Z1-R Instrument Refurbish

Good Luck, your Tach looks great, Hope everything keeps going smoothly for Ya !!
like you said it'll be a learn as you go process, not something people do all the time, but looks like you're doing pretty good so far
keep the pics. coming

Interested to know how much the job cost and what the work content was - ie full stripdown and repaint and overhaul (looks like it given the speedo has been reset) or a cosmetic job - like I'm doing.

Some more progress on the rebuild of the tacho - got the holes cut out for the lamp bezels (using sharp scalpel) and attached the 'light tubes" with bezels to the back of the dial. Used a small amount of "Sikaflex" which is an industrial grade flexible joining material - needed something which wouldn't run all over the place but which has flexibility and good strength - don't want to have to pull this fella apart again to resecure loose bits! Needed to be very careful to not put sikaflex or finger marks on the dial/glass/anywhere it shouldn't be! After attaching the bezels with "light tubes" to the dial, the dial was fitted back onto the tacho with the two screws and located the "light tubes" over the "Hazard" and "Brake warning" tubes. Need to be careful to NOT overtighten the finely threaded screws - for 2 reasons: don't strip the brass threads/screw heads but also the spring washer will "bite" into the decal and tear it if too much torque is applied to the screw! The next trick is to refit the needle to the spindle - no real trick, just use thumb to apply steady pressure directly on the centre boss of the needle (I put a folded soft cloth between my thumb and the boss to prevent slipping/damaging the needle/decal) A fairly solid force is required to fully seat the needle on the spindle - just need to BE SURE align the needle with the 0rpm mark first time or you'll have to take it off with the spoons (see pic of speedo with spoons ready to lever needle off) and start again. Next was putting the assembly together (see pic).The outer shell, glass, seal and inner shell went together ok - again need to keep it clean - no fingermarks/anything on the glass! However, when I went to put this assembly together with the seal and ring I had problems. I found that the seal (after having been compressed for 36 years) relaxed itself (maybe assisted by my cleaning it with a little "Armorall?") and it was now too big to fit over the lips of the cover and the lower assembly and under the ring. - bugger! After several attempts I decided that there was no way that the seal was going back in and I applied a little glass /metal waterproof sealant (fishtank type stuff) in its place. The re-crimping of the ring was just done using a pair of flat jaw pliers with some tape over the jaws to prevent marking/scratching anything. The crimping action was a "squeeze and push in towards the tacho" movement. This was because there was now no rubber seal and a little extra crimping was required to take up the slack - so to speak. Anyway the job is done and looks pretty good. Enjoy the pics and story and I'll get onto the speedo this week.

Pic of the tacho before work started

Pic of the tacho assembly ready to go together

Pic of tacho assembled and reay for its partner (speedo)

Hope allhad an enjoyable Christmas/New Year and those lucky enough to have a set of wheels to ride got a chance to go riding. I have now completed the speedo refurbish (cosmetics only) and have a couple of pics for you. Not too much drama to report, process was pretty much the same as the tacho rebuild. Once again and per the tacho rebuild, the seals would not go back on as they expanded once released so some marine grade sealant was used in their place. A couple of points to remember - make sure that you mark the 0 and max mph/kmh points on the baseplate before you remove the original silkscreened data from it so you can align the new decal, also make sure there's no dirt or fingermarks on the dial and glass before assembly. I have also included a few pics of the progressive removal of the markings from the dial so that you'll know what to expect and what the final product should look like before refitting the new decal (excuse the poor quality/blurred pics - operator got tired!). You'll notice in the final pics that there is some raising of the decal around the 2 dial securing screws.- this is much less noticeable than the pic shows and is caused by the spring washers biting into the vinyl and slightly twisting it - possibly could eliminate this by using less torque on the screws (use threadlock instad of additional pressure?) Anyway, I'm happy with the final result - I'll put in a pic of the clocks prior to rebuild to compare.



Hope this story and pics helps anyone else who is looking to tidy up the clocks on their Z.

Couple more pics coming of the progressive dial rubdown - epologies for crappy quality!

one more...lettering going.

...going

Dial rub down complete and new decal ready to go on. When fitting new decal make sure dial surface is clean. Spray dial surface

lightly with a very weak solution of water and i1 drop of dishwashing detergent to enable the decal to slip a little for alignment!

Cupla pics coming of the finished product and a before pic.