Guys - Jonathan/Ford F834 and I've been talking about this, but I wanted your input as well.

I have several NOS gauges and it occurred to me that I should post closeups of them on my web site to show the original color. However, there are several variables in that plan, including my camera, the lighting conditions used, and your monitor. So, while I could probably get very good pictures, I can't control the end user's monitor, and that makes the effort to display accurate colors futile.

However, I think Jonathan and I've come up with an approach that will work - include dried swaths of various needle paints along with a NOS gauge. That way regardless of what your monitor does at least you can see the differences.

So, I'm on the hunt for what y'all think are the best matches for our needles. We already know about HiPo's paints, as shown below, and think the orange is closer than their red - but still not quite right.

So, what other paints do you recommend be considered?

 

I used the fluorescent red paint (HP-FLRED-01) on my needles and I thought it was a perfect match. It turned out to be a red-orange shade. I couldn't tell the difference between the top of the newly-painted needles and the bottom of the needles where the cluster covered it up and no fading was present.

One thing I did notice: the AOD transmission indicator dial and the stereo cassette radio indicator dial I used were both NOS, and they were both a lighter shade of orange. I do not think these dials are supposed to be the same color as the gauge needles.

 

By HP-FLRED-01 you mean HiPo's red paint. You'll have to take my word for it, but my NOS gauges don't have red needles. Anyway, that's what I'm hoping to show with this approach, so we can have that discussion when I get the web page going. For now I'll register one vote for HP-FLRED-01.

Thanks!

 

That's right - HiPo's (fluorescent) red paint. Mine turned out a red-orange color (not red), the exact same shade as the part of the needle that wasn't faded.

From their product description:

Our fluorescent red paint has a red/orange color just like the color found on vintage Ford, Chevy, Dodge, and other brands of instrument clusters. This special paint has a high fluorescent solids content and will meet or exceed the original fluorescent red coating. This is a true fluorescent paint that is specially designed to “glow” under the lights of your dash. Using a non-fluorescent paint will result in your gauge needles appearing dark or black at night and make your gauges difficult to read. Using a proper fluorescent paint is the only way to properly restore your gauge indicator needles.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fluorescent-...pT2ASn&vxp=mtr

My truck is a 1985 model. Maybe that is the correct shade for 1985/1986, but not for earlier models?

I do know that there were a quite a few small changes to the 1985/1986 models over the earlier 1980 - 1984 models. For example, the earlier TEMP gauge was slightly different, and the tach was made a bit different. The km/hr numbers had different colors throughout the years. I have seen some that were white, light blue, and red/orange.

 

Looking at what you posted Gary I would also say the HP-FLRED-01 as the orange looks to much like faded needles.


If you are taking pictures inside use "daylight" bulbs as that is what you will have when you look at the gauges "outside" in true light.
Paint booths should also have daylight bulbs as you don't want to match the color inside with the wrong color light asit will be off when outside.
Dave ----

 

Rick - I'll post the part #'s of the NOS gauges.

Dave - I'll be using flash on my Nikon 24MP DSLR. That way the white balance will know exactly what the color is. However, that won't fix the user's monitor. I have two monitors side by side and can see color differences on them, so know for sure that everyone's monitor is different.

 

You are right about the monitor deal.
I thought you were going to put the needle & paint next to each other so we can say what color was the closest? That is when the daylight should be used.


Then again, if you are painting all the needles the same color you would never know if it was the "right" color or not.



As for the shift indicator & radio needles not the same color as the gauge needles I can see that.
The other 2 needles would be made be other manf. and if they did not get the "needle paint" from the same place and even batch as the gauges they would be off a little.


To prove this you can take a door/deck lid/hood of the same color code car/truck and install it on a different car/truck with the same color code and it will not match. Been there done that and was shocked!


Pick the color you think is the best and go with it no one will know if it is a shade off.
Dave ----

 

The orange is what you need if looking for the original look. That's what I used about 2 years ago.

 

I'm going to be posting pictures of NOS gauges, which should be the same color as the gauges when the trucks came out. And, I will be placing paint swatches made with various needle paints next to the gauge(s). I could take the pics in daylight, but there's "daylight" and then there's "daylight". In other words, was it direct sunlight? If so, at sunrise/sunset when the air filters out the blue and leaves red, or noon? And, if in the shade is the light from the northern sky, which is said to give the best balance, or somewhere else? And, if you answer all of those questions can I get back to that environment if I need to take more pictures?

Bottom line: The only way to control it is if I take the pics indoors using a good DSLR and the same brand flash. I happen to have a very good Nikon DSLR and two Nikon flashes, which means the white balance control of the camera will know what it is dealing with and adjust accordingly. So, what I post will be pretty accurate. Then, it is up to the viewer's monitor.

As for Rick's thought about there having been different gauges between the years, the catalog only gives me one part number for each, although with the speedo there were some changes on the ones for Canada where the KPH was the primary. However, my copy of the catalog is a 1994 edition, and they could easily have removed the original part numbers from the catalog. But, there's a clue that Rick is right on the temp gauge, as the one is the catalog is E3TZ - B. So, there should have been an E0TZ - A, and it was probably 1980 - 82.

 

What did people use before the repro parts sellers began offering needle paint?

NAIL POLISH!

People would take their gauges to the nail polish counter at dept. stores, find something that was the same or close.

 

I used Testor's red paint, and got the gauges below. Very red.

Anyway, Bill. Can you tell us when the changes were made to the gauges? As discussed above, it looks like in '83 a new temp gauge came out. What about the tach? (I didn't even find the tach in the catalog.)

 

Parts catalog lists E3TZ-10883-B (C-NORMAL-HOT) for 1980/86, so it obviously replaced the type used 1980/82, but were 1980/81/82 all the same?

1980/86 gas tach is EOTZ-17360-A (Text, Section 170, Page 8). v

 

You da man! Sure glad you have all of that documentation.

And, on tach, as it is an E0TZ-A it wouldn't have changed unless the supplier made a change. Right?

 

Read post #12 again.

 

For the others, what I'm saying is the since E0TZ-A began life in 1980 and was used through 1986 then there wasn't another part number for the tach in our truck.

But, Bill, isn't it possible that the vendor made a change and supplied a slightly different tach with the same part number? We know they did since, as shown here, there were what we call "open" and "closed" versions of the tachs but only one part number. So, if they changed the circuitry they may have changed other things, like the face itself.