Suzuki Instrument Refurb

 One detail that lets my pretty immaculate Suzuki T500 down was the speedo and tacho.

The Speedo had a cracked glass and the tacho had a very faded red line area and also the red indication jewel for the main beam warning light was faded so much it shined white when the main beam was on. The fluorescent end to the needles on both instruments had also faded.

The gauges on the bike when purchased, cracked speedo lens, faded red line area on the tacho and faded main beam warning indication jewel.

Closer view of the cracked speedo lens.

Both instruments functioned fine though so what was needed was a cosmetic refurbishment. The good news is that there are a couple of sellers that sell the main parts I needed to refurbish. One seller,  Classic Gauges (Will Barber, ebay name Terryturbo) sells a thick self adhesive overlay to refresh the dial faces and indication jewel lenses for most classic bikes. Another japmotorbikeparts (David Foxall  ebay name1970sjapmotorbikeparts) sells a set of new cases for the T500 speedo and tacho, the lens on these bikes is an integral part of the case so this was the way to fix my cracked lens on my speedo. Also the tacho had a few marks on the case and lens which I could have lived with but could still be improved with a new case. So the parts were duly purchased. Seconds of the cases do sometimes come up from the seller for£62 but he only had first quality ones when I ordered so I shelled out £103 for these. The gauge face overlays were £37.

I had an interesting messaging conversation with Will from Classic Gauges as he noticed my ebay name was related to the Triumph GT6 and he asked if I had one as he also owned a MK3 GT6, small world. Also the indicator jewel lenses were not listed so I asked if he could supply them, he actually sent a set through to me free of charge due to the GT6 connection which was great!

I started off deconstructing the tacho, the internals are fixed to the body with a sealant/glue which has to be carefully scrapped off to release the innards. Once apart the needle has to be removed very carefully using two teaspoons to lever it off the spindle. The next job was to remove the gauge face plate held on by two small crosshead screws, one undid OK the other rounded off so was a bit difficult to remove but I managed to get it off using some pliers on the head. 

Classic Gauges recommend that the gauge face should be sanded to remove all traces of the original screen printing which I did. I also made up a jig for positioning the new self adhesive gauge face into place with two suitable sized nails (the same diameter as the screws) spaced correctly in a block of wood.

Jig I made for locating the gauge faces

Tacho face plate cleaned of screen printing in place on the jig

I also dismantled the Speedo, a similar process except it has the trip meter knob on the side retained by a small screw which had to be removed. The screw was very difficult to remove and wouldn't budge, but I read on one of the forums that it can usually be removed by applying some gentle heat first so I used a hair dryer on it. I didn't want to use my heat gun as I thought it may be too  fierce. Sure enough the screw undid easily after a bit of heat was applied.

The two instrument innards with the face plates removed (screen printing yet to be sanded off the speedo)

After cleaning the screen printing off the faces I used my jig to add the new self adhesive gauge faces to the clocks.

New Gauge faces fitted

I fitted new indication jewel lenses to the Neutral, main beam and turn signal indication position on the tacho.

New indication jewel lenses with the tacho faceplate

New indication jewel lenses fitted

As one of the screws that holds the face to the gauges was damaged and also because they were lightly corroded I decided to fit new screws. When I measured the thread it was a very unusual size M2.2 which is not easily available. I therefore tapped the holes out to a M2.5 size, not much different but a much easier screw to find. I also obtained a screw to replace the retainer for the trip meter knob which was a more standard M2 thread.

Tapping out a faceplate fixing hole to M2.5

I then refitted the face plate to the speedo with new M2.5screws.

.I refreshed both needles with a coat of white modellers enamel and once dry painted the tips with fluorescent orange modellers enamel. I left this to dry for a couple of days before refitting to the gauges being careful to push the needles into place aligned with the zero. Some vehicles have a needle rest wire on the instruments but the Suzuki doesn't and relies on accurate needle positioning.

Needles repainted with modellers paint.

Refreshed needle fitted to the Speedo

Refreshed needle refitted to the tacho

The seal for the trip meter was inserted into the new case and glued into position. There is also supposed to be a seal where the innards bear on the base of the cases, one of these was missing on my bike and the other wasn't in great condition, so I sourced an appropriate O ring and glued it into place.

O ring used to replace the damaged and missing seals

Difficult to see but the O ring was glued into place

The Speedo was the reassembled with the innards positioned into place in the new case. The trip meter knob was screwed into place with a new M2 screw.

Trip meter knob screwed back into place.

The innards are attached to the cases originally by a green sealant/glue around the perimeter. classic jap motor parts suggest using mastic for this so some mastic was applied to both instruments, a messy job but it won't be visible once installed on the bike.

Mastic smeared around the perimeter of the speedo innards to secure in place.

The two chrome trims were replaced they are loose and held in position by the mountings when fitted to the bike but I wanted to put them in place to show the finished job!

The finished speedo

The finished tacho