crime in your State, check on this first.

    In order to do a Caddy, you must remove the speedometer unit from the dash. With unit on the bench, you will have to remove the outer housing, glass, face plate and the needle, this is the HARD part. Grab the needle's shaft with a pair of needle nose pliers firmly about an 1/8 " below the needle base. Use a s/s nail file to slip under the needle and use the pliers' jaws to pry against. You can take a nail file and cut a slot in the wider top and bend it in a claw similar to a hammer claw, this will give you the mechanical advantage of a fulcrum and allows you to pry against it to lift the needle off. Note: try a few junkyard speedo's before trying your own. Don't break the needle's shaft!!!

    Once the front face is off, undoing a couple of screws that hold it on with your precision screwdrivers, look at the steel frame that houses the odometer closely and observe the small E-clips and C clips that hold the gear shafts within this housing. Take pictures from different angles in MACRO mode to aid in re-assembly.

    If you looked closely, you will see that there is a spring washer in between each number wheel with a larger tension spring washer on the non drive end. Remove the drive wheel cluster and the horizontal drive wheel on the other end, this will give you room to move the number wheels after you have removed tension from them by prying between them one at a time and turning back to zero each wheel. Carefully place speedo face on to check if numbers line up and are sync'd properly, if it looks good, then just re-assemble using your pictures as a guide.

    Take a short piece of speedo cable and 'square it' in a vice and chuck it up in a variable speed drill while sticking the other end in the speedo head. Run it slowly or turn it by hand to see that all the parts are in sync and moving. Add a couple drops of Triflow lube to the odometer wheels and the brass hub of the main drive. Check to see that speedo needle is moving up as speed increases, rather than hitting the needle stop. Increase the speed of the drill to 30 mph and make sure tenths wheel on the odometer is moving smoothly, watch next mile wheel for the transistion from 'NINE to ZERO', make sure it is smooth before replacing the glass face and final assembly.

    Needle full stop position is the location where the needle will rest when there is no rotation motion on the speedometer cup. Spin a short piece of speedo cable between your thumb and fore fingers with enough force to move the speedo needle shaft. After a couple of test turns, place the needle on the shaft lightly in as close proxcimity to ZERO MPH as possible, spin the input shaft again observe how close the needle stops to ZERO. Adjust needle to reflect this new position, re-try as necessary to maintain ZERO starting point. When you got it where you want it, hold shaft with needle nose and press down on needle hub, NOT THE NEEDLE QUILL. And your done.
     
  20. Great thread. I've been wanting to do this to the Olds cluster I have in my Hudson.
     
  21. Django
    Joined: Nov 15, 2002
    Posts: 10,198

    Django
    Member
    from Chicago

    I like how you did the gauges in the first part.

    What is the advantage to using the shrinky dink? Why not just print out your graphics to actual scale and skip that step?
     
  22. valkokir
    Joined: Oct 25, 2007
    Posts: 196

    valkokir
    Member
    from DeKalb, IL

    Good question, only because the shrinky-dink material is thick and light won't shine through it like it would a piece of paper. Plus it's more resilient to moisture when sprayed wth a clearcoat.
    I definitely prefer the style of the oval gauges and that's what I'm going to run. The shrinky-dink example was an experiment in how to do it if you can't get store bought faces. I may yet add a voltmeter over the headlight switch and if I do I will have to make a face from scratch. It will be duplicate style of the reface kit, and to do that I'll have to photoshop and print something.
     
  23. Wanna do my shoebox gauges, im just down in waterman!
     
  24. inkundone
    Joined: Sep 12, 2007
    Posts: 276

    inkundone
    Member

    Nice gauges kirk, you're dreamy.
     
  25. manyolcars
    Joined: Mar 30, 2001
    Posts: 9,172

    manyolcars

    Why go to all this trouble when you can put an electric drill on your speedo cable and let it run???
    Work on something else and check on the drill/mileage once in a while.You can also run the drill in reverse.
    Worked for me. :)


     
  26. lockwoodkustoms
    Joined: Dec 22, 2005
    Posts: 3,910

    lockwoodkustoms
    Member

    I am wondering are all of the gauges restored with decals or is anyone repainting them at all?
     
  27. marks914
    Joined: Feb 20, 2009
    Posts: 330

    marks914
    Alliance Vendor


    It depends on the process used. Sometimes as a low budget route we use printed vinyl, bust mostly screening. On dish-dial gauges we paint and pad print or paint and use water slides and then clear over them. Another do-it-yourself method is paint and use rub-downs and then clear over.
    As for painting the dials and numbers, no.
    Most of the OE dials you see are not actually painted but inked. The painted dials form most aftermarket sources are painted and then hot-stamped for the numbers and hash marks.
    Mark
     

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