Topic: Speedometer / Tachometer - Polish / Repaint

[Pain]

ok... i did the paint can opener trick on my tachometer (i literally spent hours wiggling it very slightly so it would be perfect)... worked pretty good, but i'm a little worried about putting it back together. i sanded and polished the aluminum casing, the old faded red line paint rubbed off the face plate with paint thinner so now it looks very clean.. i would like to repaint it. i need to figure out a stencil technique (including font / font size) to match the original and also color. i bought some testor's 1103 red model paint. were the original gauges really red and faded that bad to light orange? if so, that's crazy. i also scratched the lens, which i assume is glass (someone please confirm), with a scotch brite pad, so if anyone can confirm i will order some glass polish.

[wrenchmuch]

Someone posted a auction for a new 72 750 a while back . There was no shot of the tach face but here's the one from the speedo . Colour should be the same .

[Pain]

that's pretty. mine is more of a green than blue (as yours appears). maybe there's a difference between 72 and 76. i think the hardest part will be stenciling the number 10 and dashes.

[Vintage Esquire]

I went through the same level of teardown, clean, polish, etc on my clocks.  I used a q-tip and water on the numbers to get some yellowing off.  Mine didn't turn out as well as yours! If I had them apart again (after hours and hours of work), I would have purchased some of the new stick on decals to reface the dials.  I think I've seen some that look original online.

[Grizzly]

I believe it is possible to get stick on decals, but Iv'e been told they come in pairs ie speedo and tacho. A google search should highlight suppliers, but I should have thought some one here will know where to get them from.
 My lenses are glass.
By the way it looks like you have done a cracking job on the tach body.

[Accolay]

Your parts look great.

I'm not sure why I noticed this, but that's the 5th edition of the APA manual on the second shelf, isn't it?

[MCRider]

that's pretty. mine is more of a green than blue (as yours appears). maybe there's a difference between 72 and 76. i think the hardest part will be stenciling the number 10 and dashes.

That one is a CB750. YOurs is a 500/550? As there ain't no CB750s with a 9500rpm redline.

Lecram has some of the best replacement faces, at least for 750s. On this forum and eBay.

[vgraph]

Hi,He is the link for new gauge faces and vintage decals for most older bikes.http://www.reproductiondecals.com/default_frameset.html?hon_sm.html~main

[Pain]

vgraph, thanks for the link. they don't have a cb550 gauge though, but i'm sure it will help someone.

[Pain]

sorry guys, been busy..

Accolay: yes, that is an APA manual.. how the hell did you see that? haha

also, i hate to say it, as it may seem embarrassing.. but the reason i got that face so clean was i tried to hand paint the red on.. (don't ever try this) it turned out to look like #$%* and was a lot harder than i imagined.. so i just assumed i ruined the face as it sat around for a few weeks with red paint on it. anyway, i also have a white background gauge with black letters that someone on here made for me, but i like the original look better.. so i toyed with the idea, and then i found sea foam in my apartment the other night and said, hmm.. that should eat paint. haha. and yeah it did. perfect job. i dabbed a paper towel with sea foam, scrubbed... repeat til it was clean, then soapy water, scrubbed, repeat maybe, then rinsed in water, and dried with paper towel. i just need to fill in the red line now. so i'll look for those stencils.

and yeah, i spent forever hand sanding that over winter.. so thanks.

[lone*X]

Pain, have you looked at this thread?  Addresses your issue exactly.

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=91396.0

[Pain]

#winning!

thanks lone*x