CT90 Speedometer Face

red69

Well-Known Member
I'm in the process of making an overlay for a CT90 Nippon Denso speedometer. Does anyone have a picture of a pristine speedometer by that manufacturer? I want to verify the color of the shift sweeps. Mine is faded and I would like to get the color as close as possible.

Bob

NipponDenso CT90 (800x500).jpg
 

red69

Well-Known Member
Yes and look at the cable providers too. They raise rates constantly using "packages" as a means to justify it. I'm trying to get my wife to agree to drop it.
 

kirrbby

Well-Known Member
Yes and look at the cable providers too. They raise rates constantly using "packages" as a means to justify it. I'm trying to get my wife to agree to drop it.

Wifey's been tryin to get ME to drop it too. I'm pretty much ready now, but we will probably keep the internet service with them, for now. They are gonna get us one way or the other tho. We can fight, but we're gonna lose, IMO. When the government is working with THEM, to steal money from US...well, we're just gonna get screwed.

Looking at the bright side, now I know where to invest my millions.
 

69ST

Well-Known Member
Wifey's been tryin to get ME to drop it too. I'm pretty much ready now, but we will probably keep the internet service with them, for now. They are gonna get us one way or the other tho. We can fight, but we're gonna lose, IMO. When the government is working with THEM, to steal money from US...well, we're just gonna get screwed.

Looking at the bright side, now I know where to invest my millions.

You said it, brutha!
 

red69

Well-Known Member
I found a speedometer online and tried to match the color of the shift sweeps. This is what I came up with.


NipponDenso CT90-3Sample (1024x639).jpg
 

red69

Well-Known Member
From what I've seen, Nippon Seiki's also had that coloring. One challenge that I see, if you want to roll back the mileage, is that the barrel is clinched in place and not easily removed.



1969CT90.jpg
 

Deoodles

Well-Known Member
I think your project is a success I didn’t think about the mileage barrel. I think BC17? did a thread on how to restore the barrel a few years ago. Thanks for giving some of us hope when it comes to our worn out speedometers.
 

red69

Well-Known Member
Taking these speedos down to the bare minimum reveals some toasted rubber grommets used to keep light rays straying from their intended target, the jewel lens. They are placed around the metal tubes that contain the telltale lights for high beam indicators, neutral indicator, etc. I was wondering what I could use as a substitute for the originals and decided on 7/8" heat shrink tubing. I placed a piece of 1/2" PVC tube on top of the metal tube and slid on a 7/8" long piece of shrink tubing, with about 5/16" protruding and surrounding the PVC tube. I used a heat gun to reduce the tubing and then remove the PVC tube. A drop of super glue keeps everything in place. You want to make sure that the heat shrink tubing does not interfere with mounting the face plate and the 5/16" dimension worked for me.
 

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red69

Well-Known Member
Here is something you may want to try if you are in the same situation as me. I have a few speedometers with the telltale light lenses missing. I came across some acrylic rod on Ebay that looked like it might work if I sliced some off the rod length. I first tried 3/8" diameter, but that didn't leave me a shoulder to secure it to the speedo face. I obtained 1/2" diameter rod and i thought I might ask a friend of mine to groove it down to 3/8" diameter on a lathe, then I could slice off the pieces I need. Last night I got to thinking about this and came to the conclusion that if I drill a 3/8" shallow hole into some aluminum, I could heat it and the rod and force it into the hole, creating a crown. Then I could slice off what I need. This is a sequence of pictures of the process. I used the kitchen stove to heat the aluminum and the acrylic rod. Finishing was with 400 and 1000 grit wet/dry paper followed by a Dremel with a very small polishing pad and Meguiar's plastic polish.
 

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red69

Well-Known Member
What's cool is being able to produce a work-around when something is no longer available. I get stoked thinking about it. That's why I did the overlays.

Now if I can just figure out an easy way to remove and reinstall the odometer barrel which is clinched in place on Nippon Denso speedometers.
 

red69

Well-Known Member
Okay, I can't leave things alone and it usually ends in something being screwed up. Well, not this time.

I wanted to see if I could replicate the jewel shape at the rear of the telltale light lens in the speedometer. I used a piece of 3/8" steel rod and filed six facets at the tip. I mounted that in a drilled piece of wood dowel so that when it is heated, it won't give me a burn handling it.

I heated the previously worked lens, along with the tool I made, and pressed it into the lens. What I got was a mirror image of the tool and what looks like a satisfactory copy of the amber lens. I'm still not happy with the color of the acrylic and will look for some paint that more closely matches the original. Here is the finished product.

Bob
 

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