Refurbishing my 52 F-1 Dash meters
 

I dissembled both meters and cleaned the faces with cue-tips and alcohol.
I had the chrome rings re-chromed.
Sand blasted several of the pieces except the individual meters and painted them back as original with off white, flat black & silver.
http://billstractor.com/gage5.gif
http://billstractor.com/gage6.gif

I placed cardboard behind the needles on each gage for painting.
I went to Dollar General and bought a color of red nail polish that would look good. My truck is red so I matched the body color. Try not to get a translucent color. I got my wife to paint the needles since she is steadier than I am.
http://billstractor.com/gage2.gif
http://billstractor.com/gage1.gif

On the front piece for the meter assembly I painted the flat black in the center then found a small juice glass that would cover the black, weighted it down with a socket and painted the outside with the silver. Looks better than original!
http://billstractor.com/gage9.gif

The cork spacers were history so I started looking for “0” rings to take their place. First one was too thin, second try was too thick (both were stock size thickness “0” rings) so I went to a business that can build “0” rings from a spool of “0” ring material. They gave me about 10 inches of material for each meter. The size I settled on is about .190 thousands of an inch.
I used file folder plastic colored tags to get amber and red for the speedo turn & high beam indicators.
http://billstractor.com/gage10.jpg
Here is what they look like when finished.
http://billstractor.com/gage11.jpg

Upon assembly I found out it is next to impossible to crimp the chrome covers back like they were originally to hold the guts in. In the process I broke one glass cover plate.
I am now holding the units together with slight pressure and using clear silicone to seal and hold the assemblies together instead of crimping them.

The two assemblies look like a diamond in a goat’s ass after they were finished and will really look nice when installed in my red dash.

Anyone have a broken speedometer or gage housing around that has a good glass I could use to replace the one I broke??? If so e-mail me at tractorman@billstractor.com.

Tractormanbill

Looks good, too bad the glass broke. How did you do the faces? Did you have a stencil?

I have one for you -PM sent.

Nail polish, wish I'd thought of that when I did mine.

Nicely done, Bill! Are your turn signal arrows actually hooked up?

Nice job on those. They look great. :-jammin

Pinecone,

Reps sent for stepping up and offering him a new glass when he never even asked for one.

Bill,
Gauges look great.

I didn't have to repaint any of the numbers on the gages just cleaned them up.

The biggest problem on the re-build was finding an "0" ring the correct thickness to replace the cork gasket plus the crimping on reassembly.

I started to reset the speedometer to 00000000 but chickened out since I only had one in case there was a problem. I used to do this all the time 40 years ago back when it was not against the law. I generally don't like to work on nickey/nackey small stuff like this anymore.

I'm re-wiring the whole truck with EZ wiring kit with a new steering column so I don't know why I cannot get the turn signals to work since I have left & right individual bulbs in the speedometer housing.

Thanks for all the offers for glass. I have contacted Ilya since I am obtaining other parts from him but have not heard if he has one or not.

PS: Tom B. e-mailed me that he would send me a glass. Much thanks!!

Tractormanbill

Yep, I got a free one on the way to Texas for Bill. In return I asked for the names of good BBQ joints in the San Antonio area. I get down that way every few years or so.
If any of you like meat & sauce like I do....it's a fair trade for that knowledge! :D


Tom

Great job. Are using the original sockets for the turn signals? If so, they ground out at the mount. From the pic, it may be that you are preventing that with the o rings. My 2cts

Looks great, you did a rally nice job on those.

Looks really nice. great job on the refurbish.

Here is the finished product after Tom in Main sent me a glass.
That is a reflection on the speedometer gage, not a broken glass.
The biggest problem of all was coming up with an "0" ring to replace the cork gaskets that were gone! The thickness of the "0" rings was 3/16 or .188 dia. BUNS-N ORING CORD and I cut it to length
Be sure if you rebuild to use silicon to hold the unit together rather than trying to crimp the case!
http://billstractor.com/meter3.gif
Tractormanbill

Those look brand new Bill. Good work!:-jammin