Instrument gauge dis-assembly

Does anyone know the best way to remove the chrome ring from the gauges to be dis-assembled? And still be able to reassemble them? I am tempted to cut the ring at the bottom, but can see a down side to this.

Thanks

 

PM sent

 

For those who have ever wondered what the Tachometer looks like on the inside.

Thanks Robert for the tip on getting this open.
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I noticed that you are doing the LED upgrade. I have done this myself and it's great to be able to see the instruments at night and indicators during the day.

 

What's the tip? I'd like to know myself.

 

John, could you please pass along the PM that I sent you so I don't have to retype that over again. Thanks!

 

Can you please include me on your PM mailing list?

 

Okay,this isn't really difficult. Once you get one the mystery goes away. All the chrome rings have a thin section on the circumfrence. This is the area that you will use to begin prying off the ring from the plastic lips. Don't attempt to unscrew the ring, it won't do that. Simple use thumb pressure to begin the process and proceed around the gauge slowly. On the large gauges the plastic can be deformed very carefully to help get things started. Just a little bit as you don't want to crack anything. Assembling the units is just the reverse so that the thin section is last to pop onto the plastic lips. Care must be taken not to put pressure on the crystals, they will break easily. That is all there is too it. Doing it is easier then explaining it.

 

Thanks

 

Sure.

Crowndog;
Your rings should have a small thin section along the circumfrence. It is from there that you can begin to slip the ring off the plastic lip away from the gauge. By slowly working the ring off going around it comes off pretty easy. There is a small learning curve but once you get the first one the rest will be easy. Do not try to rotate or spin the ring off. That won't work. It must be pryed off a little at a time.

Jonny Law;
So is it like using two tiny flat heads to "un-zip" around the perimeter of the ring?

Crowndog;
I always hesitate to take metal to the gauges because they are plastic and I fear cracking them or putting the blade through my finger. Perhaps to start the process a blade might be helpful but I have always used just my fingers. On the speedo and tach the body is large enough to squeeze it out of round and start the process. The key is to find the thinned area along the ring and start there. Hope that's helpful.

I'll put some drawings together. It's kind of a finesse thing. The first couple of times I could not figure it out. Then this morning I tried it again and everything just fell in to place. Not sure but coffee maybe required.

Yes, I am. The bonus is I am adding a shift light that should turn the tach red, even if the parking lights are on.

 

That's cool hence the bicolored LEDs.

 

Actually those are just the whites. Couldn't find a Red/White 12v LED. But not a problem since the red LED behind the blue plastic would end up purple. So I am opting for the area at 9 and 3 o'clock with 2 red 10 LED 12v bulbs.

 

How do you plan to trigger the shift light?

 

I found a shift light system that works off the frequencys produced by the motor, but am having problems sourcing a supplier. The original idea was to use the shift light from the system to trigger a relay. I'm now accually wondering if there is a system that I can program to run the shift light at lower RPMs until the motor warms up. The adjusting the shift point.

 

Here is a system that might do what you want:
http://www.dynaonline.com/skins/products/accessories/Dyna_Shift_Systems/

As a side note and I'm just sayin' this is a cool and ambitious project but I hope that you are aware that messing with the tach signals and with the instruments in these cars can be pretty fatal, not only to the tach but your ignition modules as well. Also, they are all NLA except as used and many times they aren't in such great shape either. I am just advising caution. It's one thing to mess with the light bulbs, quite another with the instrument and its signals. I am not an electrical engineer but there are some here that might review what ever plans you have for this system and you might find their feedback useful. No disrespect intended here as to your capabilities just looking out for a fellow fchatter.

 

No problem. This is actually a separate system and will not touch the native wiring, other then to turn the white LED off when the red comes on, and get power. The system I found simply plugs in to the cigarette lighter to get its signal. I am going to hard wire it in to my secondary fuse block though.

 

Best of luck and don't forget the pictures and maybe a vid!

 

So the original system was proving too difficult to locate and when I found one they seem to always list it as discontinued. So, found a different one that I will show you later, but in the mean time I made a video of how to crack open the tach and reassemble it.

http://youtu.be/V9xUNZW6tCw

 

very nice...thank you

 

Very interesting Jonny!!!

Many thanks for the tip!!

Cheers

 

Thank you for the valuable information about taking the guages apart Jonny Law and Crowndog!

The ring around my speedo (no Olympic reference intended ) is a little beaten up on one side. Anyone have any idea if the rings are available? Any idea what the ring material is? Chrome? Polished stainless? Just wondering if a little tin knocking and polishing is possible if the ring is made of unobtainium.

Side note: My 308 is a Euro. I have seen several Euro imports in the US with the same outer ring damage on the speedo. My theory is that the damaged ring is the result of a hasty speedo face swap to an MPH face... Just making note of that here, I don't want to hijack your thread with this topic.

Great thread!

-Glen

 

No problem what so ever. I was about redirect also.

I can tell you the ring is metal (probable a tin) that has been chromed. I was not able to use the same process on the clock as I did on the tach to remove the ring. The smaller the size the more difficult. It was becoming obvious that I would destroy the housing or the ring before it was all said and done. I ended up cutting a slit in the bottom of the ring to get the glass out, but the damage had already been done at this point.

Does anyone know where you could get a similar chrome ring that would overlap itself for easier opening and closing?
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Sorry to hear that. Check with Palo Alto they must have spares.