The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors 1950 3600 gauge rebuilding

Team,
I plan on rebuilding my gauges. They all work (althrough the speed-o-meter sometimes does not move until 10-20 MPH..

I was considering sending them to a shop, but the estimate I received is between $500 and $700. This sounds WAY high.

Anyone have any experience with a 'reasonable' priced shop.. OR, how much the decals, bezels and glass is? I was also looking for a 'how to' video...

Thanks.

http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/interior/gauge%20cluster/index.html

The resurfacing part is not to difficult


Here is a pretty good match for the brown
...pic...

Dry transfers from archer
...pic...

New decals
...pic...

Thanks much. This helps and gives me confidence. Looks like Jim Cater has everything except the cluster gaskets and the dry transfers for the temp/gas/etc etc..

Did you go in to your speedometer? I see the decals for the odometer also as part of the kit. Did you use them too?

I purchased the decals , chrome ring , glass and gaskets from classic parts. Dry transfers from woody above.

Resurfaced the speedo, lucky mine was working.
Used the number decals for the odometer also.
Just make sure you index them correctly.

...this...
To
...this...

If you paint the inside of the housing make sure you clean paint for a good ground otherwise your fuel gauge and instrument lights won't work.
...pic...

Only paint I could not find is the salmon/pink for the center buttons
...pic...

I was sitting at the kitchen table trying to remove the needle with pliers, etc., with no luck until I got an idea. I grabbed a fork out of the silverware drawer and used the middle two tines to pry up on the needle. It worked great!

Thanks so much folks. Great advice. I like the fork idea!

I had no idea the cost to just clean and rebuild would be $500-$700 for the cluster. That still sounds very high. I was estimating less then $100 for parts so @ $80 per hour (guess) that is between 6 and 7 hours of labor? Does not sound right.

Thanks.

I think I had $60 bucks in my gauge resto, and that was for 2 clusters. It didn't take very long. However, I will say pay very close attention, take detailed photos, and drawings, work on a cookie sheet so the parts don't roll off the bench, and be able to sit down and do it start to finish in one sitting. The Odometer was the hardest part to me.

Here is some more info ...

> Tech Tip: Art Deco Speedo by Jeff Erickson, "rustednuts"
(Read "Starting back at the base of the speedometer assembly" and click on the links to pics for info on lube.)

> Tech Tip: TaskForce Odometer by Bill LePage, "Red58"

> Recent Stovebolt thread