Gauge Faces

Does anyone know if there are any companies that reproduce old motorcycle gauge faces? As with most older bikes mine are sun bleached and I was hoping to replace these as part of the restoration.

Thanks as always,
Massimo

 

There was someone that made his own gauge faces using his computer, you might find him with a search. If you take a pic of your old gauge and use photoshop it's possible to re-manufacture new faces. Then print the new faces on adhesive paper; might be a difficult task though.

 

Massimo; Yes, there are, I'll dig up the link for you. Unfortunately, the last time I checked they weren't doing Yamaha stuff yet.

From looking in the fiche, the '82 Max has a "cluster" (as opposed to discreet, canned instruments) which means it comes apart so that the gauges themselves are readily accessible- and easily swapped out.

The problem with replacing just the faces or sticking an overlay on them is the fact that you have to remove the needle from the spindle. Because the needle itself acts as the "stop" for the clockspring, it's absolutely critical to get the needle back on in the same position relative to the shaft as it came off. If you're off by even a few degrees, the spring will either be too tight or too loose, affecting the accuracy of the instrument.

Yamaha mechanical instument tech analysis: http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=15303.html

Another issue with sticking overlays is that you subsequently reduce the ability of the gauge face itself to pass light through. These gauges' faces are a translucent material, usually yellow as the examples in the article, sometimes white; the instrument lighting shines through them (in theory anyway) to illuminate the numbers. They don't "pass light" all that well to begin with; any overlay tends to inhibit them further.

I would recommend finding a set of clean instruments on eBay and swapping guts; or swapping faces before I'd try the overlay idea. Needles can be repainted so they match; you can get actual Speedo Needle paint.

The cool thing about a "cluster" vs. "canned" clocks is it's easier to get rid of the 85mph silliness while still keeping the bike looking stock:




Read through my article I linked to, and think outside the box a bit. The details of the speedo swap are here: http://xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=22823.html and although our clusters are slightly different, the concept and considerations (like instrument frame angle) are the same.

 

Here's that link.

As far as I know, they still don't have a replica for any XJs

 

There's a company named Illumiglow that makes aftermarket gauge face plates for ALL SORTS of bikes, including Yamahas just later than ours. I couldn't find the link I had saved; these folks carry their products: http://fatbikez.com/accessories-for-bik ... lates.html

I was thinking that faces for as early a Yamaha as could be found with a similar redline on the tach could be utilized; but you'd need to find a swappable speedo with the same range too. I gave up and went the ebay route.