Refurbishing meters

No, but I have been to their website.



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Give this paint a try. Yes Captain Krylon but it works! I have used it for years on the needle tips and the faded redline on original faces.

Oh forgot to mention. The spoon trick to remove the needle is a Horrible idea. Not sure who came up with this dandy, blind leading the super blind thru google search I suppose. Why is it a bad idea? If You understand where the forces are applied using this spoon technique it will make sense, see photo. The needle shaft is retained by two tiny clips, like in photo, that rest in a land on the stainless steel needle shaft. These clips are brass. So as a byproduct of removing the needle this way, if it comes off at all, is distorting the clips. Now you might have a nice looking gauge after completion but chances are it will be notchy in movement. My thoughts

Thanks. I don't expect to remove the needles as the meters I'm dealing with have good faces, but I'm sure others can use that warning about the spoon trick. Since my meters are different, I kind of wonder if the needles are attached the same. ???

Needle & Red Line: What do you use to paint the needle tip & red line?

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Hello Martin! Krylon Glowing Orange Fluorescent #3101, see photos from previous post. I think they changed the can style since I purchased last? Here is a jig You might be able to use with minimal tinkering, just remove the threads, see photo. This is what I use when doing the triple instruments. And just to keep it super simple None of the jigs shown ever saw a Bridgeport or machine shop, just offset align them under a spinning twist bit in a drill press! Also a simple DIY crimping set-up, see photo also. Just an old Kawasaki Z sprocket I cut out a section of to get the smooth face Vicegrips in there to reset the crimp ring. Keeping it All OEM.

Do the stock needles you deal with fluoresce? I don't think mine do that. I shined a flashlight on them, then shut off the lights. nuthin'.

In a Honda article that davido provided in my how-to-remove-reset-knob topic, they used model kit luminous red paint. not sure if that paint is fluorescent.


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I don't think any needle ever "glowed in the dark"? No radium or whatever made the old analog clocks/watches glow in the dark of yesteryear. Some of the Honda needles are semi translucent but don't emit their own light. The needles and/or tips have a reflective property only so I suppose that would be considered fluorescent. Luminous red paint would probably be better suited for Honda instruments. The redline on face was more red than the Kawasaki OEM color.

Here is an idea for the KZ1300 owners. New needle replacement for the oem tired needles, you probably know this symptom as a 1300 owner. I just shuffled my way to the local library equipped with a 3-D printer. They took the measurements and downloaded it to their equip. and 15Min. later I had two sets, for free. Plastic was grey and a bit rough out of the machine but with a bit of time with some sandpaper/utility blade I got the correct taper and length. Painted with the previous paint mentioned and pinned and superglued to needle holder.

Thanks. That's kinda neat. another one for the 3D file. I haven't decided on a needle paint yet & haven't really looked much either.

Here's a pic comparing the speedometer I'm working on to a NOS meter. I guess the needle is faded on the used speedo.

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I'm only posting so it will stay on my radar. That's some amazingly detailed work!
Thanks for the posts.

That 1300 needle he did for sure. As for the speedo I'm working on, there's really nothing unusual or special about it. I just repainted the housing & liner and cleaned the face & glass. The biggest problem is removing & reinstalling the crimp ring. I did a poor job on the removal, plus the crimp ring already had a dent. I haven't tried reinstalling the ring yet. doh.

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Yeah the crimp ring is a total failure for me. When I fixed a tach around 25 years ago I reused the original ring and put a hose clamp to hold it all together. it worked but it wasF UGLEE.