Should I go for new gauges?

I'd choose function over form and go with the new gauges.  Either black face/while markings, or the last one, tan-ish with black markings.  Nix on the white faced gauges for your car.

Can the new ones be done with the same look as your old ones? If no, I second what Lane said; the black face or tan/black.

Ron-

The problem isn't with any of your gauges, it's with the numbers the needles point at.

Think of it like this: if the oil temp gauge had the 210 mark where the 190 mark is right now, it would read correctly, true? If the speedometer had marks for KPH instead of MPH it would be OK, true?

Get the gauges you've got re-screened. Tell Harmut the ranges are just off. They car do anything, including moving the numbers to different spots on the dial face. It'll be custom, and it'll take time, but it'll work. The Speed-Hut gauges wouldn't be on my radar at all.

i think the 356 gauges are one of the cornerstones to these replicas. 

what about pulling the current ones out - keeping the faces and find a quality tach with the correct rpm sweep and take the guts out of it and swap them over. 

the temps and gas would be a little more tricky, but these gauges are pretty simple inside (with quite a bit of room in the housing)

assuming you only need the triple / tach (keep the cable speedo).  it`s definately more work, but would allow you to keep the look. my $0.02

i like the idea of swapping brand new gauges, i just think it would not compliment the interior you have.

If the tach reads 250 RPM high and the reading is same at all speeds then a simple resistor is needed to reduce the signal.  If it reads low - would be harder to fix.

While a resistor (or a combination of them, in some cases) will allow you to adjust the range of the gauges (oil, temp, fuel) up and down to get the reading where you want it, the tach is different and won't respond the same way, externally.  I've adjusted my temp and oil pressure needles so they are in the middle of the range when running at "normal" (I have no numbers on the scales).  It's pretty easy to do using Radio Shack resistors either in series or parallel to the signal wire, but it's a bit of trial and error til you get what you want.  If you have numbers on your scale, it might also be difficult to get the numbers to align with your range, too, as you need to calibrate the gauge to the linearity of the sender.   I've never done this trick on a numbered-face gauge.

The tach, however, counts pulses coming from the distributor and turns that into a variable drive signal to the gauge meter display and while a resistor in line with the actual gauge (meter) circuit would affect it, all of that is internal to the gauge can and difficult for the back yard afficionado to get to (unless you're TC).  The tach would best be adjusted by a place like North Hollywood or Nisonger on Long Island.

Interestingly, most of the modern gauge producers for the street rod set make their tachs (and speedos) adjustable with an adjuster screw on the back of the can.  Tey all learned the hard way.

Thanks for all the input, guys. 

I wish the 914 gauges weren't so damn good looking.  I'll have to phone North Hollywood this week to see what they think.

Ron,

My two cents (strickly aesthetic) falls in line with Mango. Those 914 are class...oozing class!

And Stan has the solution...so simple it's silly...have the faces rescreened so they're numerically adjusted to visually give an accurate reading...No muss, no fuss, no rocket science.   

....But, should you decide to swap them out, I'll stand in line to buy that mph speedo off you!!!

Carl, if I do sell them it would be a package deal for all three gauges.  I won't split them up.

Re-screening the gauge faces is very expensive.  When I had the three gauges done three years ago it set me back $900.  I'll know more when I talk to North Hollywood this week.

Nine hundred dollars ?

Just proves the old capitalist addage: Whatever the traffic will bear

I wish I still had my old silkscreening equipment!

Let's see:

Camera ready art is an hour on the computer for the three faces. (instead of $50 from the typesetter and 4 or 5 hours on the board) Outside sourcing of negatives is $40 to $50 max...inspecting and opaqing tics on the negatives is a half hour.

Prepping the screen and exposing the images is another half hour. Registering and printing and sizing when cured is 15 minutes...

Of course there's overhead and equipment amoritization to be considered but actual time and expenditures are two and half hours and fifty bucks... and the three faces are ready to be installed as replacements in your gauges.

Yeah, I sure wish I still had my silkscreening equipment!! 

ooops...revision

I forgot to consider indirect man hours and the actual assembly time involved...Let's say two hours to compose order form, log work sheet in, supervisory sign-offs, packaging and postal metering.

Then the guy in the white coat with a german accent needs an hour and a half to install the faces... That's about six man hours total and an expenditure of fifty dollars...So I guess figuring in overhead and profit, $900.00 seems reasonable...Right Jim??

On the other hand... I could spend the rest of my adult life and not ever do anything close to what he's got going on with those gauges.

As you said, Carl-- a thing's worth what people will pay. I just paid an unseemly amount for a speedometer with a trip counter for my bus.

I think if Ron calls NHS and talks directly with Harmut, and nobody else, he might be able to get what he's after for not a lot of outlay.

just a thought - but have you considered a high rez photo quality print for the screen?  i've done that in other cars and it worked well.  might need an anti UV coating (spray / film?).

$900 to re-screen them - and that is their business?  wow.

I would keep those gauges,all the other gauges just cheapen the look IMO......the gauges MAKE the dash,and the aftermarket ones look way out of place IMO.

...and that is what is stopping my from buying the Speed Hut gauges.  I love the look of my 914/speedster gauges.

Yes, $900 is a lot.  I'm not sure if anything was done to refurbish the gauges' 'working bits'.  I suspect the insides were not touched.

Agree they look beautiful; I had my Chinese repro tach gutted and retrofitted with VDO innards at North Hollywood Speedometers years ago and the work was fantastic. It might be worth it to get the gauges recalibrated by them. How much would the new gauges in the modern style set you back?

I've got the same problem but I think its a minor inconvenience.  At an indicated 60 MPH I'm actually going 80 KPH, 75 MPH I'm going 100 KPH, etc.  I just remember 15 MPH on my speedo is 20 KPH.  Its easy for me to know my actual speed.  The tach is different though.  Mine seems to read low but not sure how to check it?  I no longer have a distributor so not sure where to get an accurate reading bypassing the current ignition system.

what about one of those engine tuneup kit?  i have one that attaches to the spark plug wire (and a +/-) and gives an RPM readout.

it's not an expensive tool and is great for fine-tuning idle (in the engine bay)

I thought my rpm was high and confirmed it when I went for a drive with my laptop hooked up to my EFI's ECU.

I agree that the speedhut gauges will not compliment your car.  I might be biased though... I had PA Speedo refinish mine 914's the same as yours because I liked them so much...

Changing out the bulbs for LED is an easy fix.  You don't need to open up the gauges just pull the gauges from their holes and the pull the wires out (bulbs are connected). 

Tim

Tim, I'm leaning towards keeping my 914 gauges, if North Hollywood can get my tach to read accurately (this is a must for me).  I can live with the wonky speedo, and if they can't get the oil temperature gauge to work properly I can always hook up another gauge from Aircraft Spruce Canada, to go with my CHT gauge.