Gauges

Everyone one can see your gauges when you’re parked in the paddock. With the renewed emphasis on period correct appearance a set of Auto Meter gauges will seriously jeopardize your credibility. You may be able to hide those 6-piston calipers behind your steel wheels but you sure can’t have an Auto Pro tachometer with that giant shift light. Everyone can see that.

Cobra

Worse yet everyone knows that no one used a shift light in their 1960 MGA. In addition to looking period correct though you also want your gauges to work properly. Fifty-year-old gauges can work properly and maintain the period correct look. When our cars were actively raced no one cut up the dash to install fancy gauges. We used the gauges that came with the car. Actually most of us were too poor to afford aftermarket gauges. At any rate these gauges worked just fine back then and they should still work today.   

There are two items we need to consider. Gauges need to be both reliable and accurate. Reliability is the most important factor and it refers to the consistency of the measurement. If your gauge says boiling water is 212 degrees will it say the same thing the following day? If you get different readings each time you measure the temperature of the water your gauge is not reliable. The same thing is true of the oil pressure gauge. If the gauge says you have 60 lbs. of oil pressure will you get the same reading every time the oil pressure is actually 60 psi?

Next we have to consider the accuracy of the gauge. If you measure boiling water does your gauge read 212 or does it read 225? Accuracy is nice but it’s not really as important as reliability. Is there actually that much difference between 212 and 225? Not really. Is there that much difference between 65 psi of oil pressure and 70 psi? Again, not really. There’s a huge difference though between 25 psi and 65 psi. If your oil pressure gauge reads 65 psi and you only have 25 psi then you have a problem.

Old automotive gauges are not scientific instruments. Most vintage gauges are really giving you an estimate. It’s not uncommon for tachometers to be off 150 rpm. Now on the other hand that may be all the accuracy we need. 

Reliability is far more important than accuracy. We can live with an inaccurate gauge if it’s reliable. Actually we do it all the time with our tire gauges. Tire gauges are generally inaccurate but they’re also very reliable. That’s why you use the same tire gauge every time you check your tire pressures.  

My Gauges are Broken

The folks at Seattle Speedometer see more customer damage than they see damage from use. Too many of us think we can fix our gauges on our own. This never ends well. That’s why Seattle Speedometer suggests that you call your gauge repair company before you do anything. Don’t even take the gauges out of the dash until you make a phone call.

It’s entirely possible that you only think you have a gauge problem. It could easily be a cable problem. There are a number of things you need to do before you start taking your dash apart. Relax and make a phone call before you take your gauge to the UPS store. Also, never ever bend those little tabs back to look inside your gauge.

Most companies like it to have the gauges still installed in the dash cluster if that’s possible. In some cases, such as the 911 Porsches this isn’t really possible since the gauges are simply installed into the dash. In the case of a straight axle Corvette though you can remove the entire cluster as a unit. This is just one more reason that you need to call before you start taking things apart.

Gauge Faces

The digital age has made replacing the face of your gauge really easy. While you can’t photograph a gauge and then manipulate it in Photoshop the concept is the same. Seattle Speedometer has a digital file of extremely high quality gauge face images.

They take the gauge apart and replace the face. There are several ways to do this. The best, and most expensive, is to create an overlay. Seattle Speedometer uses a graphic artist who can create a perfect image. This image is then printed onto a uv-resistent material. Keep in mind that the printer used in this process costs just over $1.5 million. Don’t try doing this at home on your HP laser printer.

Most firms also use a silk-screening process or something known as Pad printing. Which technique you select will depend on the level of detail you want and the size of your budget. You do have choices though. Have the company explain these choices to you.

Maintenance

Your gauge could very well need routine maintenance. In fact it’s probably due for it now. You don’t have to do this on an annual basis but once a decade could prove useful. If that tachometer has been in your car for twenty-five years it might be time to have a professional look at it. It could very well benefit from cleaning and lubrication.

You’re also going to save a lot of money. It’s a lot easier, and cheaper, to work on an operating gauge as opposed to one that’s broken. Cleaning and lubricating an old gauge is always going to be less expensive than sourcing and replacing fifty-year old parts.