Hi everyone: I thought I'd pass on a technique I discovered while restoring the instrument cluster in my 57 Cadillac. I wanted to lubricate the speedometer input shaft in the cluster, but couldn't figure out how to remove the little brass plug that is pressed in the side of the assembly. I tried prying it out with a dental pick, but no-go. I tried using a tap but couldn't get it to grab. In desperation, I decided to just drill it out and then plug the hole with something else. I put an 11/64" drill bit in my battery-operated drill and gave it a whirl. I was about to bear down on it when I realized the plug got caught up in the bit and was now sitting on the end of the drill. How about that? It only put a slight dimple in the bottom of the plug, but no hole through it. The thing came out in perfect shape. I figured I just got lucky, so I pulled out two more junk speedometers and tried the same technique: 3 for 3! Thanks, fourteeseven
I always thought they put those plugs in to keep the speedometer juice from leaking out! Just goes to show what I know. KK
I have somewhere a tiny machine screw of unknown size nomenclature that will grab nicely as it screws into the hole...the very slight starting taper is just enough to let it start. If this disappears...I will buy a cheap set of small taps, which of course are useless here as manufactured, and grind away the tip until only a trace of its original long taper remains. The original perfect screw is from an ancient baby food jar full of little screws accumulated by and unknown ancient person.
The Jalopy Journal
