Gauges restoration

A

AD1948Ford

Senior Member
Hello guys, does anyone know of a company that restores factory 1948 ford coupe era gauges (Speedometer, Clock and group a 4 gauges)?
 
"Clockworks" did a great job on my '47 electric clock; they also converted it to 12 volt. There are other companies. Same with restoration/repair of radios, plus they can add special features as you wish.

Noticeably less expensive than restoration are used gauges and speedometers sold via the Ford Barn Swap Meet, Ford V8 Club Classified's, HAMB classified's or eBay. I bought an NOS speedometer via HAMB - immaculate and zero miles.
 
Oil, water, and temp gauges can be repaired by yourself at home. Ford used the same gauges through the 1985 model year. All you need to is find gauges out of a Torino, T-bird, Cougar, Ltd II, or Ranchero of the '70's with the optional cluster. All you need is a gauge that sweeps in the same direction as your original gauge. Change face plate and needle from you original gauge to the later unit and install. Except for the 1956
Experiment, Ford gauges were all 6 volt. In 1957 Ford went back to the 6 volt King Seely design gauge and added a cluster voltage regulator to supply the gauge with pulsed 6 volts. The gauges work by heat deflection as the current to ground through the sender changes and the bi-metal heats or cools and deflects the needle. I have done loads of them over the years without problems. Ford designed the gauge to have the most current through it at the point least used by the gauge. Examples are gas-full, oil pressure- sero psi, and water temp to overheat. I have a Ford factory gauge tester that I used forever and it duplicated the resistance of the sender and caused the gauge needles go high or low on demand. There are still millions of those later model gauges out there waiting to be converted to the older look. A and they are cheap. They look different because lots of the use plastic cases not tin, but they work.
 
King Seeley made some pretty tough stuff back in the day. The key is to find an outfit that can do good silk screen work to make the face plates look like new. The indicators are of very similar design over the flathead era so the face plate is generally the only major difference. Many times the indicator works are still functional with some minor repair or service.

On speedos, a person usually has to find a bezel to replace the rusty stuff since they usually have to be removed to clean & repair the internals and face plate. Stewart Warner bezels are out there but I'm not sure about the different units that Ford used. Re-chroming is sometimes possible but not always plus poor attempts at removal can sometimes damage them beyond use. I made my own tool to roll crimp the Stewart Warner bezels.
 
Instrument Services in Machesney Park, Illinois. They are the most affordable I have found and turn out some amazing quality of work. I have a 51 ford speedometer there right now. 800-558-2674
 
deucemac said:
Oil, water, and temp gauges can be repaired by yourself at home. Ford used the same gauges through the 1985 model year. All you need to is find gauges out of a Torino, T-bird, Cougar, Ltd II, or Ranchero of the '70's with the optional cluster. All you need is a gauge that sweeps in the same direction as your original gauge. Change face plate and needle from you original gauge to the later unit and install. Except for the 1956
Experiment, Ford gauges were all 6 volt. In 1957 Ford went back to the 6 volt King Seely design gauge and added a cluster voltage regulator to supply the gauge with pulsed 6 volts. The gauges work by heat deflection as the current to ground through the sender changes and the bi-metal heats or cools and deflects the needle. I have done loads of them over the years without problems. Ford designed the gauge to have the most current through it at the point least used by the gauge. Examples are gas-full, oil pressure- sero psi, and water temp to overheat. I have a Ford factory gauge tester that I used forever and it duplicated the resistance of the sender and caused the gauge needles go high or low on demand. There are still millions of those later model gauges out there waiting to be converted to the older look. A and they are cheap. They look different because lots of the use plastic cases not tin, but they work.
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Does this mean that the fuel sending unit from a newer car as noted above would work with my '36 fuel gauge?
 
36Bill said:
Does this mean that the fuel sending unit from a newer car as noted above would work with my '36 fuel gauge?
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I'm not sure when FoMoCo and King Seeley stopped using the current based systems that used bimetallic strips with the little tiny points on them but I don't think they survived the 50s. Most all of the systems of the later cars were resistance based. They switched most over to voltage regulated systems by 1960 that required a separate regulator to keep the operational current levels in the systems to a minimum and the voltage more stable. When indicators changed the senders all changed too so stuff from that time forward is not directly interchangeable. BUT, if a person wants to use more modern systems that are available, the old instrument panels can be altered to do that but you have to find instruments that fit. Classic instruments makes stuff like that for the 40 Ford, shoe box, and later F100 pickups but I don't know if they are planning anything for the 42 through 48 Fords. Bob's Speedometer also does alterations but this stuff can get costly if you farm it out.
 
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