What is this little worm of rope floating in my gauge?

Well I dropped my Tequila bottle and that little sucker got away.......

It looks like a piece of terminal insulation.... But it doesn't appear damaged, so I would say it was probably a "stray" that found its way in during assembly... Probably does not harm a thing...    My .02...

Over off road indicator...You've gone to far!

Maybe a shop vac in one of the light bulb holes at the bottom (remove light bulb first).  Might get lucky.

I seriously doubt that you’ll be able to vacuum it out.  

Impossible?  No.

Improbable?   Yes

Drive down a lot of steep hills and maybe it will find its’ way back behind the gauge face and stay there by sheer gravity.

Otherwise, you will have to remove the gauge and try fishing it out.  A last resort is to remove the bezel and glass without destroying either (way not as easy as it sounds), remove the worm, then put the bezel back on without screwing up either it or the gauge can.  Palo Alto or North Hollywood Speedo could do it but probably for $100 bucks (just guessing).  

We’ve seen the roads you drive on.  It’s amazing more stuff hasn’t come loose.  

Thanks for the counsel. Parking downhill and loosening the bolts gave it enough wiggle room to coax it over the lip of my fuel gauge into the abyss below. So far so good.

Also, anyone else notice your cars running better since it’s warmed up a bit? I’m told it may have something to do with winter vs summer gas in California. Or maybe my car was tuned to warmer temps. Either way, less popping these days.

Sheesh... You guys.

The chrome bezel is lighly crimped around the outside edge. Pop out the gauge. Lay it face down on a clean soft towel. Take a thin tool and lightly un-crimp the edge so it can clear the case of the gauge. You will have to go at least 1/2 around the gauge.  Don't get crazy and open it up too much. 

You will eventually be able to pull the chrome and glass away from the gauge body. 

Once you get the piece out reassemble and then lightly bend the back edge of the bezel back in place

I tried taking 914 gauge bezels off to replace plastic lenses with glass one. Even though bezel is soft brass it still looked like a tuna can opened with a K ration P-38 can opener. Very hard to get back smooth - but is hidden.

TRP posted:

The chrome bezel is lighly crimped around the outside edge. Pop out the gauge. Lay it face down on a clean soft towel. Take a thin tool and lightly un-crimp the edge so it can clear the case of the gauge. You will have to go at least 1/2 around the gauge.  Don't get crazy and open it up too much. 

You will eventually be able to pull the chrome and glass away from the gauge body. 

Once you get the piece out reassemble and then lightly bend the back edge of the bezel back in place

While not the same dilemma. . . Ryan and I are facing a similar issue. 

I just bought a VDO Oil Pressure gauge and was wondering how to remove the chrome bezel and glass in order to apply silver paint to the black part at the bottom of the pointer to match the other gauges in my car; however, after reading TRPs excellent instructions on how it could be done I still have to wonder if it would be worth the risk and still not crack or chip the glass.  Humbug!  I may still try to do it. 

There is a specific tooling that the mfgr's to be able to remove the chrome bezel i.e. it is cut away and a replacement installed and crimped.  I did one and was able to remove the chrome bezel by lightly filing away along the edge  being careful not to file into the gauge case.  I had to glue the replacement on with a bit of JB Weld.

Here's instruction for the older 914 VDO gauges.  The prying is don on back of bezel up against the case.  Even if chewed up it is hidden - I used wife's kitchen spoon to smooth out the pry mark.  I used a small computer flat screw driver.

https://www.pelicanparts.com/t...ult_gauge_repair.htm

WOLFGANG posted:

I tried taking 914 gauge bezels off to replace plastic lenses with glass one. Even though bezel is soft brass it still looked like a tuna can opened with a K ration P-38 can opener. Very hard to get back smooth - but is hidden.

There is that! 

WOLFGANG posted:

I tried taking 914 gauge bezels off to replace plastic lenses with glass one. Even though bezel is soft brass it still looked like a tuna can opened with a K ration P-38 can opener. Very hard to get back smooth - but is hidden.

TRP posted:

There is that! 

Voilà!

Hidden?  With that being the case, we may try it after all!!

Ryan, I think a loop to loop maneuvre would do it

This looks easier than opening up the speedo:

Ryan in NorCal posted:

...anyone else notice your cars running better since it’s warmed up a bit? I’m told it may have something to do with winter vs summer gas in California. Or maybe my car was tuned to warmer temps. Either way, less popping these days...

 For the past few years, I've been tweaking the mixture screws and idle stops twice a year at the change of seasons. Nothing serious - just a quick, 10-minute 'by ear' adjustment. But the car did seem to like slightly different settings in warm weather than in cold.

This spring, though, the car doesn't seem to need it. It's running just as smooth on warmer days as on cold.

Only difference is I just installed a new CB dizzy a few months ago.

Hmm... another 'carb' problem solved with reliable spark?

Maybe so. My car usually does require different idle mixture settings for spring versus summer, but I'm on the East coast and suffer more temperature/humidity change than you Californicators.

We need to get one of those loopy things rigged up ay Carlisle so we can watch the tuner boys try to tame it. 

Mmmm. Beer!