Gauges - need advice

Both New Hampshire Speedo and Palo Alto Speedo always get great reviews from customers.  The gauges you get back from them should outlast you.  With repops, even from SM, quality can be questionable.

Without any question, I'd redo the 914 gauges. 

Had two tachs from Sierra Madre & both stopped working  

Go with the  914 gauges..... They were made to last... (something not apparent in a lot of repro units.)  and you save the aggravation of repairing the dash...  The face lift will look as well as most repros....   My .02...

I did this with my gauges. NH will take those 914 gauges and make highly accurate 356 gauges out of them. You will not be disappointed.

One other thing... you may already have holes in your dash cut. They may be cut for the repro size of 105mm. The 914 guages are 100mm (Same as the 356 guages). If that's the case find a good set of repro guages and send them to NH for a rebuild and have those ugly plastic centers replaced with 356 metal centers.

i'd bet that 914 tach leaves a larger hole than the 356 version.....

yep it does, but I don't think it is "hecho en china"

If buying new repro gauges, I'd get them from Spl Edition/Carey Hines.  He recently had them commissioned due to low quality of ones currently on the market.  

Thanks for the advice!  I guess that deep down, I know the German made, 914 VDO gauges are definitely the best choice.  I just cant believe that it costs $500 to change the faces and bezels!  500 dollars just for looks.

I also got a price on just changing the bezels to chrome.  $140 for all three.  That seems reasonable to me!  Changing the faces must be a LOT more labor intensive.  But will just changing the bezels be enough?  I'm not sure I will be happy.  Tough decision.  lol 

To change the faces you have to remove the existing bezels by prying them off.  Then you remove needles, apply new face, re-calibrate gauges.  Prying bezels off at home leaves nibble marks that are hidden when they are remounted.  Think Alan used the chrome bezels and they are simply silicon-ed on over the old bezels (Alan correct me if wrong - you can search here for his old thread on it.  Remember your 914 gauges are 30 years old - grease inside needs to be removed and replaced; if plastic lenses (later model 914s) replace them with glass; the odo reset plastic gear needs to be checked/replaced too (hitting the reset while in motion quickly breaks that plastic gear).  You will also want to add the oil temp gauge to the gas gauge (or replace it with one that has it - but they are uncommon).

Hey Bim55,

   Your Deserter looks killer!  I know where there's a corvair mid engine one 10 miles from my house that is ready to break in half and the guy won't sell it. I had a rear engine Deserter last year that was pretty trick with a full roll cage and layin on the ground. Just finished a  Manx look a like thats lowered, 4wbd,full cage,custom pan ect. Very kewl!!!!!

is there a new Hampshire speedo or did you mean north Hollywood speedo?i live east coast and that would be preferable.you guys in the west got everything!speedys are not quite popular here,had to get mine from san diego.

"speedys are not popular here (east coast)"!  You need to attend Carlisle (PA) event - have an egg samich and a few beers with growing group there!

"had to get mine from san diego"  You could of had a Merklin! (from PA).

Lauderdale Speedometer is celebrating its 25th year in business located at 300/302 West State Road 84, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  They do VDO and marine gauge repairs but North Hollywood and Palto Alto both in CA are most popular (but costly).  Shipping isn't really that much. 

would like to go to Carlisle-been there many times for other car events.does anyone have a date for the event? I live on long island-any eastcoasters near me?

5/15-5/18 - Friday and Sat are big days for event.  Look here on SOC under events.

https://www.speedsterowners.com...eservations-are-open

thanks

Rather than paying for re-worked gauges, you would be much better off picking up a set of Porsche 912/911 gauges.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Porsch...cdd2d948&vxp=mtr

They have a chromed bezel and green faces similar to the 356 gauges. The bezels mimic the 914 versions but are chromed and can be swapped out for 356 bezels when you save up the extra money.

They fit the Speedster dash (as opposed to the larger 914 tachometer) and wire up the same as well and the speedometer and tach need no additional calibration. The fuel gauge will work perfectly with the tube-style sender used in the Karmann Ghia and 914. The 914 sender has the additional low-fuel-light option.

A nice, little know alternative at a cheap price considering that they're tried and true VDO.

Look around on The Samba and you might find them cheaper than on eBay. Stay clear of the "wanted/for sale" Porsche forums. Much too pricey.

I had my 914 gauges restored by North Hollywood a couple of years ago.  if you're going that route I'd recommend you do three additional things:

1.  Let the shop know what tire size you're running so they can calibrate your speedo.

2.  Let the shop know that oil temperature sending unit you're using so they can calibrate your oil temperature gauge.

3.  Think about going with the LED gauge light option.  I can't adjust the brightness of my dash lights and found the stock gauge lighting to be too dim for night driving.

A 911 tach will need a resistor to read correctly on a 4 cylinder engine (since its from a 6 cylinder).  Folks often find old 356 tachs - up to like '64 they were mechanical cable driven (off the distributor).  Still can't understand why the chrome bezel are $140 for the three - guess demand is low.  With 914 gauges - th early silver button ones had glass faces - the later black ones had plastic.  You can fairly easily swap out the plastic with glass ones.  It's amazing that the 914 speedo is accurate on a VW/Speedster when driven off the wheel hub.

Greg:

They both had about the same size wheel.

And the 914 was a cross-breed VW/Porsche, right?

I'm jus' sayin'.......

What shocked me was that NH Speedometer wanted $495 to change faces and bezels.  That's twice what the gauges are worth.

The 914 used a costly angled gear drive off the transaxel while the VW is uber simple driving off the wheel center hub.  Just seems the 914 took several engineers to build a more costly solution.