faded needles in clocks

[Mick77]

Since I'm still up sifting through all the posts, I thought I'd post this up and ask.  The needles in my speedo and tach are all faded and ugly.  I've taken them both off and tried (unsucessfully) to open them up and maybe hit them with some blaze orange to freshen them up.  How the heck do you get in there?  I see two tiny little screws that hold the faceplates on, so I KNOW it can be done, but the chrome ring stays put despite my rather aggressive prying and twisting.  As you can tell, I'm just about out of little things to tinker with on the Bandit while waiting for my CDI to be repaired .... Wonder if I can make my own seat cowl...

[tomacGTi]

The chrome rings are mechanically stamped over the plastic so you have to gently bend out the metal to access the guage faces.

Work slowly to not distort the metal and then re-peen the metal over to close them. It's a PIA.

-Randy

[Mick77]

so.. youve done it?  My only fear is that when I get the rings back on the glass will be loose.  faded needles or loose glass?  I plan to try, if I fail miserably, I'll just get some trick electric guages or something... or just do without (my speedo has never worked anyway! ) 

[tomacGTi]

Oh I've done it. It's not impossible but the key is to take your time.

To close them up tight, I just made sure the housing was as far against the glass as possible and the peened over a couple of spots to hold it before going after the rest.

[Mick77]

Ok, well then here I go!  I've still got 3 days to wait anyway.