Instrument Refurbishment

[Series 1]

Hi, I changed my Ammeter for a Voltmeter following an alternator upgrade on a Series 1 last year. Not only does the Voltmeter look out of place because it's new and shiny but it's much brighter at night. I can actually see it!

One thing led to another so now I've got my Water Temp gauge in bits. Lack of illumination was due to a discoloured cracked plastic (originally blue?) filter. I've broken that off and will paint the bulb with Vitrea as mentioned in a previous post.

I also plan to repaint the bezel with black enamel but the actual dial is probably beyond my colouring in abilities. I called Speedy Cables and Speedograph Richfield but, whilst both helpful, they prefer the whole instrument sent in for refurbishment. Mine all work. A re-print of a dial is in the order of ?40 and I have 3 to do - might as well go the whole hog and buy new instruments! Has anyone got any ideas/experience of an alternative option? (Other than pot luck on eBay!).

Thanks.

Angus

[christopher storey]

I have never tried it myself, but a number of people have suggested taking a high res digital pic of the dial , rectifying any defects with paint shop pro or photoshop or the like , adjusting the print size to the actual dimensions and then printing off a new face and gluing it to the old face

[Heuer]

Easy to repaint the bezel with satin black rattle can but as far as the dials go you might want to try some sympathetic preservation using a soft brush and then a coat of Pledge polish with the soft brush to finish off. Speedograph Richfield want the entire instrument as it is very easy to blemish the dial during reassembly, especially the dial screws. Alternative is to buy new or better instruments and with Stoneleigh coming up they should not be difficult to find. All the instruments are shared with other Jaguar models except the 160mph speedometer which is unique to the E-Type. Expect to pay about ?40 each for new/boxed minor instruments at Stoneleigh.

[christopher storey]

David : as a matter of interest, who do you recommend for speedo/tacho refurbishment?

[Series 1]

Painted the bezels today using matt black enamel, they look as good as new! Paint was flaking off the dials so with nothing to lose I lightly sanded the damaged areas with a tiny piece of 320 grit sandpaper & touched up the bare metal with the enamel using a tiny brush. With the glass back on the dials look a whole lot better than they did. Not bad at all in fact, and they are now backlit (!) That'll do until Stoneleigh then.