Old Smiths gauges

[daverclasper]

Hi. Smiths Volt meter and temp gauges. If these are looking past it by the state of the bodies, being quite, to pretty rusty, may they possibly be salvaged, by time rather than parts/specialist knowledge/ equipment? 

[ed.h]

You seem to be asking if gauges can be refurbed DIY.  Yes, many have done it:

http://bullfire.net/TR6/TR6-43/TR6-43.html

http://bullfire.net/GT6/GT6-29/GT6-29.html

Ed

[mishmosh]

There’s plenty of people out there that can refurb them. 

[dougbgt6]

Easy to duff up the bits that aren't seen, but do they work and what's the facia like?

I would advise against cleaning up the facia I've mended one to destruction, the numbers came off on my fingers.  However I have removed Bezels and glass and these clean up very well.

But DON'T TOUCH THE FACIA!!!

Doug

[68vitesse]

When I refurbished the guages in my Vitesse used a jubilee clip with slots filed in it to support the bezel while easing the folded over clips. Bought some closed cell neoprene cord of eBay to make the O seals between the glass, guage and bezel using super glue.

The pieces of wood etc. are a clamp to hold the guages while I worked on the bezel, they can be a bugger to remove.

Regards

Paul.

 

[Colin Lindsay]

5 hours ago, dougbgt6 said:

Easy to duff up the bits that aren't seen, but do they work and what's the facia like?

I would advise against cleaning up the facia I've mended one to destruction, the numbers came off on my fingers.  However I have removed Bezels and glass and these clean up very well.

But DON'T TOUCH THE FACIA!!!

Doug

+1 and amen to that, I tried to clean an old 948 Herald white faced speedo once, I ended up more white faced than it did. The figures, in a kind of grey paint, just crumbled and fell off the face.

[daverclasper]

Thanks for the replies, very useful.

Have been looking at any very cheap and rough looking gauges for sale on Ebay, as a sort of challenge and I enjoy restoring stuff, if it can/may be done cheaply (also may want to fit a volt meter, at some point).

Aside from the risk of it not working, which I would take a punt on, I didn't know of the face being so vulnerable.   

So food for thought.

Cheers, Dave 

 

[Peter Truman]

I would agree with Colin re the face but I have cleaned both the Vitesse and Spits gauge black faces successfully when generally cleaning the gauges, on the black faces I've very lightly used a very slightly oily (Wd40) tissue let it dry off a little before lightly wiping over , but recently I brought locally here in Aus an original Herald fuel gauge (full 12v)with white face, the gauge was generally good with minor external rust but the face looked terrible, so with an attitude of nothing to lose I wet a tissue with the end of my tongue and wiped the face over a white oxidized like deposit (sunlight damage presumably) came off but the paint under was ok and no damage to the grey writing, so I got a bit more ambitious and sprayed Nifty onto a tissue just so it was damp (also used a cotton wool bud in tight places) and wiped it over, more powdery deposit came off the faces totally cleaning the face & surprising there was no noticeable damage to the face or the grey printing, I didn't expect that so after moderate cleaning and straightening the needle it is a working original 12v Gauge cost $10. and looks good, I use a thinnish O ring under the chrome ring after scraping all the old deposits off.

I was very surprised I didn't damage the face when cleaning, the reason for the exercise was the daughter wants magnolia gauges on her Mk2 Spiit which has a black real Carbon Fibre centre dash face, I have a request into the Danish fellow for a set of faces. Yep I know I need a replacement glass minor damage I have spares so will do so.

So if you want to clean the faces TRY on an old broken gauge first to see if it's OK, I was unexpectedly and pleasantly surprised, photos of restored gauge attached, there is no shadow effect on the actual gauge face it's my photo limitation!.