I recently purchased a used set of GT gauges to put in my 65 Fastback. Does anyone have any experience in restoring the face plates, to includes the black background, the white numbers and the orange needles?

Thanks

 

Click on my website below the car pic. There is a page on installing white faces on these gages, and one on installing 5 dial clusters in 65 fastbacks...

good luck and let me know if I can help.

 

If you want to restore the original gauges and keep the black background with white letters you have to be VERY careful when cleaning them. Restoring instrument clusters requires that you use kid-gloves or you will trash the unit. If the instruments are merely dirty/dusty then canned air or an appropriate sized paint brush used to dust them off should do the trick.I am loathe to suggest that you use a damp rag as I have had a couple of units that I have done this to and thenumbers on the gauge faces rubs off or smears. As far as doing the needles, Orange Testers model paint applied VERY VERY lightly will do the trick. You DO NOT want to put too much paint on the needles because it WILL affect the accuracy of the gauges.
If the faces are pitted/rusty, then either send it off to have it restored (=$$$) or find a better one on the worlds most successful fencing site (Ebay).

I had Clock-Doc restore my instrument cluster and had him change the 120mph to 140mph and the 6k to an 8k tach. He does nice work and I would recommend him.

[IMG]local://upfiles/57088/E61E6642D3634139846E663E17C5BB94.jpg[/IMG]

 

Just finished cleaning mine up today using a soft damp rag to remove all of the dirt and dust that has accumulated over the years. Just be sure not to scrub too hard. Luckily the white numbers and lettering still look good and the black backgrounds are all intact. If you have a small area of rust, you should just plan on treating that area and not repainting and renumbering the entire gage. Hopefully the small touch up will blend with the rest of the gage. I picked up some fluorescent orange spray paint today. I will let you know how that goes when I get around to painting the needles. I don't think I would try painting with a model paint brush, the needles are very flimsy.
[align=left] [/align]

 

I put a 67 Cougar Tach in my standard cluster and replaced the clock with an oil pressure gauge from a 68. The faces didn't match so I went with the white face overlays. I also changed the light bulb covers from blue/green to red/orange...


[IMG]local://upfiles/56180/218B1B7192594F4E92C6BFDFCBD120D8.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/56180/32027695EF7C42CC8F9640AE90360C88.jpg[/IMG]