Gas Gauge Paint

farmerdick

farmerdick

Senior Member
I am restoring the gas gauge in my 30` Model A. What is the best gas resistant finish to use on numbers and letters of the gas level indicator? I`ve seen someone mention lacquer. I would think the gas would dissolve it quite quickly. What was used originally?


Thanks
Richard
 
It has been said that the hot fuel proof paints that are used on Model airplanes will hold up. I used a clear "dope" on cork sending unit floats successfully before the neoprene ones were available. Problem is the good USA coatings seemed to have been discontinued at least at a local hobby store that I have frequented for the past 60 years. I bought my last one last year and all they had was clear. I just recently did my guage on the '31 and I used blacl regular enamel and coated it with three coats of the clear fuel proof dope. It seems to hold up just testing with lacquer so I will see. Some of the old fuel proof airplane paints are on Ebay from time to time so black may come up. I think the originals are all discontinued. When searching Ebay look for Aero Gloss Dope or paint.
 
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Spray can black lacquer has worked for years on my model A's .
. I figure that POR 15 is more resistant to fuel and most anything else .
 
Try Brodak Mfg. in Pa. They sell fuel resistant dope for model airplanes / engines. Seems to hold up to ethanol mix.
 
Satin works. SEM Trim. Also for S-2. Bead blast and use a piece of fine line tape to recreate the line. G
 
Purdy Swoft said:
Spray can black lacquer has worked for years on my model A's .
. I figure that POR 15 is more resistant to fuel and most anything else .
Click to expand...

I tried some 30 year old sprayed lacquer on engine pans that the newer ethanol gas ate up quickly.
 
duke36 said:
Try Brodak Mfg. in Pa. They sell fuel resistant dope for model airplanes / engines. Seems to hold up to ethanol mix.
Click to expand...

I ordered some of this paint and will let you know how it works. I started to paint the O with red. I placed my order on the phone and when asked what color of red I had no idea so I went all black as original.


Maybe I've missed it but,,,I wanted to ask a moderator if stickies could be made of threads like these of questions that are asked repeatedly? I know searches result in answers usually but sometimes it's pretty hard to find as the thread topic/title may not contain the key words. Thanks for the replies in this thread.
 
Two years ago I installed a new gas gauge unit. At the age of 75 my eye sight is not what it used to be so I painted a short horizontal red stripe at the empty mark so I could easily see the empty line, and adjusted the float to show empty when I had approximately 1 1/2 gallons of gas remaining. I went to an auto paint specialty store and told the attendant what I wanted to do; he mixed up a 1 ounce jar of red ($10) and said to store the painted gauge at above 70 F for 30 days and it would be "gas proof". I stored it in my furnace room for 30 days, then installed it. To date...perfect!; and a very easy read. A couple of weeks later a Model A friend of mine borrowed the paint to paint his gauge but only waited a few days before installing. Very quickly the paint disappeared from his gauge. I would not trust what the paint can in a box store says, nor one of their salespeople (competency is an issue). Go to an auto paint store or a well established body shop. I hope this helps, good luck!
 
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