Guage restoration

[Anonymous]

Any suggestions regarding restoration of guages? I have an '81 GS750EX. The black plastic face is sun damaged and I think it will require replacement. The glass is good. The guage faces are faded, no trace of red is left. The needles are almost white.

Does anyone have a suggestion to restore the red on the guage faces and on the needles?

[Anonymous]

testers model paint, worth a try.

[Hap Call]

Re: Guage restoration

Any suggestions regarding restoration of guages? I have an '81 GS750EX. The black plastic face is sun damaged and I think it will require replacement. The glass is good. The guage faces are faded, no trace of red is left. The needles are almost white.

Does anyone have a suggestion to restore the red on the guage faces and on the needles?

Try Armor-All or STP's Son of a Gun. It will improve the dry look and help prevent any futher sun damage.

Hap

[Anonymous]

kiwi liquid shoe polish with the sponge aplicator, does a wonderful job for black plastic...way better than armorall... and those other types...kiwi keeps it blacker than 3 feet inside an elephants anus....and for a long time...other products turn grey eventually...

[Anonymous]

kiwi keeps it blacker than 3 feet inside an elephants anus

Good suggestion - I do hope this is not from personal experience!

[Anonymous]

kiwi keeps it blacker than 3 feet inside an elephants anus

Good suggestion - I do hope this is not from personal experience!

8O 8O 8O

[Anonymous]

Elephant, eh? Sounds like another of those fetish things... 8O

I used fluorescent red on the needle tips and the red line using a oo brush. It actually turned out not bad.

[Anonymous]

If your willing to paint.....The new Krylon FUSION looks like black glass.. but its still painted.

[Anonymous]

i just used the new wet look tire shine, we'll see how long it looks good

[Dark Jedi]

Elephant, eh? Sounds like another of those fetish things... 8O

I used fluorescent red on the needle tips and the red line using a oo brush. It actually turned out not bad.

I tried an airbrush on fine with Testor's flourescent orange, using a little stiff paper masking to fit behind the needle.. looks pretty good, we'll see how it stands up to the UV.

[Anonymous]

I hear several of you talking about restoring the dial and face. What is the best way to open the units. The 81-83 are sealed units and the only way I've found it to dremel cut off the back lip of the steel ring where it crimps around the plastic housing. A better, faster, less invasive dissassembly technique will be VERY helpful.

Stimpy

[Hotblack]

A couple of people have tried this including me: saw the face of the guage off just behind that metal ring, and super glue it back on when you're done. It's a lot faster than dremeling the ring and it's invisible when you're done. It has one or two drawbacks, mainly you don't want to do it more than once or twice, or you'll have a stubby guage eventually. Also it's hard to avoid getting some plastic sawdust in the guage, but that's not a huge deal. Do a search on it if you are interested.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Hotblack that sounds good, I can do on bandsaw taking only like 1/64 off and RIGHT, will be covered after re-assembly.

NEXT problem is finding same size housing, Ive gone through 4 sets so far same year diff Model, or same Model diff year,
all look the same but all ike 1mm different so the outer covers dont fit and stuff like that.

Thanks
Bob

[Hotblack]

One thing I wasn't aware of when I di my guages, but I read about here, is the effect baking soda has on super glue. It's supposed to make a good filler, and also accelerates the glue. It's a little unweildy in some cases, but I tried it on a stubborn crack in one of my computer cases (don't ask how it got cracked) and HOLY SMOKES does it work! Might be something to think about if you want a really good bond when you glue the faces back on...